‘The Ten Commandments’: Put your hands up as iconic film turns 70

Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.

We start the program with two “Jangles” — Jewish angles — on this week’s entertainment news. In a follow-up to our previous program, we hear how the comic Modi dropped out of a Passover event after finding out that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was participating. A principled stance?

Then, Hoffman pays tribute to Tzruya “Suki” Lahav, who played violin with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band half a century ago, and died last weekend.

And, in honor of the end of the Passover holiday, we turn our gaze to “The Ten Commandments,” which turns 70 this year.

The 1956 Cecil B. DeMille “sandal epic” sees Charlton Heston as Moses going head-to-head with Yul Brynner as Rameses. The supporting cast also glitters with Anne Baxter as Nefretiri, Edward G. Robinson as Dathan, Yvonne De Carlo as Sephora and Debra Paget as Lilia.

Although screened annually in the US, Hoffman hadn’t watched it for several decades, and this was Borschel-Dan’s first time. But it’s a movie that, as Hoffman puts it, “people know even if they haven’t seen it.”

The duo goes into the weeds with the biblical and Jewish influences on the work, including a surprise member of the tribe for Hoffman. And, while dated in its treatment of women on screen, the film also offers an insightful feminist moment.

Stick around to see if “The Ten Commandments” got an “oy,” “meh” or “not bad” in this week’s The Reel Schmooze.

The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

Check out last week’s The Reel Schmooze here: