Cast a Giant Shadow

Plot synopsis:
The film is a fictionalized account of the experiences of a real-life Jewish-American military officer, Colonel David "Mickey" Marcus, who commanded units of the fledgling Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Marcus is an Army Reserve Colonel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, who was recently released from active duty and is now working in New York City. He is approached by a Haganah agent, Major Safir (James Donald), who requests his assistance in preparing Israeli troops to defend the newly declared State against an invasion by its Arab neighbors.
Marcus is refused permission by the Pentagon to go, unless he travels as a civilian. The Haganah gives him a false passport with the alias "Michael Stone". As "Michael Stone", he arrives in Israel to be met by a Haganah member, Magda Simon (Senta Berger).
Marcus, who parachuted into occupied France during World War II and helped to organize the relief mission for one of the first Nazi concentration camps liberated by American troops, is initially viewed with suspicion by some Haganah soldiers. But after he leads a commando raid on an Arab arms dump and assists in a landing of illegal refugees, he is more accepted. After preparing training manuals for the troops, he returns to New York, where his wife (Angie Dickinson) has suffered a miscarriage.
Now, restless and, despite his wife's pleadings, he does return to Israel and is given command of the Jerusalem front with the rank of 'Aluf' (General), a rank not used since biblical days. He sets to work, recognising that, while the men under his command do not have proper training or weapons or even a system of ranks, they do have spirit and determination. He organises the construction of the "Burma Road", bypassing Latrun, to enable convoys to reach besieged Jerusalem, where the population is on the verge of starvation.
Many of the soldiers under his command are newly arrived in Israel, determined and enthusiastic but untrained. Dubbing them 'the schnooks', Marcus is inspired by them to discover that he is proud to be a Jew. But, just before the convoy of trucks to Jerusalem starts out, he is shot and killed by a lone sentry who does not speak English - the last casualty before the United Nations impose a truce. The coffin containing his body is carried by an honor guard of the soldiers he trained and inspired.
Cameo roles (listed as Special Appearances Cast) include:
John Wayne as 'the General', Marcus's commanding officer in the Second World War and now a senior general officer at the Pentagon, who initially refused him permission to go, but later supports him.
Yul Brynner as Asher, a Haganah commander.
Frank Sinatra as Vince Talmadge, an expatriate American pilot who takes part in what becomes a suicide mission to bomb Arab positions.

Tags: cult, historical, murder, violence, flashback

Review:
No longer to be a guest in everyone else's country.The heart and spirit were there when part Palestine became the state of Israel, but the military leadership was provided by a man born like myself in Brooklyn, New York.
When World War II broke out, Marcus went back in the army and for the most part given his legal training worked in the Judge Advocate General's office, but later did see combat with the Third Army under George Patton.Kirk Douglas plays Marcus and for him, this must have been a role he relished given his background as the son of Jewish immigrants from the Ukraine.
By the end of the film, he's developed pride in his religion and ethnicity and earnestly commits to the struggle.You might have expected Douglas's own Bryna Productions to have produced Cast a Giant Shadow, but co-producing it with the Mirisch Brothers was Batjac Productions which was John Wayne's company.
Made clear by the prominent two stars Wayne has on his helmet in flashbacks to World War II which later become three stars during the scene of a concentration camp liberation.Well Patton as we all know was killed in December 1945 in that jeep accident in occupied Germany.
Yul Brynner as Asher was definitely Moshe Dayan who was winning the Six Day War when Cast a Giant Shadow came out.
Marcus's wife in America is played by Angie Dickinson.Even though Cast a Giant Shadow is based on a true story, the film does suffer in comparison to the film made of Leon Uris's novel about the founding of Israel, Exodus.
It's characters were better developed in a much longer film that held the interest throughout.Cast a Giant Shadow also had its moments of silliness.
One of the most moving scenes of the film was the announcement at the birth of Israel of the telegram from the American President Harry Truman announcing recognition of the new state accompanied with reverent singing of the Hatikvoh, Israel's national anthem.
That same scene was also in Exodus, but both were done well.Of course the climax of the film is when Luther Adler makes the American visitor the commander over all the forces on the Jerusalem/Negev front.
That's the scene when Kirk Douglas finally realizes what his heritage truly is and it is moving.Despite it's flaws, Cast a Giant Shadow is a wonderful tribute to the men and women who fought and still fight to maintain the State of Israel.
Here David , ¨Mickey¨ , Marcus (Kirk Douglas) , an American Jew and general of the WW2 who helps the Jewish to build the State of Israel .
¨Cast a giant shadow¨ follows the fabulous career of Col. Mickey , he is Kirk Douglas who does a first-rate acting as the daredevil Israeli commandant .
I was completely engrossed watching this film, the story of General David "Mickey" Marcus (Kirk Douglas), who in 1948 became the first Israeli general since Joshua of Biblical times.
Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Yul Bryunner, Senta Berger and Frank Sinatra were perfectly cast in their roles.
The script covered the highlights of the War of Independence during the brief time time Marcus was involved, and I don't know what more you could expect for a feature film.
However, her character was a wonderful metaphor for Marcus' newly found love for Israel and re-discovery of his faith, after living as a secular American Jew for his entire life.
Also, I must say that I think the person who complained here on IMDb about John Wayne's reaction to seeing the Dachau concentration camp in the World War II flashback is completely off the mark.
I suspect the objecting person just doesn't like John Wayne no matter what the film or what his role.
I thought some of the battle scenes in the picture were very good, especially the battle in which the Israelis attack the fort held by the very professional Jordanians and are defeated, the shot where wave after wave of attackers emerge from the standing wheat was very well done.For what it's worth most of the weapons were realistic, the Jordanians were equipped with the proper British arms; SMLEs and Vickers and Bren guns.
Earnest, well-mounted but essentially dreary epic about the real-life involvement of an American Jew in the post-war struggle for Israel's independence  thus sharing its theme with EXODUS (1960), and clearly aiming (but failing) for a "Marcus Of Israel" feel!
He's supported by an eclectic cast which includes Angie Dickinson as his neglected(!) wife, Senta Berger as the Israeli girl he falls for, Topol as an ill-tempered Arab sheik, Luther Adler as a local politician, a plethora of reliable British character actors  and even guest appearances by Frank Sinatra (which doesn't amount to much), a glum Yul Brynner as a fellow freedom fighter, and John Wayne as a U.S. General whom Douglas initially falls foul of but the two eventually end up respecting one another (still, seeing Wayne at the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp is about as incongruous as his stint playing the Roman Centurion at Christ's crucifixion in THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD [1965]!).Despite a sharp script and good individual sequences, the film is compromised by its necessity to be both a spectacle and a message picture (the WWII flashbacks, for instance, are unnecessary and merely render the film overlong); unsurprisingly, it works best during the action highlights (complemented by a typically fine Elmer Bernstein score).
One of the greatest casts ever assembled for a single film including Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner, Senta Berger, Angie Dickinson and others was put completely to waste in this film of unfulfilled potential.
Sadly, despite a disproportionate amount of Jews in influential positions in Hollywood, Exodus and Cast a Giant Shadow remain the only two major films on the subject of Israeli independence.Clearly almost the entire budget was spent on a two minute cameo by John Wayne because even for 1966 the special effects were poor, the dialogue was flat, the plot was boring, many scenes made little sense, and every actor either seemed bored with his or her role or they overacted.
The film sends a message but it is poorly conveyed and in the end I simply am left unsatisfied with a desire to see a Longest Day type caliber movie about the Israeli War of Independence..
After service in World War II, assimilated Jewish-American lawyer Kirk Douglas (as David "Mickey" Marcus), is offered a dangerous assignment in Palestine.
Second, it features "special appearances" by giant shadow-casters who normally star in features - Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner, and John Wayne (as the General).
Third, you have sexy shadow-casting Senta Berger (as Magda Simon), who helps Douglas get over still smokin' wife Angie Dickinson (at home).This film is what you'd expect, considering the politics and time.
The real story is Douglas juggling Ms. Berger and Ms. Dickinson, not war.***** Cast a Giant Shadow (3/30/66) Melville Shavelson ~ Kirk Douglas, Senta Berger, Stathis Giallelis, John Wayne.
He plays "The Sheik of Arabie" on a Victrola and rolls his eyes with glee.John Wayne's performance is perfunctory and so is Frank Sinatra's, but the latter's involvement is interesting.
A scene in which he spurts seltzer water at an attacking Arab fighter is beneath comment.Overall the film is not a success because it doesn't spell out in any detail exactly what Mickey Marcus actually DID for the Israelies.
Unfortunately by this time this type of film would be dying out and a year later BONNIE AND CLYDE arrived on the scene which changed Hollywood film making with relatively unknown actors starring in smaller scale films that had a dubious morality to them so a film like CAST A GIANT SHADOW would have become relatively dated very quickly by the end of the decade On its own merits it isn't a bad film though it's certainly not a very good one either .
one can speculate that the war sequences is an excuse to shoehorn John Wayne in to the film that'll appeal to all the manly men in the audience and the family life of the protagonist will get women flocking in to the cinema .
It also has the unnecessary addition of Frank Sinatra which like Wayne seems to be included to give box office appeal It's not just the lack of brevity that's the flaw but the sometimes embellishment to the story that doesn't do it any favours .
Sadly the film doesn't make the point that the Irgun and Stern Gang were the purveyors of modern day terrorism that EOKA , the Provisional IRA and many other terrorist organisations modelled themselves upon until Al Quada took terrorism to new depths , but if you've got a Hollywood movie and it contains Brits as an occupying power then it's easy to turn a blind eye , but to be fair it points out it's better to be occupied by the British than the French That said the Brits aren't full blown villains and the American view of Israelis is I imagine not as black and white as it would be today regardless of your politics .
It should be remembered that the first arms supply from America to Israel didn't happen till 1965 and the often overstated influence America has over the Israeli state wouldn't have existed when this film was released In summary CAST A GIANT SHADOW is a relatively entertaining yarn but it's a melodramatic Hollywood movie using big names to make money for the studio .
but the Israelis have no military training or arms to fight back, so they turn to a ww2 veteran (Kirk Douglas) who cant say no because he loves war to damn much.
many familiar faces here in small parts , like John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Michael Douglas.
Melville Shavelson had a good idea but it looked like there wasn't much effort put in this film.
John Wayne was good as The General and Yul Brynner also made an good performance as well as Kirk Douglas and Frank Sinatra.
"Exodus" & "Cast a Giant Shadow" are the only films I know which focus on Israel's War for Independence.
"Exodus" was too talky, "Cast a Giant Shadow" should have been a great film, up there with CB DeMille's 1959 version of "The Buccaneer", or the 1932 version of "All Quiet on the Western Front".
Yet "Cast a Giant Shadow" was virtually ignored when released.I remember in 1969 the director was on Johnny Carson and "Cast a Giant Shadow" came up, the director began explaining the plot and that the film had Yul Brenner, Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Senta Berger, Angie Dickersen.
Seated next to the director was an earlier guest, and he thought the "Cast a Giant Shadow" was a great idea, he wanted to know when the film woulded be released.
Cast a giant shadow is a wonderful moving true portrayal of Colonel "Mickey" Marcus of the Israeli army.
I advise anyone who wants to know about past arab-israeli wars, wants a great war movie or just wants an all star cast, to watch this, I have given a full 10/10 for it.
This is a wonderful film, the actors superb, Kirk Douglas, Yul Brynner, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and the brilliant Chaim Topol, I thought he along with Frank Sinatra were superb and funny.
This is the kind of movie that I see coming on and think, "wow, Kirk Douglas, Yul Brenner, Palestine 1948, this is gonna be great" and then you get a movie that could make Leni Riefenstahl blush, and it isn't even entertaining!
Luther Adler played David Ben Gurion but isn't listed as such; Golda was in the U.S. raising arms money, but is not represented in the film.
Sinatra was drunk and the battle scenes show soldiers dropping like zombies in a bad horror flick.Golda Meir raised an incredible amount of money for the Israeli cause.
A movie about the Arab-Israeli war is 'duffus' without a character named Golda because no single leader did more for Israel achieving statehood than Golda Meir, who was prime minister from 1967-72 and to whom I am not related and never had the pleasure of meeting.
This could had been a good and relevant movie to watch but instead the movie remains stuck somewhere between entertaining and poorly told.The movie is about the interesting story of about establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
Kirk Douglas always have been a great leading man and the supporting cast is one to die for.
Despite having some big name cameos, such as John Wayne in a completely gratuitous and non-compelling bit role, AND having Kirk Douglas as the star,it just never held my interest.
I also think that perhaps Douglas was not the best choice for the character, because it seemed more like Kirk playing Kirk than a real Israeli hero.For a similar story but with a much stronger plot and writing, try EXODUS.
this movie tells the story of Colonel Mickey Marcus, who came to Israel to help the people there fight against 6(!) different Muslim armies, who came for only one thing:"Throw all the Jews to the sea".
Col. Marcus (Kirk Douglas) is recruited to fight for an independent Israel.
I just saw the film "Cast a Giant Shadow" released in 1966 with Kirk Douglas and Senta Berger in a scene where they are both riding in a white American convertible together on a road in Israel as Senta Berger is playing her character Magda Simon and Kirk Douglas is the passenger as US Army Colonel Marcus as she drives and shows him Israel for the first time.
The car is a 1954 Pontiac convertible being driven in a movie time frame that was 1947 - 1948 before Israel declared it's independence as a nation state.How do I recognize that it is a 1954 Pontiac?
Secondly, the convoy effort into Jerusalem is depicted in an entirely realistic way, so that aside from the Romantic Subplot - and John Wayne as a weird version of Patton - and Frank Sinatra sprays seltzer out of a plane - this is an entirely fine and satisfying film on the history of the Israeli state.
I didn't pay attention to the music score like some of the other reviewers have pointed out, but did enjoy the battle scenes (especially the assault on the Arab League's fort) and Douglas' scenes w/ Adler..
As a result, I have no idea what happened in the last scene between Douglas and Berger; somehow I'll still be able to sleep at night.Another reviewer thinks the scene with John Wayne at the concentration camp is ridiculous and hard to believe.
Noodle soup?" Cast a Giant Shadow is not the greatest film ever made, but it's an enjoyable one.
These films typically portrayed brave Jews working in tandem with world leaders to set up the modern State of Israel.
Two of the more famous films in this wave were Otto Preminger's "Exodus" and Melville Shavelson's "Cast a Giant Shadow", the latter co-funded by John Wayne, everybody's favourite psycho patriot.Most of these films are racist, propagandistic, demonize "Arabs" or selectively ignore the various atrocities and/or massacres committed by Britain and Zionists during the early 20th century.
The cast is stellar, containing Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Angie Dickinson, Senta Berger and Yul Brynner.
The story could be epic...the struggle of Israel, alone and lacking weapons, against most of the Arab world.
Of course, one of those wars is the second world war, and the other one is what little involvement that the American military had in the attempt to create a Jewish state in Israel.
At the center of this is Jewish American Kirk Douglas, an army attorney with his own ways of viewing situations, often to his detriment and on occasion to the bemused smirk of his superiors.With John Wayne as a two star general and Yul Brynnur as the Jewish leader fighting for the independent state, there's sure star power.
John Wayne's production company Batjac bankrolled this war movie about the rise of the state of Israel in 1948 when everybody thought that the Arabs would annihilate the Jews.
"Houseboat" director Melville Shavelson inked and helmed this ambitious but muddled biography of World War II military hero Colonel David 'Mickey' Marcus (Kirk Douglas of "Spartacus") who served as an adviser to Franklin Roosevelt.
Yul Brynner, Frank Sinatra, Angie Dickinson, and John Wayne co-star in a war movie that has more soap opera than shooting.
Angie Dickinson plays the wife of Colonel Marcus, while voluptuous Israeli freedom fighter Senta Berger cannot take her eyes off him after her own husband dies in the war.
"Cast A Giant Shadow" looks well-produced with no end of extras trudging off to fight the war.
Col. Mickey Marcus (Kirk Douglas) had just returned home from WWII when David Ben-Gurion and the fledgling Jewish freedom fighters asked him to come to Palestine to organize their forces into a real army.
As the Palmach, Haganah, and other underground groups join forces to fight the Arabs bent on their destruction, Mickey becomes the first general of the new Israeli army.This movie covers the same basic ground as 1960's "Exodus," but isn't as successful.
Casting John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and Yul Brynner doesn't help matters either; they look out of place and distract from the story, although Wayne is likable as an American General who locks horns with Mickey and gradually comes to respect him.
Topol plays the only Arab with a speaking part as a bumbling buffoon.Partially filmed in Israel, the location does help to show the difficulties faced by the army.
Cast a Giant Shadow was a neat movie to watch on Satellite Television.
Seeing Israel get Independence in a film is a special Hollywood moment.
Col David Marcus former US military officer is recruited into the Israeli army to help his people build a new future in the post war era.
Since CAST A GIANT SHADOW bills itself as a "true story" .