Cast a Giant Shadow

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, 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.

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 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.

Kirk Douglas and Yul Brynner on set

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.

Writer and producer Mel Shavelson acquired the film for $12,500 after it was dropped by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Shavelson told The New York Times that production of the film was initially hampered by the film industry's reluctance to deal with Jewish subjects, as well as fear that theaters in Egypt might be expropriated. The Times also reported a lingering "pogrom mentality" among some Jewish executives, who did not wish to draw attention to the Jewish background of many in the film industry. Shavelson enlisted the support of John Wayne, and with his help it was financed and distributed by United Artists.[5]

The New York Times criticized the film, specifically the directing, calling it a "confusing, often superficial biography that leans a good deal on comic or extremely salty dialogues and effects." The reviewer said that In trying to fuse the many aspects of Marcus' life "into a titanic figure, what evolves, sadly, is an amalgam of all manufactured movie heroes."[6] It received a poor reception at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, where critics called the film "one more war feature with not much technical value."[7] A reviewer at the Louisville Courier-Journal called it "a phony and a noisy bore" featuring "the sorriest of film cliches, and the hollowest of romantic clap-trap."[8]

The New York Daily News gave the film four stars and called it a "rousing adventure picture" and a "drama of historical significance and of human interest."[9]

In 2006, Andrew Wolf from the New York Sun praised the filmmakers for the pro-Jewishness of the film, something he believes could not be done in modern Hollywood. However he referred to it as an "awful film," from a technical standpoint and heavily criticized the fictitious love interest subplot.[10]

It was released on DVD in early 2000s but went out of print. It was rereleased on DVD, and the 1st time on Blu-ray August 26, 2014.

Giving it a mild recommendation, DVD Talk said "the cast does work that is better than the script they've been provided."[11]

• List of American films of 1966
• John Wayne filmography

• Shavelson, Melville. How to Make a Jewish Movie, 1971. (ISBN 0-491-00156-8).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cast a Giant Shadow.

• Cast a Giant Shadow on IMDb
• Cast a Giant Shadow at the TCM Movie Database
• TV Guide