Cast a Giant Shadow

1966

Action / Adventure / Drama / History / War

14
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 51% · 3 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 51% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 4317 4.3K

israeli–palestinian conflict israel palestinian-israeli conflict

Plot summary

An American Army officer is recruited by the yet to exist Israel to help them form an army. He is disturbed by this sudden appeal to his Jewish heritage. Each of Israel's Arab neighbors has vowed to invade the poorly prepared country as soon as partition is granted. He is made commander of the Israeli forces just before the war begins.

Director

Melville Shavelson Photo
Melville Shavelson

Top cast

Yehuda Efroni Photo
Yehuda Efroni as Man with soda bottles
Senta Berger Photo
Senta Berger as Magda Simon
Luther Adler Photo
Luther Adler as Jacob Zion
Frank Latimore Photo
Frank Latimore as 1st U.N. Officer
1080p.BluRay
1.24 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
2 hr 26 min
Seeds ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by shakercoola 5 / 10

In plain light an opportunity missed

An American drama; A story about an American soldier who led a battalion of fledging Israeli Defence in the late 1940s. This epic biopic is based on the true story of American-born U. S. Colonel David "Mickey" Marcus, who was enlisted by the Israelis to perform the difficult task of preparing their fledgling nation for battle during Israel's struggle for independence. It has a good production standard with a great musical score and superb photography. However, it falls short in getting down to the proper work of storytelling on the film's main theme and relies on flashbacks for exposition and superficial melodrama about a relationship. Pity, because Kirk Douglas was well cast, and he portrays the adventurous soldier-of-fortune with distinction. John Wayne plays a composite character that hardly makes an impact on the story.
Reviewed by mts43 6 / 10

Disappointing, could have should have been much better.

This could have been so much better if the screenplay had stuck to the facts, but instead it had to devote a lot of screen time to a romance between Marcus and an Israeli woman that probably never happened. At least all the extraneous romance in Preminger's "Exodus" can be blamed on the Leon Uris novel, but this was supposed to be a true story. The direction of the film was also listless.
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