Product Description

Part fact, part fiction, Cast a Giant Shadow powerfully dramatizes Israel's heroic 1947-48 struggle for independence. Both realistic war story and passionate romance, it features an all-star cast, including Kirk Douglas, Senta Berger and Angie Dickinson, as well as Yul Brynner, John Wayne and Frank Sinatra in notable supporting roles. After a brilliant career with the U.S. army, WWII hero and Jewish American Mickey Marcus (Douglas) is called to the new state of Israel to build an army capable of withstanding its Arab foes. Against the wishes of his wife (Dickinson), Mickey makes the journey and begins transforming a rag-tag underground army into a first-class fighting machine. But as the threat of war looms, Mickey must also confront his growing attraction to beautiful activist Magda Simon (Berger).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10669 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-02-05
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Hebrew
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 138 minutes

Amazon.com
Cast a Giant Shadow is based on Ted Berkman's biography of Colonel Mickey Marcus, the American soldier who served as an adviser in the fight to establish the state of Israel in 1948. Marcus (played by Kirk Douglas) must decide whether to settle into peacetime America or follow his more natural, combative instincts abroad--a dilemma symbolized by a love triangle involving wife Angie Dickinson and Senta Berger as a soldier whom he falls for in Palestine. Although lavish and spectacular, especially in the war scenes--filmed in the actual Middle Eastern locations in which they occurred--Cast a Giant Shadow is not entirely authentic. Moreover, in the light of later troubles in the region, not everyone will find heartwarming this depiction of plucky little Israel coping against Arab foes who are barely depicted as human throughout the film. Still, it's an impressive enough relic of epic 1960s cinema, with cameos by Yul Brynner, John Wayne, and Frank Sinatra. --David Stubbs

Customer Reviews

a true story with a tragic death [that of col. marcus]
i was an 11 year old when the events in this movie took place. col. marcus was often a guest at our house, prior to going to help israel. my father was a member of the nypd, and was one of the pallbearers for col. marcus. in addition to that, he was also involved in helping the israelis get weapons [pistols, ammo, and radios]. i saw this movie whwn it 1st came out, and memories were refreshed. i also visited israel, and went to latrun and up the 'burma road' to jerusalem. to this day, there are the remnants of military vehicles destroyed in battle by the arab forces, which entirely out manned and outgunned the fledgling israeli army. one of the results of col. marcus' untimely death was the mandatory learning of hebrew for all new immigrants, no exceptions! despite all the negative reviews, this reviewer knew col. marcus, and other fighters for the fledgling israeli army. this review refers to the book, the screen version, and the vhs tape. it is worth buying this movie.

Cast a Giant CAST
First off, this film contains a rousing score by Elmer Bernstein. It is brilliant. Melville Shavelson wrote and directed this sprawling biographical action picture about (Colonel) "Mickey" Marcus (Kirk Douglas), a West Point graduate and an adviser to President Roosevelt during W.W.II, who, at the request of the Israelis, went to there in the late 40s to re-organize their army. In this account, based on a book by Ted Berkman, Mickey Marcus is the master strategist who leads the Israelis to victory in the war with the Arabs. Melville Shavelson admires him, making him the cool but enigmatic leader. Shavelson is very eager to please the audience enough to throw in numerous guest stars, such as Frank Sinatra and Yul Brynner, and agonizes over Mickey's moral conflict between Angie Dickinson, the wife he leaves at home in the U.S., and Senta Berger, the female warrior he takes up with. Even those willing to accept the hours of incoherence and banality may recoil at the obscenity of being asked to experience the horrors of Dachau as reflected in John Wayne's bleary eyes. It also features Topol, James Donald, Stathis Giallelis, Ruth White, Gordon Jackson, Luther Adler, Gary Merrill, and Jeremy Kemp. Get the soundtrack.

Captures the spirit that founded Israel
Reviewers need to be aware that films of history the sooner they are filmed to the event can often catch the mood/look of the time period better than today with our myriad of special effects but no heart. "Cast a Giant Shadow" does this.

A great war film that shows how technotactically the "edge" on the battlefield goes to those who can get the best mechanical advantage---the Israelis need a main supply route open to feed Jerusalem (I have actually walked these steep defiles) and tries to armor plate trucks and this doesn't work against ambushers waiting for them. This serves as a warning that the U.S. Army cannot make the same mistake of basing itself on restricted to roads, vulnerable heavy armored cars as some seem lusting for these days. David Ben-Gurion, Israeli Prime Minister knows the "center of gravity" is holding Jerusalem (same is true today) in order to have a rallying point for the new nation. He compels Marcus to find a way to win.

Col Marcus played by Kirk Douglas displays the dogged determination "if you first don't succeed, try, try again" so lacking in today's generation. He reminds the Israelites not to wallow in self-pity over their plight BUT TO DO SOMETHING to make things better. He tries to infantry attack Latrun without tracked armored vehicle fire support and fails to take the walled post (now the IDF tank museum) to bust open the road to Jerusalem. He does succeed in mobile warfare against Egyptian tanks using anti-tank guns mounted on jeeps. Eventually, Marcus finds a way----

I think the women in the film are sexy; Dickinson and Berger and add to the film in that they love their man, Marcus but fear for his safety as he does what has to be done because humanity insists it be done. The film reminds us that the true feelings many people have towards Israeli people would be exctinction as Marcus discovers at the death camps in Germany as a U.S. Army Paratroop officer. This prejudice is depicted well in the film and reminds us that freedom is not a "free" lunch. Someone has to pay for it, and that usually means our men in uniform. It also means helping them do their jobs as the film shows that getting support from your own people is not automatic. Marcus earns the respect of his Army but at a lot of struggle; what if today there are no men of vision willing to go this far to defend freedom?