Hello. Here is today's movie. I hope you like it and watch it tonight.
CAST A GIANT SHADOW
At Christmastime 1947 the Haganah underground group approaches the Jewish Mickey Marcus, former American military lawyer to assist the
future Israeli army. He finally agrees and tells his wife, who is upset, as she
thinks the Israelis can’t win. She thinks back to when he served during World
War II. Marcus finagles his way across the Channel into France after D-Day,
without orders and is arrested by his commanding general. Back in 1947, the
Pentagon says he can only go to Palestine if he goes incognito. When he arrives
in Palestine, the bus he travels on is ambushed by the Arabs. He is greeted with some suspicion by the
Haganah, but after he assists in helping some illegal refugees land, he earns
some respect. Marcus goes on a tour of Haganah positions and reflects back on
when he helped in the liberation of Dachau concentration camp. Marcus leads a
raid to destroy an illegal Arab arms dump. Marcus keeps pushing to unify the
different Jewish forces into a united army. He continues observing, writes
manuals for the Israeli army and runs the Arab gauntlet into Jerusalem. His wife miscarries their child. In Jerusalem, Mickey resists temptation
from his female Haganah handler, Magdha. Marcus returns to New York for a time
and thinks back to when he was awarded the OBE. He returns to Palestine with a
planeload of arms. The Haganah and Palmach agree to serve under a unified
command. Israel declares its independence and Marcus succumbs to a night with Maghda.
The next day, May 15, 1948, Marcus, Gen. Asher and David Ben-Gurion meet and discuss the overwhelming Arab advantage.
[1:27:14 to 1:28:56] Israel is attacked on all fronts, but they fight back with
everything they’ve got. Marcus leads an attack with improvised weapons that
stops an Egyptian armored attack. He is recalled to help save Jerusalem and is
put in charge of all forces in the area.
He helps organize an attack on Latrun, where the Arab Legion has cut off
the supply line to the city. The attack
is repulsed due to overwhelming Arab strength and lack of Israeli training.
Marcus proposes building a new supply road through a narrow valley. Working 24
hours a day the new road is built and the supplies start flowing again to feed
Jerusalem. Marcus decides to end the affair with Maghda. On the last night before the cease fire
takes effect, Marcus is killed by an Israeli sentry because he did not know how
to respond to the challenge in Hebrew.
.
A good, if somewhat
sentimentalized biopic. Marcus is presented as the American “saviour’ of
Israel, which is certainly an exaggeration. The film also tacks on domestic
quarrels and a love affair to what is essentially a war movie.
This scene is after the
proclamation of the state of Israel, which was on May14, 1948 as per Historic
Palestine, Israel and the Emerging Palestinian Autonomous Areas ed. by
Laura S. Etheredge (Britanica Publishing, New York, 2011) at page 69. The next
scene after this at 1:29:00 says May 16
Director = Melville Shavelson
Producer = Melville Shavelson
Screenplay = Melville Shavelson
Released = March 30, 1966
Runtime = 2 hours 26 minutes.
Starring =
Kirk Douglas as “Mickey” Marcus
Angie Dickinson as Emma Marcus
Senta Berger as Magda
Yul Brynner as Asher
Stathis Giallelis as Ram Oren
John Wayne as The General
Frank Sinatra as Vince
Gordon Jackson as McAffee
James Donald as Saphir
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