Backdrop fallback

Cast a Giant Shadow

Cast a Giant Shadow

Share

Cast a Giant Shadow

"Outnumbered - unarmed - unprepared - they stunned the world with their incredible victory!"

1966

2h 26m

6.4(62 votes)

War

Drama

Overview

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.

Links & Resources

Social & External

Production Companies

Batjac Productions

United Artists

The people behind it

Cast & crew

10 featured cast members

Starring

Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas

Col. David 'Mickey' Marcus

John Wayne

John Wayne

Gen. Mike Randolph

Senta Berger

Senta Berger

Magda Simon

Angie Dickinson

Angie Dickinson

Emma Marcus

James Donald

James Donald

Maj. Safir

Yul Brynner

Yul Brynner

Asher Gonen

Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Vince Talmadge

Stathis Giallelis

Stathis Giallelis

Ram Oren

Luther Adler

Luther Adler

Jacob Zion

Gordon Jackson

Gordon Jackson

James MacAfee

Creative team

Directed by: Melville Shavelson
Written by: Ted Berkman
Melville Shavelson
Produced by: Melville Shavelson

Similar Movies

Zero Motivation

Zero Motivation

Filmmaker Talya Lavie steps into the spotlight with a dark comedy about everyday life for a unit of young female Israeli soldiers. The human resources office at a remote desert base serves as the setting for this cast of characters, who bide their time pushing paper, battling for the top score in Minesweeper, and counting down the minutes until they can return to civilian life. Amidst their boredom and clashing personalities, issues of commitment—from friendship to love and country—are handled with humor and sharp-edged wit.

Bloomfield

Bloomfield

An aging soccer player has a part-time girlfriend, a young fan, and doubts about throwing a game.

The Discovery of Heaven

The Discovery of Heaven

Disappointed with humanity, God wants to revoke his contract with humanity and wants to take back the stone tablets containing the ten commandments. To this end an angel is sent out to affect the personal lives of three humans so an appropriate child may be conceived.

Munich

Munich

During the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. In retaliation, the Israeli government recruits a group of Mossad agents to track down and execute those responsible for the attack.

Inside Gaza

Inside Gaza

Free access to the Gaza Strip has remained closed to international journalists since the war began on October 7, 2023. AFP's permanent reporters are among the few professional witnesses to have experienced this conflict from the inside. They have watched, filmed, photographed, testified, all whilst struggling to ensure their own survival. From their exile, they recount this war, which is the deadliest ever recorded for members of the press.

September 11

September 11

Eleven directors from eleven countries each contribute an eleven-minute short reflecting on the events of 11 September 2001: A village teacher in Iran tries to explain to her young students what's happened; city kids in Burkina Faso think they've spotted Osama bin Laden; a deaf Frenchwoman in Manhattan writes a Dear John letter to a man who left that morning for work at the World Trade Center; a Chilean remembers Allende; events recall other deaths; a mother endures more than her son's death. Tones vary, as do the locales. Most concern coming to terms with the events of the day, but at least one confronts the viewer with tragedy and death.

Exodus

Exodus

Ari Ben Canaan, a passionate member of the Jewish paramilitary group Haganah, attempts to transport 600 Jewish refugees on a dangerous voyage from Cyprus to Palestine on a ship named the Exodus. He faces obstruction from British forces, who will not grant the ship passage to its destination.

The Band's Visit

The Band's Visit

A small Egyptian police band travels to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center, only to find themselves stuck in the wrong town.

Waltz with Bashir

Waltz with Bashir

An Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments

Escaping death, a Hebrew infant is raised in a royal household to become a prince. Upon discovery of his true heritage, Moses embarks on a personal quest to reclaim his destiny as the leader and liberator of the Hebrew people.

Foxtrot

Foxtrot

A troubled family must face facts when tragedy strikes their son's desolate military post.

But Where Is Daniel Wax?

But Where Is Daniel Wax?

10 years after he left Israel and "played it big-time in America", Benny Shpitz returns for a visit, self-exploring his youth, friends, dreams, beliefs and idol, Daniel Wax, who symbolized the "beautiful Israeli". Shpitz finds out his friends are melancholic, unsatisfied with marriage life, hiding a vast hole in their sole. In a wider context, Israel post 67' will no longer be the society that it was meant to be.

Love Life

Love Life

A married young academic falls under the sexual thrall of a much older man whose air of jaded ennui conceals a secret desire for vengeance.

Free Zone

Free Zone

Rebecca, an American who has been living in Jerusalem for a few months now, has just broken off her engagement. She gets into a cab driven by Hanna, an Israeli. But Hanna is on her way to Jordan, to the Free Zone, to pick up a large sum of money.

Jerusalem 24/4/74

The line between documentary and narrative filmmaking is blurred in this film by director, Asher Tlalim. In the aftermath of Israel’s devastating and deeply traumatic 1973 Yom Kippur War, Tlalim shines a light on post-war Israeli reality through the story of a widow, portrayed by the director’s then-wife, Miri Tlalim, who is carrying the child of her partner who had died in combat. The widow’s storyline intertwines with that of the camera crew shadowing her and led by director, Asher Tlalim. Interwoven with both storylines is a range of archival footage which captures and highlights Israeli reality along the paper-thin fault line between the famously back-to-back Israeli Memorial and Independence Day.

Iron Eagle II

Iron Eagle II

Chappy Sinclair is called to gather together a mixed Soviet/U.S. strike force that will perform a surgical strike on a massively defended nuclear missile site in the Middle East. Chappy finds that getting the Soviet and U.S. Pilots to cooperate is only the most minor of his problems as he discovers someone in the Pentagon is actively sabotaging his mission.

Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus Christ Superstar

As played out by a theatre troupe, the last days of Jesus Christ are depicted from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, his betrayer. As Jesus' following increases, Judas begins to worry that Jesus is falling for his own hype, forgetting the principles of his teachings and growing too close to the prostitute Mary Magdalene.

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem

The trial story of Viviane Amsalem's five year fight to obtain her divorce in front of the only legal authority competent for divorce cases in Israel, the Rabbinical Court.

Dancing Arabs

Dancing Arabs

A young Arab is caught between cultures as he is sent to a prestigious Jewish boarding school in Israel in the 1980s.

Lost Islands

Lost Islands

A family with five kids in the 80s get into a crisis when twin brothers fall in love with the same girl.

Recommended Movies

Waiting for Anya

Waiting for Anya

During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.

The Last Rifleman

The Last Rifleman

A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.

The Scarlet and the Black

The Scarlet and the Black

Fr. Hugh O'Flaherty is a Vatican official in 1943-45 who has been hiding downed pilots, escaped prisoners of war, and Italian resistance families. His activities become so large that the Nazis decide to assassinate him the next time he leaves the Vatican.

The One That Got Away

The One That Got Away

Based on the true story of Oberleutnant Franz von Werra, the only German prisoner of war captured in Britain to escape back to Germany during the Second World War.

The Monuments Men

The Monuments Men

Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on seven over-the-hill, out-of-shape museum directors, artists, architects, curators, and art historians who went to the front lines of WWII to rescue the world’s artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their rightful owners. With the art hidden behind enemy lines, how could these guys hope to succeed?

The Devil's Brigade

The Devil's Brigade

At the onset of World War II, American Lt. Col. Robert Frederick is put in charge of a unit called the 1st Special Service Force, composed of elite Canadian commandos and undisciplined American soldiers. With Maj. Alan Crown leading the Canadians and Maj. Cliff Bricker the acting head of the American contingent, there is initial tension -- but the team comes together when given a daunting mission that few would dare to attempt.

Devotion

Devotion

The harrowing true story of two elite US Navy fighter pilots during the Korean War. Their heroic sacrifices would ultimately make them the Navy's most celebrated wingmen.

The Boy in the Woods

The Boy in the Woods

The remarkable true-life survival story of a Jewish boy hiding and being hunted in the forests of Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, based on Maxwell Smart's memoir.

The Codes of War

The Codes of War

War stories about family, ethics and honor include the true story of two U.S. Marines who in a span of six seconds, must stand their ground to stop a suicide truck bomb, a Navy Corpsman who attempts to hold on to his humanity, and a WW2 soldier who gets separated from his squad and is forced to re-evaluate his code.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai

The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

Paths of Glory

Paths of Glory

A commanding officer defends three scapegoats on trial for a failed offensive that occurred within the French Army in 1916.

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

A dramatization of the American general and his court martial for publically complaining about High Command's dismissal and neglect of the aerial fighting forces.

Henry V

Henry V

In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

During a raid on Germany, a British bomber crew is forced to bail out after their plane is damaged. They land in Holland, where they're aided by Dutch civilians.

Operation Mincemeat

Operation Mincemeat

In 1943, two British intelligence officers concoct Operation Mincemeat, wherein their plan to drop a corpse with false papers off the coast of Spain would fool Nazi spies into believing the Allied forces were planning to attack by way of Greece rather than Sicily.

Indivisible

Indivisible

Upon returning from serving in the U.S. Army, Chaplain Darren Turner faces a crisis that shatters his Family and Faith in God but through the help of his fellow soldiers, he returns to his faith and family

Courage Under Fire

Courage Under Fire

A US Army officer, who made a "friendly fire" mistake that was covered up, has been reassigned to a desk job. He is tasked to investigate a female chopper commander's worthiness to be awarded the Medal of Honor. At first all seems in order. But then he begins to notice inconsistencies between the testimonies of the witnesses...

Emperor

Emperor

As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.

Palestine 36

Palestine 36

Year 1936. As villages across Palestine rise against British colonial rule, Yusuf drifts between his rural home and the restless energy of Jerusalem, longing for a future beyond the growing unrest. But history is relentless. With rising numbers of Jewish immigrants escaping antisemitism in Europe and some arriving with nefarious Zionist-colonial ambitions, and the Palestinian population uniting in the largest and longest uprising against Britain’s 30-year dominion, all sides spiral towards inevitable collision in a decisive moment for the British Empire and the future of the entire region.

Fast Girls

Fast Girls

A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.