Saturday, August 28, 2010
I'm speaking of course about that 1966 classic about Israel's War of Independence, Cast a Giant Shadow. The film tells the, fairly historically accurate (as I'm given to believe), story of American WW2 vet Mickey Marcus, recruited to fight for what became Israel and named its first General in 2000 years. The star-studded cast alone is worth the rental, with Kirk Douglas in the starring role, and also featuring John Wayne, Yul Brynner, Frank Sinatra, Topol, Angie Dickinson, a mega-hot Senta Berger and others.
Campy at points, with some pretty dated effects and hokey fight scenes, it nevertheless has its moments. Here are a few of them, but by no means necessarily the best. These were just some I found interesting or entertaining. if you haven't seen the film, it's worth the rent. If it were made today it would be so full of moral equivocation and scenes ripped from the pages of revisionist historians with political axes to grind that it would be closer to fiction than this 1960's film. There seems to be a version available in parts on YouTube, but it is missing the beginning.
First, I bring you the Frank Sinatra bits, as Frank plays pilot of fortune Vince Talmadge. Marvel as he drops seltzer bottles on the enemy, then goes down with a panache rarely seen on film:
In this scene at the beginning of the film, Douglas (Marcus) is approached by a representative of the Haganah while out shopping for Christmas presents. "I'm an American, Major, that's my religion.":
In this scene, Kirk Douglas first receives a "message" from the British Ambassador, insisting that if the Jews would just be good, it would all be in their own best interest. Then John Wayne steps in with an American view:
Finally, in these two short scenes, the Ben-Gurion figure, for some reason named Jacob Zion in the film, tries to get across the significance of the City of Jerusalem. The issue is still topical:
Update: Well, whadaya know? By coincidence, Dave posted this about Sinatra's actual affinity for the Jews and Israel a couple of days ago.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Saturday Night Video: Frank Sinatra Admits He's an Antisemite, Yet Gives Life for Jewish State.
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Last week I posted from excerpts of the 1966 Hollywood drama about Israel's War of Independence, Cast a Giant Shadow. The star-studded cast lead by Kirk Douglas also features John Wayne, Yul Brynner, Frank Sinatra, Topol, Angie Dickinson, Senta Berger... Read More
Frank Sinatra wasn't an anti-semite by any stretch of the imagination. There's a rather famous story that after someone he knew made an anti-semitic comment to his face Sinatra reared back and punched him in the kisser. He was one of the few Americans who were Zionists and not Jewish who raised money for the nascent war effort in 1948 with Justice Brandeis. He was constantly in danger of being arrested for violating the embargo. At one point he delivered one million dollars in cash that had been raised in the United States to a dock going to Israel personally owing to that the FBI was watching every single Jewish Zionist who might be carrying the money. Frank Sinatra was a Zionist and likely a philosemite considering the sheer fervor of his support for Jewish sponsored causes.
Sorry, it was a joke. If you watch the scene you'll see he declares he's an antisemite (so as not to be left alone in the crowd), then proceeds to kissing a bunch of Jewish girls. Take a look at the link in the update for information on Frank's actual philosemitism.
Frank Sinatra was a good guy. 100%
Ever hear the joke from Shecky Green on how Sinatra once saved his life.
I read that Jay Leno says it's his favorite joke about Sinatra.
And a while ago, Don Rickles was on Letterman and Letterman wanted Rickles to tell the story, but Rickles being an older guy now didn't do the joke justice.
But again, Frank Sinatra was a real good guy, he helped many, many people.