"Exodus" & "Cast a Giant Shadow" are the only films I know which focus on Israel's War for Independence. "Exodus" was too talky, "Cast a Giant Shadow" should have been a great film, up there with CB DeMille's 1959 version of "The Buccaneer", or the 1932 version of "All Quiet on the Western Front". Yet "Cast a Giant Shadow" was virtually ignored when released.
I remember in 1969 the director was on Johnny Carson and "Cast a Giant Shadow" came up, the director began explaining the plot and that the film had Yul Brenner, Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Senta Berger, Angie Dickersen. Seated next to the director was an earlier guest, and he thought the "Cast a Giant Shadow" was a great idea, he wanted to know when the film woulded be released. Then was told it had been released two years earlier. The director then explained why he believed the film was panned. He answered; it was because it contained an important scene were Frank Sinatra gets killed.
Several years later my father told me a story that when the outside shots of the film Marty were being filmed in the Bronx, around Gunhill and White Plaines Roads, Ernest Borgnine was frequently heckled by bystanders who yelled, "Get lost, you're the guy who killed Frank Sinatra" (Here to Eternity)
