(Edit: removed the wiki on Col. Marcus.
Spoiler.)
ANOTHER frikkin' snowstorm. Third in less than 2 weeks. Lotsa time to watch some good movies.
Kirk Douglas as Col. "Mickey" Marcus impresses me in this one. And the cast includes so many other notables, it almost seems like one of those "ensemble cast" movies: John Wayne, Yul Brynner, Frank Sinatra, Angie Dickinson, James Donald, Senta Berger, Topol.
It is necessary to put the politics aside in this case, in order to let the story itself make its own impression. Col. "Mickey" Marcus was a US Army veteran, and something of a hero already, when the would-be State of Israel came calling. Always hovering above the plot in this film is the way the British were incompetently handling their own departure at the end of their protectorate duties in Palestine. And as so often happens in stories and in real life, when all seems lost, there is an "ace in the hole." Mostly, I enjoy this film as a tribute to Col. Marcus and his compatriots, against very long odds. It's good stuff.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060218/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt
