Marcus is an Army Reserve Colonel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, who was recently released from active duty and is now working in New York City. He is approached by a Haganah agent, Major Safir, who requests his assistance in preparing Israeli troops to defend the newly declared State against an invasion by its Arab neighbors.
Marcus is refused permission by the Pentagon to go, unless he travels as a civilian. The Haganah gives him a false passport with the alias "Michael Stone". As "Michael Stone", he arrives in Israel to be met by a Haganah member, Magda Simon.
Marcus, who parachuted into occupied France during World War II and helped to organize the relief mission for one of the first Nazi concentration camps liberated by American troops, is initially viewed with suspicion by some Haganah soldiers. But after he leads a commando raid on an Arab arms dump and assists in a landing of illegal refugees, he is more accepted. After preparing training manuals for the troops, he returns to New York, where his wife has suffered a miscarriage....
Directed by Melville Shavelson
Produced by Melville Shavelson
Written by Ted Berkman (book)
Melville Shavelson (screenplay)
Starring Kirk Douglas
Senta Berger
Stathis Giallelis
James Donald
Yul Brynner
Frank Sinatra
John Wayne
Angie Dickinson
Chaim Topol
Michael Hordern
Music by Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography Aldo Tonti
Edited by Bert Bates
Gene Ruggiero