One of the few Hollywood films to deal with the Israeli / Palestinian problem, and reasonably controversial at the time, Cast a Giant Shadow is not particularly remembered today, which is a big surprise given the A-list talent on show - Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner and Angie Dickinson.  The film dealt with the foundation of the state of Israel and ran for well over two hours - but, as was not uncommon at the time, the lengthy movie featured a very short score, less than half an hour in fact.  Back in those days composers (or, more to the point, producers and directors) realised that a score can have so much more impact if used intelligently but sparsely, rather than the wall-to-wall sonic wallpaper to which we have now become accustomed.

The score was by the late Elmer Bernstein, especially prolific at the time of the film's release, 1966.  It opens with a punchy, aggressive "Prologue", very much in keeping with the composer's more full-bodied music, and particularly impressive.  Much of the rest of the score contains a sizeable amount of traditional Jewish stylings to the cues, lending a somewhat sprightly, dance-like quality to it; it has a surface-level similarity with Jerry Goldsmith's Masada in this respect, though the two composers had such resolutely strong musical personalities that you're not likely to mix the two scores up!  The Jewish influence is heard most obviously in the titular sixth track, a jaunty dance piece with lyrics in both English and Hebrew, which is a bit strange; but there are elements elsewhere too.

Sometimes, a more typical Bernstein score bursts out: the lilting, poignant "Magda" shows admirable restraint, with the material later reprised in "The Road to Jerusalem", a cue which introduces rather darker material which is to dominate the second half of the album.  (In fact, the album's two halves are separated by the humorously dated, but pleasant enough, song "Love Me True", written by Bernstein and sung by Vince Hill.)  "The Gathering of Forces" is a jagged action cue featuring distinctly Stravinskyan stylings, though always remaining unmistakably Bernstein's.  The atmosphere is continued with the even more jagged "Victory on the Beach".  

This is far from classic Bernstein, but contains much of interest to his fans, and is certainly a very entertaining album.  It was one of Varese Sarabande's earliest releases for the revamped CD Club in 2002 (though had been briefly available on CD many years beforehand on another label).  It's certainly recommended to fans of the composer, and an example to those who aren't so familiar with his work of him doing something epic which isn't The Ten Commandments, The Great Escape or The Magnificent Seven!