The Jerusalem File

Last updated
The Jerusalem File
The Jerusalem File.jpg
Directed by John Flynn
Written by Troy Kennedy Martin
Produced byRam Ben Efraim
Starring Bruce Davison
Nicol Williamson
Cinematography Raoul Coutard
Edited by Norman Wanstall
Music by John Scott
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • 1972 (1972)
Running time
96 min
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Jerusalem File is a 1972 film directed by John Flynn. It stars Bruce Davison, Nicol Williamson, Daria Halprin, and Donald Pleasence. [1] The film only ever made it onto VHS in various dubbed or subtitled languages. It can be found on YouTube in English with Finnish subtitles.

Contents

Plot

American archaeology student David Armstrong (Bruce Davison) is studying at the University of Jerusalem. His old Arab friend from Yale University Rashid Rifaat ( Zeev Revah) draws him into a power struggle between rival Arab terrorist groups. Both are nearly killed in an assassination attempt on Rifaat who then goes into hiding. Professor Lang (Nicol Williamson) at the University tries to protect Armstrong and hides him at an archaeological dig at Qumran in the West Bank. He promises to help him him get back to America, but Major Samuels (Donald Pleasence) of the Israeli security agency Shin Bet confiscates Armstrong's passport. Samuels wants to use Armstrong to learn more about the organisation and leadership of the Arab groups and identify Rifaat as the leader of the West Bank Resistance. At Qumran the beautiful Nurit (Daria Halprin) seduces Armstrong to keep him loyal to their terrorist group and arrange a meeting with Rifaat. Amstrong goes back to Jerusalem and tries to contact Rifaat using a special coin he presents to a local antique dealer who is later killed. Professor Lang intercepts the coin. He tries to stop Armstrong and make him see sense, but Armstrong eventually succeeds and a meeting takes place in the desert with disastrous consequences. The story takes place after the 1967 Six Day War.

Cast

Production

Director John Flynn later recalled the original script was bad but Troy Kennedy Martin rewrote it and Flynn loved the result. The movie was shot in Israel. Flynn:

I stayed at the American Colony Hotel in east Jerusalem, further refining the script while waiting for the production money to come in. All the foreign journalists congregated in the bar of that hotel. So I’d be sitting there in that cavern, as they called it, with all these gentlemen of the press, getting the inside dope on what was really happening in Israel... I never saw Ian Hendry sober, but he somehow managed to function. He’d start with a couple of shots in the morning, but it didn’t seem to affect him. He’d say his lines clearly. Hendry was a perfectly functioning alcoholic when I worked with him. Nicol Williamson (who played an archaeologist) was a wild man too. Very heavy drinker. Late one night, Nicol got quite loaded and threatened to throw Bob Dylan off a hotel balcony! [2]

Reception

The Jerusalem File was met with mixed reception from critics. A. H. Weiler of The New York Times concluded his review stating, "The politics, the disparate motivations and the implicit drama of youth defeated by a world they don't want are only vaguely projected and are secondary to the chase and shoot-em-up action of The Jerusalem File." [1]

Flynn said the film "didn’t do well at the box office and has all but disappeared." [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irgun</span> Zionist paramilitary organization (1931–48)

The Irgun, or Etzel, was a Zionist paramilitary organization that operated in Mandatory Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the older and larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. The Irgun has been viewed as a terrorist organization or organization which carried out terrorist acts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zionist political violence</span> Violence or terrorism motivated by Zionism

Zionist political violence refers to acts of violence or terrorism committed by Zionists in support of establishing and maintaining a Jewish state in Palestine. These actions have been carried out by individuals, paramilitary groups, and the Israeli government, from the early 20th century to the present day, as part of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerusalem</span> City in the Southern Levant

Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the oldest cities in the world, and is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both the State of Israel and the State of Palestine claim Jerusalem as their capital city. Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there, and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Neither claim is widely recognized internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hafez al-Assad</span> President of Syria from 1971 to 2000

Hafez al-Assad was a Syrian statesman, military officer and revolutionary who served as the 18th president of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000. He had previously served as prime minister of Syria from 1970 to 1971 as well as regional secretary of the regional command of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party and secretary general of the National Command of the Ba'ath Party from 1970 to 2000. Hafez al-Assad was a key participant in the 1963 Syrian coup d'état, which brought the Syrian regional branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party to power in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King David Hotel bombing</span> 1946 terrorist attack in Jerusalem

The British administrative headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, housed in the southern wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, were bombed in a terrorist attack on July 22, 1946, by the militant right-wing Zionist underground organization Irgun during the Jewish insurgency. 91 people of various nationalities were killed, including Arabs, Britons and Jews, and 46 were injured.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amin al-Husseini</span> Palestinian Arab nationalist (1897–1974)

Mohammed Amin al-Husseini was a Palestinian Arab nationalist and Muslim leader in Mandatory Palestine. Al-Husseini was the scion of the al-Husayni family of Jerusalemite Arab nobles, who trace their origins to the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine war</span>

Killings and massacres during the 1948 Palestine war resulted in the deaths of hundreds of civilians and unarmed soldiers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afula</span> Place in Israel

Afula is a city in the Northern District of Israel, often known as the "Capital of the Valley" due to its strategic location in the Jezreel Valley. As of 2022, the city had a population of 61,519.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moses Wilhelm Shapira</span> 19th century antiquities dealer

Moses Wilhelm Shapira was a Jerusalem antiquities dealer and purveyor of both authentic and forged Semitic antiquities, including some allegedly Biblical artifacts, the most high profile of which was the Shapira Scroll. The shame brought about by accusations that he was involved in the forging of that specific allegedly ancient biblical text and the difficult situation created by the scandal drove him to suicide in 1884. Recent scholarship by Idan Dershowitz says that the Shapira Scroll may have been authentic and a predecessor to the canonical book of Deuteronomy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Yehuda Street bombings</span> Ben Yehuda Street, Jerusalem bombings

A series of attacks were perpetrated or ordered by Palestinian Arabs, some of them acting as suicide bombers, on Jewish targets in Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda Street from February 1948 onwards. Ben Yehuda Street was a major thoroughfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel Museum</span> National museum of Israel in Jerusalem

The Israel Museum is an art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading encyclopaedic museums. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, adjacent to the Bible Lands Museum, the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design Art school in Jerusalem, Israel

Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design is a public college of design and art located in Jerusalem. Established in 1906 by Jewish painter and sculptor Boris Schatz, Bezalel is Israel's oldest institution of higher education and is considered the most prestigious art school in the country. It is named for the Biblical figure Bezalel, son of Uri, who was appointed by Moses to oversee the design and construction of the Tabernacle. The art created by Bezalel's students and professors in the early 1900s is considered the springboard for Israeli visual arts in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Eisenman</span> American biblical scholar (born 1937)

Robert Eisenman is an American biblical scholar, historian, archaeologist, and poet. He is currently professor of Middle East religions, archaeology, and Islamic law and director of the Institute for the Study of Judaeo-Christian Origins at California State University Long Beach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malchiel Gruenwald</span> Israeli businessman and citizen journalist

Malchiel Gruenwald (1882–1968) was an Israeli hotelier, amateur journalist, and stamp collector, who came to public attention in 1953, when he accused an Israeli government employee, Rudolf Kastner, of having collaborated with the Nazis during the Holocaust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ze'ev Raban</span>

Ze’ev Raban (22 September 1890 – 19 January 1970), born Wolf Rawicki (Ravitzki), was a leading painter, decorative artist, and industrial designer of the Bezalel school style, and was one of the founders of the Israeli art world.

Vendyl Miller Jones was an American Noahide scholar who directed archaeological searches for biblical artifacts such as the Ark of the Covenant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaffa</span> Ancient port and city in Tel Aviv, Israel

Jaffa, also called Japho or Joppa in English, is an ancient Levantine port city now part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, located in its southern part. The city sits atop a naturally elevated outcrop on the Mediterranean coastline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Cohen (actor)</span> Israeli actor (1930–2016)

Jacques Cohen was an Israeli actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2 Samuel 15</span> Second Book of Samuel chapter

2 Samuel 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the Second Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the second part of Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the prophet Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter contains the account of David's reign in Jerusalem. This is within a section comprising 2 Samuel 9–20 and continued to 1 Kings 1–2 which deal with the power struggles among David's sons to succeed David's throne until 'the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon'.

References

  1. 1 2 Weiler, A. H. (February 3, 1972). "'The Jerusalem File' Arrives". The New York Times . Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  2. 1 2 Harvey F. Chartrand (2005). "Interview with John Flynn". Shock Cinema. pp. 26–29+46.