He wasn't trying to be funny, he just got the movie wrong.
In the movie "Cast a giant Shadow" discussed above, many movie stars, including Sinatra and John Wayne, play small parts.
During the War of Independence, when they ran out of armaments, Israeli pilots actually tossed bottles out of planes hoping the sound it made at it fell to Earth would scare the Arabs on the ground.
There is a scene in CAGS where Sinatra plays one of those pilots going up with only seltzer bottles. Just before he is shot down by an Armed Egyptian plane in defiance he shoots the seltzer at the plane.
Oh..... sorry, ozzymandus.
"There is a scene in CAGS where Sinatra plays one of those pilots going up with only seltzer bottles. Just before he is shot down by an Armed Egyptian plane in defiance he shoots the seltzer at the plane."
One of my favorite movie scenes. One of those 'last great acts of defiance'.
Duh, oops. Sorry.