21 Hours at Munich (1976) (TV)

Director:

William A. Graham

Writers:

Serge Groussard (book)
Howard Fast (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

7 November 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Sport | Thriller

Plot:

A dramatization of the incident in 1972 when Arab terrorists broke into the Olympic compound in Munich and murdered 11 Israeli athletes. |

Plot Keywords:

Olympics | Munich Olympics | Munich Germany | Terrorism | Based On Book

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 nomination

Cast

William Holden	...	Chief of Police Manfred Schreiber
Shirley Knight	...	Annaliese Graese
Franco Nero	...	Issa
Richard Basehart	...	Chancellor Willy Brandt
Anthony Quayle	...	General Zvi Zamir
Noel Willman	...	Interior Minister Bruno Merk
Georg Marischka	...	Hans Dietrich Genscher
Paul L. Smith	...	Israeli Gutfreund (as Paul Smith)
Martin Gilat	...	Moshe Weinberger
Else Quecke	...	Golda Meir
Michael Degen	...	Mohammed Khadif
James Hurley	...	Avery Brundage
Günther Maria Halmer	...	Andrei Spitzer (as Gunther Halmer)
Djamchid 'Jim' Soheili	...	Touny (as Djamchio Soheili)
Walter Kohut	...	Feldhaus

Also Known As:

Twenty-One Hours at Munich (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:AA | Germany:16 | UK:15 (re-rating) (1987) | Singapore:NC-16 | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Filmways Pictures

Movie Connections:

Version of One Day in September (1999)

Soundtrack:

Osse Shalom

True Story Is Well Told

This film has the look of a theater film instead of a made for television film. Overall it is very satisfying. William Holden does a very good job portraying the West German Police Captain in charge. The supporting members around him are very good as well.

The Black September kidnapping attempt of part of the Isreali Olympic team at the 1972 Munich Olympic games is not just a tragedy, but cast a bit of a shadow on the Olympics first visit to Germany since the 1936 Nazi affair. Unfortunately, terrorism seems to have gotten even worse than this incident, but this film tells the story very well about 1972 terrorism.

I watched this on an HD broadcast and am very impressed with the quality of the film picture in HD for this 1976 production. The film feels quite authentic, and looks quite so being done only 4 years after the actual events. The Director of this film has over 130 TV & Movie credits in his career and his work here is as good as any on his resume.