Victory at Entebbe (TV 1976)

An Air France airplane is hijacked by the PLO due the large number of Israeli and Jewish passengers. We follow the action both with the hostages as they cope with confinement and threatened... See full summary »

Director:

Marvin J. Chomsky

Writer:

Ernest Kinoy

Stars:

Helmut Berger, Theodore Bikel, Linda Blair

Nominated for 4 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Helmut Berger	...	German Terrorist
Theodore Bikel	...	Yakov Shlomo
Linda Blair	...	Chana Vilnofsky
Kirk Douglas	...	Hershel Vilnofsky
Richard Dreyfuss	...	Colonel Yonatan 'Yonni' Netanyahu
Stefan Gierasch	...	General Mordecai Gur
David Groh	...	Benjamin Wise
Julius Harris	...	President Idi Amin
Helen Hayes	...	Etta Grossman-Wise
Anthony Hopkins	...	Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
Burt Lancaster	...	Shimon Peres
Christian Marquand	...	Captain Dukas
Elizabeth Taylor	...	Edra Vilnofsky
Jessica Walter	...	Nomi Haroun
Harris Yulin	...	General Dan Shomron

Storyline

An Air France airplane is hijacked by the PLO due the large number of Israeli and Jewish passengers. We follow the action both with the hostages as they cope with confinement and threatened death, and the Israeli cabinet and military that must try to get them out.

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Plot Keywords:

airplane | jewish | loss of boyfriend | letter | father daughter relationship | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History | Thriller

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 December 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Unternehmen Entebbe

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

David L. Wolper Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

It was in production at about the same time as Raid on Entebbe, another TV production about the same incident. The shows aired on American TV less than a month apart.

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Goofs

The footage used to depict flight 139 on the ground shows a plane with the test color scheme Air France adopted only on its Airbus A300 (light blue line under the windows). All the other scenes show the older Air France colors (navy cheat-line on the windows).

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Quotes

Etta Grossman-Wise: Where do you think, Mr. Olav? You've had an extensive military background. Where do you think we're going?
Aaron Olav: What?
Etta Grossman-Wise: My son says Khartoum. On the other hand, this gentleman...
Nathan Haroun: Haroun.
Etta Grossman-Wise: ...says Somalia. And as for me... I think India!
Aaron Olav: India?
Etta Grossman-Wise: Why not? I've never been to India! They have erotic temples there, I'm told. I've never seen an erotic temple.
Aaron Olav: That's ridiculous! India? Who ever heard of being hijacked to India?
Etta Grossman-Wise: Well, everybody has an opinion. Now, it's your turn.
Aaron Olav: I don't know!
[...]

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Connections

Version of Raid on Entebbe (1976)

User Reviews

Okay.

After viewing both versions of the Entebbe rescue (the Encore Drama channel is showing both of them this month), I have to definitely say that this is the weaker of the two. While the true story is exciting and excellent, the bargain basement sets (most of this movie looks as though it were being filmed in an abandoned high school!), melodramatic overacting (Linda Blair and Liz Taylor I'm looking at you) and terrible Nazi caricatures really take away from the wonderful rescue story at hand. This is basically a soap opera, Hollywood version of a true story.

I'm sorry, but when Linda Blair walked around with that damn box of chocolates, I was ready to beat her up myself. If you want a great account of the Entebbe rescue, I'd highly recommend 'Raid on Entebbe' instead.