Victory at Entebbe (1976) (TV)

Director:

Marvin J. Chomsky

Writer:

Ernest Kinoy (writer)

Release Date:

13 December 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | History | Thriller

Plot:

An Air France airplane is hijacked by the PLO due the large number of Israeli and Jewish passengers...

Plot Keywords:

Airplane | Jewish | Captain | Hotel | Boyfriend Girlfriend Relationship

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 nomination

Cast

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

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

David L. Wolper Productions

Trivia:

The commander of the Israeli paratroopers, Lt Col Yonatan Netanyahu (played by Richard Dreyfuss) was the brother of Israeli political leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Yonni, as friends knew him, was the only member of the platoon to die during the actual raid when he was struck in the back by a sniper's bullet.

Goofs:

Continuity: 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).

Quotes:

[before the Israelis are separated from the other hostages]
Benjamin Wise: Mother, you have a British passport. You stay with the others!
Etta Grossman-Wise: Don't be foolish. They have my Israeli identification card. Besides, it says: Etta Grossman-Wise. Even a German might suspect something.

Movie Connections:

Version of Mivtsa Yonatan (1977)

Other versions are better, but see them all

This and "Raid on Entebbe" were American all-star takes on the Entebbe rescue. The definitive movie is "Operation Thunderbolt" (in IMDb under its Hebrew name, "Mivtsa Yonatan"). It was the only one made with the cooperation of the Israeli government, and has Israelis in all the Israeli roles.

For movie buffs, though, it's fun spotting well-known actors (like Burt Lancaster) here and in "Raid" whose Judaism was downplayed or concealed by the studios earlier in their careers.

For Star Trek fans, Theodore Bikel (Worf's father) has a major role and Bibi Besch (Dr. Carol Marcus in Star Trek II) appears in passing.