Victory at Entebbe (1976) (TV)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

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:

[at Entebbe Airport, as he sees a blue car and some men approaching the plane]
Aaron Olav: [excited] They're Israelis! They're going to get us out of here!
Benjamin Wise: I don't think they're Israelis.
Aaron Olav: No, they're Jews! You can tell! I'm telling you! It's alright!
[the female terrorists runs to the men and hugs them]
Benjamin Wise: I don't think they're Jews.
Aaron Olav: [surprised] Oh. Where do they come from?
Benjamin Wise: Probably Kampala. It's about 30 kilometers from here.
Nathan Haroun: Well, they're...
Aaron Olav: Arabs. Arabs... You can tell... Arabs.

Movie Connections:

Version of Mivtsa Yonatan (1977)

They should have stayed down! excellent film

I disagree.

I have seen all 3 films of this incident, all have merits.

This is the only one to truly show the bloodiness of the final shootout.

We really see people getting riddled with bullets and blood all over the place, the other 2 shy away from this.

As to the other matter, the Israelis shooting down hostages. well I have also read the book, and in reality, some hostages were caught in the crossfire and killed. They disobeyed directions and stood up.

This was not the fault of the Israeli soldiers, it was the stupidity of the hostages to not listen and obey.

In a counter-terrorist operation like this it is inevitable there will be casualties.

This is the calculated risk.

just because viewers mired on the unrealistic world of Hollywood dross where the good guys always give the bad guy a chance to draw his gun first, and never miss a shot, may not like it, it actually did happen and will happen.

This is the real world: sometimes innocent civilians who don't do as they are told in a counter terrorist situation will be killed, by either side.

They should have stayed down.