Mivtsa Yonatan (1977)

Director:

Menahem Golan

Writers:

Ken Globus (dialogue)
Menahem Golan (writer)

Release Date:

27 January 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Tagline:

The world watched... The world waited... And then the world cheered

Plot:

In July 1976, an Air France flight from Tel-Aviv to Paris via Athens was hijacked and forced to land in Entebbe...

Plot Keywords:

Hostage | Uganda | Terrorist | Israel | Terrorism

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Yehoram Gaon	...	Col. Yonatan Netanyahu
Gila Almagor	...	Nurit Aviv
Assi Dayan	...	Shuki (as Assaf Dayan)
Klaus Kinski	...	Wilfried Boese
Sybil Danning	...	Halima
Arik Lavie	...	Gen. Dan Shomron
Shmuel Rodensky	...	Family Representative
Shaike Ophir	...	Gadi Arnon (as Shai K. Ophir)
Reuven Bar-Yotam	...	Avraham Ben-David
Gabi Amrani	...	Maj. Gen. Benny Peled (as Gaby Amrani)
Mark Heath	...	Idi Amin Dada
Henry Czarniak	...	Michel Bacos (as Henri Czarniak)
Rolf Eden	...	Air France Co-Pilot
Shoshana Shani	...	Alma Raviv
Oded Teomi	...	Dan Zamir

Also Known As:

Entebbe: Operation Thunderbolt
Operation Thunderbolt

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

Israel

Language:

Hebrew | English | German | Arabic

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Eilat, Israel

Trivia:

Col. Yonatan Netanyahu was the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, the future Israeli prime minister.

Goofs:

Continuity: Exterior shots of an actual Air France Airbus A300 are accurately used at the beginning of the movie. Once the plane lands in Benghazi and for the rest of the movie, a Boeing 707 in grossly inaccurate Air France colors is shown, supposedly depicting the same aircraft.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Medurat Hashevet (2004)

Soundtrack:

Eretz Tzvi

The best action movie ever made in Israel

Mivtza Yehonatan (or as it is better known around the world, Entebbe Operation), in which the Israeli army managed to take over the Entebbe airport in Uganda, to free all hostages of the kidnapped Air France plane and to bring (almost) everybody home in one piece, is a story told a million times over, was made into a very bad Hollywood action movie and was used as the basis for countless B-movies. This version, however, is unique. To begin with, many of the key characters of the operation (Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin and Yigal Alon, all of whom played key rolls in the decision making process of this operation) were acting as themselves. Secondly, the Israeli army actively participated in the making of the movie, thus making the level of realism higher than most other action movies ever made. Third, Yoram Globus, in his break-through movie (that opened the gates of big-time Hollywood for him) proves that he can direct a good action movie, based on a great story, and coming out on top of his game.

All in all, a great movie to watch.

9 out of 10 in my book-keeping.