21 Hours at Munich (1976)

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

Director:

William A. Graham

Writers:

Edward Hume (screenplay), Howard Fast (screenplay)

Stars:

William Holden, Shirley Knight, Franco Nero

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
William Holden	...	Chief of Police Manfred Schreiber
Shirley Knight	...	Anneliese Graes
Franco Nero	...	Issa
Anthony Quayle	...	General Zvi Zamir
Richard Basehart	...	Chancellor Willy Brandt
Noel Willman	...	Interior Minister Bruno Merk
Georg Marischka	...	Genscher
Else Quecke	...	Golda Meir
Michael Degen	...	Mohammed Khadif
Djamchid 'Jim' Soheili	...	Touny (as Djamchid Soheili)
Walter Kohut	...	Feldhaus
Jan Niklas	...	Schreiber's Aide
Ernest Lenart	...	Ben Horin
Osman Ragheb	...	Prime Minister Sedki
James Hurley	...	Avery Brundage

Storyline

The infamous attack on Israeli athletes and coaches in the Olympic Village during the 1972 Munich Olympics is chronicled in this made-for-television movie and supplemented with archive footage from the actual games. Members of the Palestinian Black September Movement kill two and hold nine others as hostages to exchange for hundreds of Arab prisoners in Israeli jails. The Israeli government adheres to its policy of not negotiating with terrorists, and German Holocaust guilt will not permit West German officials to allow the terrorists to leave the country with the hostages. Therefore, it falls to Chief of Police Manfred Schreiber to delay fulfilling the Palestinian demands through on-going negotiation, but sooner or later he knows that tough decisions will have to be made.

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Plot Keywords:

year 1972 | reference to hermann goring | munich 1972 summer olympics | 1972 summer olympics | 1970s | 

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Taglines:

At 4:09 am on September 5, 1972, eleven Olympic athletes were taken hostage by terrorists. For the next 21 hours the world held its breath...

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Genres:

Drama | History | Sport | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This movie was shot in the actual locations of the hostage crisis, including the Olympic Village and Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base.

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Quotes

Interior Minister Bruno Merk: Mayor Troger, it's not just Munich - it's our whole country. Six million ghosts have come back to haunt us.

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Connections

Featured in Eric Falk: Sunshine-Judo Auf Ibiza (2014)

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Soundtracks

Osse Shalom
By Nurit Hirsch (as Nurit Hirsh)

User Reviews

A cold vision of a human tragedy

Accurate but cold vision of the frightful events that took place in Munich in 1972 when the Israeli delegation of athletes is kidnapped by a bunch of Arab terrorists.The movie tries to be a faithful documentary of this political disaster but although his serious and impartial view - a good point - the outcome is just a cold and not gripping retelling.

I give this a 5 (five).

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Hebrew

Release Date:

7 November 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Twenty-One Hours at Munich

Filming Locations:

Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Company Credits

Production Co:

Moonlight Productions, Filmways Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1