Raid on Entebbe (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Raid on Entebbe
Directed by	Irvin Kershner
Produced by	Daniel H. Blatt Edgar J. Scherick
Written by	Barry Beckerman
Starring	Peter Finch Charles Bronson Yaphet Kotto James Woods Robert Loggia
Music by	David Shire
Cinematography	Bill Butler
Distributed by	NBC
Release date(s)	9 January 1977
Running time	150 min.
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Raid on Entebbe is a 1977 TV movie directed by Irvin Kershner. It is based on an actual event: Operation Entebbe and the freeing of hostages at Entebbe Airport in Entebbe, Uganda on July 4, 1976. It was the last movie to be released featuring Academy Award-winning actor Peter Finch.

The movie was released shortly after a more hastily released made-for-television version came out - Victory at Entebbe (1976).

This version of Operation Entebbe is believed to be fairly accurate, although some details of the actual raid remain unclear and somewhat controversial even today. The basic facts of the rescue of hostages held when hijackers working for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine boarded and hijacked an Air France plane recounts the events and response of the Israeli government and the controversy that the rescue stirred.

This version shows the difficult deliberations held by the Cabinet of Israel to decide on a top-secret military raid on the Jewish Sabbath by commandos; a difficult and daring operation carried out over 2500 miles from home, and of course, an unwillingness of the Israeli government to give in to terrorist demands. One commando was killed (the operation commander Jonathan Netanyahu, brother of future Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu), three of hostages, and 45 soldiers under the then dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin. A fourth hostage, Dora Bloch, who had been taken to Mulago Hospital in Kampala, was murdered by the Ugandans on Idi Amin's orders.

v • d • e Irvin Kershner 1950s Stakeout on Dope Street • The Young Captives 1960s Hoodlum Priest • Face in the Rain • The Luck of Ginger Coffey • A Fine Madness • The Flim-Flam Man 1970s Loving • Up the Sandbox • S*P*Y*S • The Return of a Man Called Horse • Eyes of Laura Mars 1980s Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back • Never Say Never Again 1990s RoboCop 2 Productions American Perfekt (1999) Television Naked City (1958–1963) • The Rebel (1959–1961) • Cain's Hundred (1961–1962) • Ben Casey (1961–1966) • Kraft Suspense Theatre (1963–1965) • Raid on Entebbe (1977) • Amazing Stories (1985–1987) • SeaQuest DSV (1993)