Victory at Entebbe (1976) Reviews

• If you like Soap Operas, this is the version to watch.

  dennisg-62010-02-16

  This is the Soap Opera version of the Raid on Entebbe. About half of this movie is poorly written, a real shame. I couldn't believe that this all-star cast would sign up to make a movie of this low caliber. I have watched all 3 Entebbe movies. As others have commented, the "Raid on Entebbe" is strongly on point for the story at hand (the rescue of 101 Israelis held by terrorists). "Operation Thunderbolt" is also on-point, and has many of the actual players playing themselves, but it is largely unfocused. So, for the people who want to get lost in the background, "Victory" is the pick. I wish they could have taken this cast, and had them perform the Raid on Entebbe script ... it would be incredible.

• Great story, bad movie

  Sulaco722005-07-28

  This is a bad movie. The real story of the Entebbe rescue was much more exciting and interesting than this. Everything about the movie, apart from the star-studded cast, screams low-budget. But even the stars can't save this movie: Kirk Douglas and Liz Taylor overact horribly. So does the guy who plays Idi Amin, but I suspect Amin was even worse in real life so I'll cut him some slack. Anthony Hopkins and Richard Dreyfuss perform well, though. The woman who plays the female German terrorist is a caricature of a Nazi. The characterization is paper-thin, though that is perhaps understandable given the number of characters. A lot of the dialogue is awful, a part near the beginning where Linda Blair is having an insipid conversation with her new beaux actually made me laugh out loud. The effort to humanize the male German terrorist was silly and pointless. I haven't seen the other two movies about Entebbe, but don't watch this one. Read a book about it instead.

• Okay.

  iloveperth2005-08-09

  After viewing both versions of the Entebbe rescue (the Encore Drama channel is showing both of them this month), I have to definitely say that this is the weaker of the two. While the true story is exciting and excellent, the bargain basement sets (most of this movie looks as though it were being filmed in an abandoned high school!), melodramatic overacting (Linda Blair and Liz Taylor I'm looking at you) and terrible Nazi caricatures really take away from the wonderful rescue story at hand. This is basically a soap opera, Hollywood version of a true story. I'm sorry, but when Linda Blair walked around with that damn box of chocolates, I was ready to beat her up myself. If you want a great account of the Entebbe rescue, I'd highly recommend 'Raid on Entebbe' instead.

• Famous event about flight from Tel-Aviv to Paris via Athens was hijacked and forced to land in Entebbe with very good cast

  ma-cortes2014-10-24

  This is one of 3 American/Jewish productions based on the notorious happening . Passable though a little boring dramatization based on a true story about a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by commandos of the Israel Defense Forces . An Air France flight is hijacked by the PFLP and German terrorists (Helmut Berger , Bibi Besch) the plane has about 100 Jewish passengers. This is the true as well as exciting story of a daring Israeli commando assault on the Entebbe Airport in Uganda to free hostages of a terrorist hijacking . The plane is grounded in Uganda but Israelis would not negotiate . Crew and passengers were kidnapped by dictator Idia Amin (this version Julius Harris plays Ugandan dictator Idi Amin) . The Jewish passengers were separated and held hostage in demand to release many terrorists held in Israeli prisons . The movie then shows how less than 500 soldiers (led by Colonel Yonatan 'Yonni' Netanyahu : Richard Dreyfuss ,he was the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, the future Israeli prime minister) actually flew so far and rescued the passengers in one of the most successful Military operations in history. The implacable operation is executed by expert Israeli commandos , they carry out the rescue of passengers held hostage by terrorist at Uganda's Entebbe Airport in 1976 . The world watched , The world waited , and then the world cheered . The film is based on the true facts and follows the events since the flight's takeoff and until the hostages' return to Israel. A compelling but slow-moving actioner all the more gripping because true . It is packed with thrills , drama , suspense and nice interpretations . The commander of the Israeli paratroopers, Lt Col Yonatan Netanyahu 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. All main star cast gives passable acting as well as support cast , such as : Helen Hayes , Elizabeth Taylor , Theodore Bikel , Anthony Hopkins , Linda Blair , Christian Marquand , Jessica Walter , Harris Yulin and Bibi Besch . Brief appearance by two great actors Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster as Shimon Peres . This is sixth of seven films that Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster made together . Special mention to actor Julius W Harris , he is awesome though overacting , he plays Ugandan President Idi Amin . Actor Godfrey Cambridge was selected to the play the role of General Idi Amin Dada, but died on the set from a heart attack early in the filming , then Julius took over the part , in the other production, "Raid on Entebbe (1977)," Yaphet Kotto plays Idi Amin. Both these actors played the Villains in the James Bond film "Live and Let Die (1973)" , Kotto the head villain and Harris his henchman . The motion picture was professionally directed by Marvin Chomsky (Holocaust)but in TV style . This is one of 3 American/Jewish productions based on the known deeds . The shows aired on American TV less than a month apart. It was in production at about the same time as Raid on Entebbe (1976) , another TV production about the same incident filmed by Irvin Kershner with Charles Bronson , Yaphet Kotto , Martin Balsam , Horst Buchholz , John Saxon , Jack Warden and Sylvia Sidney . Furthermore , Jewish production titled ¨Operation Thunderbolt¨ by Menahem Golan with Assaf Dayan , Klaus Kinski and Sybil Danning . The picture is well based on real events , they are the followings : Operation Entebbe was a mission carried out by commandos of the Israel Defense Forces (I(IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. A week earlier, on 27 June, an Air France plane with 248 passengers was hijacked, by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the German Revolutionary Cells, and flown to Entebbe, the main airport of Uganda. The local government supported the hijackers and dictator Idi Amin personally welcomed them. The hijackers separated the Israelis and Jews from the larger group and forced them into another room. That afternoon, 47 non-Israeli hostages were released. The next day, 101 more non-Israeli hostages were allowed to leave on board an Air France aircraft. More than 100 Israeli and Jewish passengers, along with the non-Jewish pilot Captain Bacos, remained as hostages and were threatened with death .The IDF acted on intelligence provided by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad . This threat led to the planning of the rescue operation. These plans included preparation for armed resistance from Ugandan military troops.The operation took place at night. Israeli transport planes carried 100 commandos over 2,500 miles (4,000 km) to Uganda for the rescue operation. The operation, which took a week of planning, lasted 90 minutes. 102 hostages were rescued. Five Israeli commandos were wounded and one, the unit commander, Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, was killed. All the hijackers, three hostages and 45 Ugandan soldiers were killed, and thirty Soviet-built MiG-17s and MiG-21s of Uganda's air force were destroyed. Kenyan sources supported Israel, and in the aftermath of the operation Idi Amin issued orders to retaliate and slaughter several hundred Kenyans present in Uganda. Operation Entebbe, which had the military codename Operation Thunderbolt, is sometimes referred to retroactively as Operation Jonathan in memory of the unit's leader, Yonatan Netanyahu. He was the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister of Israel. The narrator of the film states at the end of the film that it's unknown what happened to Dora Bloch -played by Sylvia Sidney-, who had been taken to the hospital. It was later learned that she was murdered in Kampala. Her remains were found outside of Kampala in 1979 and were flown to Israel for burial.

• Under Cover Of Darkness

  virek2132002-02-09

  It is not surprising that something as utterly dramatic and swift as Israel's lightning raid at Entebbe against a planeload of Palestinian hijackers holding over one hundred of their own should make for a movie. Instead, however, there were three, of which this is the first. This made-for-TV movie, which somehow bought together an all-star cast and was shot, edited, and aired within a mere five months of the Entebbe event, which happened under cover of darkness on July 4, 1976, shows some of the faults of being shot largely in a studio and on videotape (later transferred to film). But what we get, thanks to veteran TV director Marvin Chomsky and writer Ernest Kinoy, is a rather good account of perhaps the most dramatic anti-terrorist raid the world has ever seen. Burt Lancaster and Anthony Hopkins are matchless as Israeli leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, with Richard Dreyfuss contribuing his usual best as Colonel Yonni Netanyahu, the only casualty the Israeli military suffered during the raid. The cast also includes Kirk Douglas, Linda Blair, Elizabeth Taylor, Helen Hayes, Christian Marquand (as the Air France pilot), and Harris Yulin, among others. The only performance that seems full of ham to me is Julius Harris' as the ultra-notorious Ugandan president Idi Amin; it is so over the top (though perhaps that is a bit harsh, as the real Amin was far, far worse). This is a somewhat imperfect version of the story, but nevertheless worth the 7-out-of-10 rating it gets from me.