AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

ma-cortes 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.

bkoganbing Two films came out in the wake of the successful Israeli rescue of a lot of Jewish passengers on an Air France flight that was hijacked to the Ugandan capital of Entebbe that year. This one, Victory at Entebbe, had a lot more star power to it if you look at the cast list.The Seventies began the years of terrorism starting with the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. For reasons I can't explain, the left took up the cause of the Arabs and of Islam, societies which wouldn't let them operate, no way, no how. Maybe it's psychological or pathological, it sure ain't rational.The group that took the Air France passengers hostage were Germans, members of the Bader-Meinhoff gang which was a militant German leftist crowd. The idea these folks had was to trade their lives for the lives of Arab terrorists in Israeli and other western power's jails. To do they had the tacit cooperation of another loon who ran a country for a while, Idi Amin Dada of Uganda.All you need to know about that one you can see in Forest Whitaker's portrayal in The Last King of Scotland. Here though is the Idi Amin played by Julius Harris whose antics nauseated the civilized world. It's the Idi Amin I remember from the news.Anthony Hopkins plays Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who ironically would fall victim to extreme Judaism some 20 years later. This was his first time as Prime Minister and he's ably assisted by Burt Lancaster as Shimon Peres as Defense Minister. These two guys must have been flattered all to heck because they sure don't look like Hopkins and Lancaster.Working on a five day deadline the terrorists imposed, the Israeli military crafted a rescue that stunned and delighted the civilized world. 103 innocent Jewish lives were rescued from barbarism and death, there was no meek resignation in that generation of Jews. This film technically speaking was the fourth Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas joint project. They have no scenes together. Douglas and his wife played by Elizabeth Taylor play the parents of Linda Blair who is one of the passengers on the plane and who are part of a small group representing the families of the hostages meeting with Hopkins.One of the stories that got world attention was the murder of Dora Bloch played by Helen Hayes here. She was taken ill and removed to a Ugandan hospital and she was killed by the Ugandans in retaliation for the Israeli rescuers killing Ugandan troops who were protecting the terrorists.The best one I thought in the cast was Bibi Besch who played the only female among the terrorists. She looked every inch the part of a German whose antecedents were no doubt proud Hitler youth members. She practically is salivating when the Jews are separated out from the rest of the passengers for what she knows will be annihilation.Victory At Entebbe should be required viewing for anyone who has romantic notions about the nature of terror and the need for a state of Israel.

enoent This and "Raid on Entebbe" were American all-star takes on the Entebbe rescue. The definitive movie is "Operation Thunderbolt" (in IMDb under its Hebrew name, "Mivtsa Yonatan"). It was the only one made with the cooperation of the Israeli government, and has Israelis in all the Israeli roles.For movie buffs, though, it's fun spotting well-known actors (like Burt Lancaster) here and in "Raid" whose Judaism was downplayed or concealed by the studios earlier in their careers.For Star Trek fans, Theodore Bikel (Worf's father) has a major role and Bibi Besch (Dr. Carol Marcus in Star Trek II) appears in passing.

yenlo If one is a history buff and enjoys reading about and viewing films made about historic events then they will read and view everything they can find on the subject. This film is an account of the Israeli commando rescue of Jewish hostages who were hi-jacked in July of 1976 and flown to Idi Amins Uganda. While this film which boasted an all star cast is clearly inferior to the one which came out a year later and starred Peter Finch and Charles Bronson it still makes for good viewing. It also makes one wonder with the talented cast had more time and perhaps more money been spent on making this version it might have been the best of the lot.