Victory at Entebbe *** (1976, Helmut Berger, Linda Blair, Kirk Douglas, Helen Hayes, Anthony Hopkins, Burt Lancaster, Elizabeth Taylor) – Classic Movie Review 7060

Victory at Entebbe stars in alphabetical order Helmut Berger, Theodore Bikel, Linda Blair, Kirk Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Stefan Gierasch, David Groh, Julius Harris (as the Ugandan dictator General Idi Amin), Helen Hayes, Anthony Hopkins (as Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin), Burt Lancaster, Christian Marquand, Elizabeth Taylor, Jessica Walter and Harris Yulin.

It was nominated for four Primetime Emmys: Outstanding Writing in a Special Program – Drama or Comedy – Original Teleplay, Outstanding Achievement in Technical Direction and Electronic Camerawork, Outstanding Achievement in Video Tape Editing for a Special and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Any Area of Creative Technical Crafts.

The splendid all-star cast put all their heavy-weight backs fully into director Marvin J Chomsky’s hastily made 1976 TV movie version of the 1976 Entebbe, Uganda, crisis when the Israelis mounted a raid to rescue a planeful of mostly Jewish hostages after pro-Palestine (PLO) terrorists hijack an Air France airplane and divert it to Uganda, offering to release their hostages unharmed in exchange for the Israelis freeing fellow pro-Palestine terrorists.

This committed, urgent film is sincere, intelligent, tense and immediate, even though the screenplay is, perhaps inevitably, somewhat prone to broad brush strokes and obvious caricatures rather than intricate detail and subtle characterisations.

Victory at Entebbe is directed by Marvin J Chomsky, runs 140 minutes, is made by David L Wolper Productions, released by ABC (original TV airing) and Columbia-Warner Distributors  (UK), is written by Ernest Kinoy, is shot by James Kilgore, is produced by Robert Guenette and is scored by Charles Fox.

After its original American TV airing, it was promoted to full movie status and shown in cinemas outside the US.

It was one of two simultaneous American productions based on the event, the other being Raid on Entebbe (1976). The story is re-told in 2018 as Entebbe.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7060

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