In July 1976, an Air France flight from Tel-Aviv to Paris via Athens was hijacked and forced to land in Entebbe, Uganda. The Jewish passengers were separated and held hostage in demand to release many terrorists held in Israeli prisons. After much debate, the Israeli government sent an elite commando unit to raid the airfield and release the hostages.
Practical Effects
Actual C-130 Hercules planes used for filming. Golan went HARD.
Acting
Klaus Kinski as lead terrorist: unhinged, magnetic, barely contained.
Editing
Climactic raid intercut with actual news footage. Messy but effective.
Director
Menahem Golan
Yehoram Gaon
Col. Yonatan Netanyahu
Gila Almagor
Nurit Aviv
Klaus Kinski
Wilfried Boese
Assi Dayan
Shuki
Rolf Eden
Air France Co-Pilot
Sybil Danning
Halima
Arik Lavie
Gen. Dan Shomron
Shaike Ophir
Gadi Arnon
Reuven Bar-Yotam
Avraham Ben-David
Gabi Amrani
Gavriel, a passeenger
Henri Czarniak
Michel Bacos
Shoshana Shani-Lavie
Alma Raviv
Oded Teomi
Dan Zamir
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Golan rushed production to beat two competing Entebbe films, including Hollywood's 'Victory at Entebbe' with Anthony Hopkins. He won by months.
Released months after the actual 1976 raid, it became instant national myth-making—Israeli audiences treated it almost as documentary despite Kinski's scene-stealing villainy.
IL
