''Raid on Entebbe'' is a 1977

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

directed by Irvin Kershner. It is based on the

Entebbe raid The Entebbe raid, also known as the Operation Entebbe and officially codenamed Operation Thunderbolt (also retroactively codenamed Operation Yonatan), was a 1976 Israeli counter-terrorist mission in Uganda. It was launched in response to th ...

, an Israeli military operation to free hostages at Entebbe Airport in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, on July 4, 1976. The portrayal of Prime Minister

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

was Peter Finch's final performance; he died five days after the film's release. ''Raid on Entebbe'' portrays the rescue of the hostages, the discussions within the Israeli government, and the controversy prompted by the rescue. It was one of three films made in the 1970s based on the Entebbe raid, '' Victory at Entebbe'' was rushed through production by ABC and broadcast one month earlier in December 1976. '' Operation Thunderbolt'' (1977, Israel) was the third A fourth film, ''

Entebbe Entebbe is a city in Central Region, Uganda, Central Uganda which is located on Lake Victoria peninsula, approximately southwest of the Ugandan capital city, Kampala. Entebbe was once the seat of government for the Protectorate of Uganda pri ...

'' (titled ''7 Days in Entebbe'' in the U.S.) was released over four decades later in 2018.

Plot

On 27 June 1976, four terrorists belonging to a splinter group of the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation ...

under the orders of

Wadie Haddad Wadie Haddad (; 1927 – 28 March 1978), also known by the kunya Abu Hani (), was a Palestinian militant and leading figure of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He organized several hijackings of international civ ...

boarded and hijacked an

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

Airbus A300 The Airbus A300 is Airbus' first production aircraft and the world's first Twinjet, twin-engine, double-aisle Wide-body aircraft, (wide-body) airliner. It was developed by ''Airbus Industrie GIE'', now merged into Airbus SE, and manufactured f ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. With President

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...

's blessing, the terrorists divert the airliner and its hostages to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. After identifying Israeli passengers, the non-Jewish passengers are freed while a series of demands are made, including the release of 40 Palestinian militants held in Israel, in exchange for the hostages. The

Cabinet of Israel The Cabinet of Israel (; ) is the cabinet which exercises executive authority in the State of Israel. It consists of ministers who are chosen and led by the prime minister. The composition of the government must be approved by a vote of con ...

, led by Prime Minister

, unwilling to give in to terrorist demands, is faced with difficult decisions as their deliberations lead to a top-secret military raid. The difficult and daring commando operation, "Operation Thunderbolt", will be carried out over 2,500 miles (4 000 km) from home and will take place on the

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

. While still negotiating with the terrorists, who now numbered seven individuals including Palestinians and two Germans, the Israeli military prepared four

Lockheed C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...

transports for the raid. The commandos led by Brig. Gen Dan Shomron had to contend with a large armed Ugandan military detachment and used a ruse to overcome the defenses. A black Mercedes limousine had been carried on board and was used to fool sentries that it was the official car that President Amin used on an impromptu visit to the airport. Nearly complete surprise was achieved but a firefight resulted, ending with all seven terrorists and 45 Ugandan soldiers killed. The hostages were gathered together and most were quickly put on the idling C-130 aircraft. During the raid, one commando (the breach unit commander Yonatan Netanyahu, brother of future Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

), and three of the hostages, died. A fourth hostage,

Dora Bloch Dora Bloch (; October 1902July 1976) was an Israeli hostage on Air France Flight 139 on 26 June 1976. Taking off from Tel Aviv, Israel, and destined for Paris, France, the plane soon landed in Athens, Greece, for a scheduled stopover and was ...

, who had been taken to Mulago Hospital in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,875,834 (2024) and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kampala, Kawempe Division, Kawempe, Makindy ...

, was murdered by the Ugandans on Idi Amin's orders. With 102 hostages aboard and on their way to freedom, a group of Israeli commandos remained behind to destroy the Ugandan Air Force MiG-17 and

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...

fighters to prevent a retaliation. All the survivors of the attack force then joined in flying back to Israel via

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

(where they refueled with permission from the Kenyan government) and

Sharm El Sheikh Sharm El Sheikh (, , literally "bay of the Sheikh"), alternatively rendered Sharm el-Sheikh, Sharm el Sheikh, or Sharm El-Sheikh, is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, on the coastal strip alo ...

Cast

* Peter Finch as

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. He was known for his roles in action films and his "granite features and brawny physique". Bronson was born into extreme poverty in ...

as Brigadier General Dan Shomron * Yaphet Kotto as

Martin Balsam Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New ...

as Daniel Cooper * Horst Buchholz as Wilfried Böse * John Saxon as Major General Benny Peled *

Jack Warden Jack Warden (born John Warden Lebzelter Jr.; September 18, 1920July 19, 2006) was an American actor who worked in film and television. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Shampoo (film), Shampoo'' (1975) and '' ...

as Lieutenant General Mordechai Gur * Meshach Richards as Major General Allon *

Sylvia Sidney Sylvia Sidney (born Sophia Kosow; August 8, 1910 – July 1, 1999) was an American stage, screen, and film actress whose career spanned 70 years. She rose to prominence in dozens of leading roles in the 1930s. She was nominated for the Academy ...

Robert Loggia Salvatore "Robert" Loggia ( , ; January 3, 1930 – December 4, 2015) was an American actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for '' Jagged Edge'' (1985) and won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for ...

Yigal Allon Yigal Allon (; 10 October 1918 – 29 February 1980) was an Israeli military leader and politician. He was a commander of the Palmach and a general in the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). He was also a leader of the Ahdut HaA ...

* Tige Andrews as

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

Eddie Constantine Eddie Constantine (born Israel Constantine; October 29, 1913 – February 25, 1993) was an American singer, actor and entertainer who spent most of his career in France. He became well-known to film audiences for his portrayal of secret agent L ...

as Captain Michel Bacos * David Opatoshu as

Menachem Begin Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'', ; (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of both Herut and Likud and the prime minister of Israel. Before the creation of the state of Isra ...

* Allan Arbus as Eli Melnick * Stephen Macht as Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu * James Woods as Captain Sammy Berg * Harvey Lembeck as Mr. Harvey *

Dinah Manoff Dinah Manoff (born January 25, 1956) is an American stage, film, and television actress and television director. She is best known for her roles as Carol Weston on '' Empty Nest,'' Elaine Lefkowitz on ''Soap'', Marty Maraschino in the film '' Gr ...

as Rachel Sager *

Kim Richards Kim Erica Richards (born September 19, 1964) is an American actress, socialite, and television personality. She began her career as a child actress and rose to prominence from her roles in '' Nanny and the Professor'', '' Escape to Witch Mountai ...

as Alice * Aharon Ipalé as Major David Grut * Mariclare Costello as Gabrielle Krieger * Larry Gelman as Mr. Berg

Production

''Raid on Entebbe'' was filmed entirely in the United States, with the Stockton Metropolitan Airport in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

, serving as both Entebbe Airport and an

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

(IAF) base. Producers Blatt and Scherick turned to the " Hollywood Squadron", the 146th Airlift Wing of the

California Air National Guard The California Air National Guard (CA ANG) is one of three components of the California National Guard, a reserve of the United States Air Force, and part of the National Guard of the United States. As militia units, the units in the Californi ...

to provide three C-130 Hercules transports. Scenes were also shot at the Van Nuys Military airport, Los Angeles; these included footage of passenger jets, and the interior of a C-130 in which Bronson made his speech to the team about to attack Entebbe. The C-130E variant used by the

was the same variant that was flown by the 146th Wing. The camouflage scheme used by both the United States Air Force and IAF was virtually identical, and with the overpainting of Israeli markings, the Hercules transports became both "set dressing" for an Israeli airfield and as the aircraft used in the raid on Entebbe. The 146th Airlift Wing also supplied all the military equipment, such as M151 jeeps and weapons that would be seen at an active base. Other aircraft used in ''Raid on Entebbe'' include an

B2 F-BVGA (seen in archive footage); a

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

, two

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is an early long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body jetliner designed and produced by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. Work began in 1952 towards the United States Air Force's (USA ...

-31s, 10

North American F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...

(1/2 scale models representing the Ugandan Air Force MiGs), North American FJ-3 Fury and

Bell UH-1 Iroquois The Bell UH-1 Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered hel ...

helicopter. Principal photography on ''Raid on Entebbe'' took place in November 1976, with the training for the raid that took place using a replica of the Entebbe Airport. The actual airport had been built by an Israeli construction company and their involvement led to an accurate

mockup In manufacturing and design, a mockup, or mock-up, is a scale or full-size model of a design or device, used for teaching, demonstration, design evaluation, promotion, and other purposes. A mockup may be a ''prototype'' if it provides at lea ...

being built to test out tactics devised for the raid.

Reception

Critical response

''Raid on Entebbe'' received initially good reviews. Capitalizing on its strong all-star ensemble cast, a film version was released theatrically in the UK and Europe in early 1977.Barron 2016, p. 209. In May 1977, local Thai authorities banned the film from being shown in Thailand. They argued it presented a one-sided image of the Middle East conflict and posed a risk to the nation's relations with Arab states."Thais ban film on Entebbe raid."
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', May 15, 1977. Retrieved: March 9, 2017.

Accolades

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Barron, Colin N. ''Planes on Film: Ten Favourite Aviation Films''. Stirling, UK: Extremis Publishing, 2016. . * Solomon, Aubrey. ''Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. .

External links

* * {{Subject bar , portal1= Uganda , portal2= Israel , portal3= Television , portal4= Film 1977 television films 1977 films 1970s action thriller films American aviation films American political thriller films American action thriller films Cultural depictions of Idi Amin Cultural depictions of Menachem Begin American docudrama films Films about the Israel Defense Forces Films about aircraft hijackings Films about terrorism in Africa Films directed by Irvin Kershner Films scored by David Shire Films set in 1976 Films set in Israel Films set in Uganda Films set in airports Films set on airplanes Films shot in the United States Operation Entebbe 20th Century Fox Television films Thriller films based on actual events Films about battles and military operations American drama television films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films English-language action thriller films French-language American films