ma-cortes An Air France flight is hijacked by the PFLP 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 . The movie then shows how less than 500 soldiers 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 .A compelling actioner all the more gripping because true . It is packed with thrills , action , drama , suspense and nice interpretations . All star cast gives fine acting as well as support cast , such as Martin Balsam , Horst Buchholz , John Saxon , Jack Warden , Sylvia Sidney , Robert Loggia , Eddie Constantine , David Opatoshu , Stephen Macht , and a young James Woods . Peter Finch's final acting role , he would receive a posthumous Emmy nomination just six months after winning his Oscar for Network . Special mention to actor Yaphet Kotto, he is awesome though overacting , he plays Ugandan President Idi Amin, Kotto is actually Jewish . As most of this film was shot at the Stockton Airport in California, it's very obvious that the production had the assistance of the California National Guard that has a facility there. The C-130's are all National Guard aircraft. their camouflage being very different from that of Israel. All of the vehicles were of national guard origin. The Flight Crew shown in the film, with the exception of the "pilot" -who was an extra- , were the actual 115th crew who flew the aircraft in the movie. The motion picture was professionally directed by Irvin Kershner. 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. The hijackers threatened to kill the hostages if their prisoner release demands were not met. 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.

venkatb83 i have heard about the famous entebbe hijack incident many times, and i was curious whether Hollywood made any films on that subject and when am searching for it in net i found 2 films and that link lead to me here 1.Raid on Entebbe (1976) 2.opertaiom thunder bolt-raid on entebbe..i have watched first one (Charles Bronson) and loved it.....they made film very well-and some what authentically... starting to finish its thrilling-entertaining film.....Charles Bronson's best acting(i wasn't aware of him-until i watched his mechanic-which remade same name n lead of cinema As Jason sthatham)and this is 2nd film of him i watched...2 actors who's role as junior and senior idi amin make us laugh-make serious films tense moments quite fun..!!! idi amin's fun side-seriousness can be seen in his conversation with foreign friend who pressurize him to arrest terrorists,and while he talking with hostages...!!best film...go watch and witness the successful rescue mission of hostages un hurt...it deserves more but not possible so 10/10

bkoganbing For eight days in Israel everyone held their breath as Palestinian terrorists captured an Air France jet bound for Tel Aviv and added a new twist to hostage negotiation. No taking an El-Al flight which would have involved the Israelis directly, no taking it to an Arab country where the issue might have been joined. This time a foreign airliner that happened to be going to Israel with about 100 of its citizens returning from abroad. And where do they take it, but Entebbe capital of Uganda and ruled by a certified psycho.In his farewell performance Peter Finch leads an impressive cast as Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who has to make a crucial decision as to response to the terrorists and has 8 days to do it. That's the deadline that the terrorists have placed with their demands on several European countries and Israel to release the Palestinian 'freedom fighters' from various prisons.A solid cast of players are giving some great performances in Raid On Entebbe. Most singled out is Yaphett Kotto as Idi Amin, Uganda's strutting dictator who was relishing the spotlight on himself on the world stage. I could also single out Charles Bronson as General Dan Sharon who led the ground troops in the rescue and in a very small role James Woods who is a reservist called up to serve on the rescue. His scene of farewell with his family is very touching.The only casualty among the passengers is Sylvia Sidney who took ill during the crisis and apparently had the effrontery to question the intentions of Idi Amin. Like Woods represents a young generation of Jews, Sylvia Sidney as Dora Bloch was the Holocaust generation who in her last hours was not allowed to die without terror. No one knows what happened to Dora Bloch after she was taken to the Ugandan hospital, but there is all kinds of speculation about the only really unanswered part of the Entebbe story.As for Rabin he met his own martyrdom in the Nineties by a fanatic Jewish terrorist who thought the man who rescued the Israelis in Entebbe wasn't doing enough to push perpetual war on the Arabs. And the man who played him died five days after this film was aired on television and got a posthumous Emmy nomination. That went with Peter Finch's posthumous Oscar for Network. Emmy nominations also went to Yaphett Kotto and Martin Balsam who played the passenger spokesperson.One of the best made for television films Raid On Entebbe should not be missed.

mm-39 It is like watching a documentary. I watch the History Channel all the time. I love watching War documentaries. This film is like a War documentary with acting. I found it quite accurate on the accounts of what happened. I love the raid. They even have the fake Edie on this one. Way too Cool, what a raid. 6/10