Victory at Entebbe

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.

What I am writing is intended for those considering purchasing this movie on DVD from Warner Archive. Do not mistake this movie for Raid On Entebbe which is a first class film. A first class cast deliver poor performances down to the last man woman and child. Although not annoying there certain scene changes with gaps intended for placement of commercials. a The plot is slow to develop and tends to drag painfully. Filmed in academy aperture on either poor film stock or the print is bad. There are frequent focus errors and audible camera noise. There are numerous technical and historical errors including piston engine sound for the turboprop C-130s. As digitized by Warner Archive has shutter type sound track partially visible to the right of the picture.

This is the Soap Opera version of the Raid on Entebbe.

About half of this movie is poorly written, a real shame. I couldn't believe that this all-star cast would sign up to make a movie of this low caliber.

I have watched all 3 Entebbe movies. As others have commented, the "Raid on Entebbe" is strongly on point for the story at hand (the rescue of 101 Israelis held by terrorists).

"Operation Thunderbolt" is also on-point, and has many of the actual players playing themselves, but it is largely unfocused.

So, for the people who want to get lost in the background, "Victory" is the pick. I wish they could have taken this cast, and had them perform the Raid on Entebbe script ... it would be incredible.

This is a bad movie. The real story of the Entebbe rescue was much more exciting and interesting than this. Everything about the movie, apart from the star-studded cast, screams low-budget. But even the stars can't save this movie: Kirk Douglas and Liz Taylor overact horribly. So does the guy who plays Idi Amin, but I suspect Amin was even worse in real life so I'll cut him some slack. Anthony Hopkins and Richard Dreyfuss perform well, though. The woman who plays the female German terrorist is a caricature of a Nazi. The characterization is paper-thin, though that is perhaps understandable given the number of characters. A lot of the dialogue is awful, a part near the beginning where Linda Blair is having an insipid conversation with her new beaux actually made me laugh out loud. The effort to humanize the male German terrorist was silly and pointless. I haven't seen the other two movies about Entebbe, but don't watch this one. Read a book about it instead.

While I substantially agree with the review by John Barnes, I also believe the film has one or two positive qualities which he neglected to mention. Yes, Mr. Barnes, Victory at Entebbe is a poor quality, third-rate, and hastily-prepared film. But it is NOT worthless.

It was a 1976 attempt to portray a 1976 historical event for a 1976 television audience. That alone lends it a certain historical authenticity. So many films with much higher budgets seem far less genuine simply because they attempt to portray historical events 20, 30, 40+ years after the fact.

Although I did read the book 90 Minutes at Entebbe a number of years ago, I cannot necessarily vouch for the film's complete historical accuracy. However--with the notable exception of the unruly hostages being shot by the commandos--the film appears to be an honest attempt to accurately portray the event.

Nevertheless, due to the film's poor quality, I recommend it only for those who either already have a special interest in the Entebbe raid, or would like to learn about the Entebbe raid. The film actually has more educational than entertainment value.