Raid on Entebbe – 1977
Director
Irvin Kershner

Writer
Barry Beckerman

Producer
Daniel H. Blatt producer
Robin S. Clark associate producer
Edgar J. Scherick producer

Cast
Peter Finch – Yitzhak Rabin
Martin Balsam – Daniel Cooper
Horst Buchholz – Wilfred Boese (as Horst Bucholz)
John Saxon – Maj. Gen. Benny Peled
Sylvia Sidney – Dora Bloch
Jack Warden – Lt. Gen. Mordechai Gur
Yaphet Kotto – President Idi Amin Dada
Charles Bronson – Brig. Gen. Dan Shomron
Tige Andrews – Shimon Peres
Eddie Constantine – Capt. Michel Becaud
Warren J. Kemmerling – Gad Yaakobi (as Warren Kemmerling)
Robert Loggia – Yigal Allon
David Opatoshu – Menachem Begin
Allan Arbus – Eli Melnick
Mariclare Costello – Gabrielle Krieger
Stephen Macht – Lt. Col. Yonatan ‘Yoni’ Netanyahu
James Woods – Capt. Sammy Berg
Lou Gilbert – Chaim Bar-Lev
Alex Colon – Terrorist #15
Robin Gammell – Mr. Sager
Aharon Ipalé – Maj. David Grut
Harvey Lembeck – Mr. Harvey
Billy Sands – Mr. Goldbaum
Millie Slavin – Mrs. Sager
Pearl Shear – Mrs. Loeb
René Assa – Terrorist #38
Barbara Allyne-Bennet – Relative #1 (as Barbara Allyne Bennet)
Anna Berger – Mrs. Berg
Stanley Brock – Israel Gallili
Peter Brocco – Mr. Scharf
Fred Cardoza – Uri Rosen
Lauren Frost – Julie Darin
Larry Gelman – Mr. Berg
Bill Gerber – Nathan Darin
Dov Gottesfeld – Meteorologist
Hanna Hertelendy – Mrs. Gordon
Dinah Manoff – Rachel Sager
Caryn Matchinga – Mrs. Bennett
Harlee McBride – Air France Stewardess
George Petrie – Chaim Zadok
Louis Quinn – Delegation Member
Kim Richards – Alice
Tom Rosqui – Amos Eran
Steve Shaw – Jonathan Sager
Martin Speer – Delegation Member
Cynthia Brian – Air France Stewardess (uncredited)
Vincent Di Paolo – Italian passenger (uncredited)
Robert Leh – Soldier (uncredited)
Bruce A. Simon – Airbus Navigator (uncredited)
Roger Til – French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (uncredited)

Review by Theo Robertson

Raid on Entebbe (1977) (TV)

Somewhat Rushed,
This is by no means a bad account on the legendary true-life tale of Israeli Special Forces rescuing over a hundred hostages from Entebbe airport. However I couldn’t help noticing how flat everything seemed. The directing is rather static even during the action scenes, the dialogue is unmemorable but worst of all are the performances – Field Marshall Idi Amin, president of Uganda and uncrowned king of Scotland (Hope it’s not too hot in hell for you Dada?), who wouldn’t want to play that role.

Unfortunately Yaphet Kotto seems to have been cast at short notice and hasn’t put enough charisma into the role, and the other actors don’t really stand out, not even James Woods. I guess there was a race on by film companies to get their film out first, and it certainly seems that this film was produced in a hurry.

But as I said it’s far from being terrible, at least it isn’t an action thriller in the vein of DELTA FORCE