I saw this with the wife tonight. Very good film with a wee bit of a sympathetic slant to the Hijackers, maybe more emphasis on negotiating with the Terrorists being required to reach a final peace with the Palestinians, and the end assault was way too short being the climax of the whole film. But overall a fine film, well acted and tense. I'd go 7.5 out of 10.
how does it compare to Operation Thunderbolt from back in '77?
I can't remember that one but I do remember one film I saw that had more about the planning and execution of the Op which this film only sparsely covered. Maybe that was Operation Thunderbolt. Anyway, nothing but old people like me in the theater so, it'll probably be on Pay Per View in a week or so.
There were 2 Entebbe movies made in the 70s.
Operation Thunderbolt was mostly no-name actors and had a lot about the rehearsals and logistics of getting the team into the raid, as well as a bunch about the passengers.
Raid on Entebbe had folks like Charles Bronson and Yaphet Kotto and was more of an 'action flick'
I think I saw both. I liked the first one better. I thought this film portrayed the terrorists, particularly the two Germans, as misguided, idealist revolutionaries than murdering anti-semities and tried to show their deaths as unfortunate. I disagree but the film was done well in spite.
I remember back in the 80s when I first saw Operation Thunderbolt, and hit the post library for some extra reading on it. At least one source I saw seemed to indicate that the Germans were pissed that the Jews cost them WWII. You and I might think that's kind of loopy, but my reading seemed to indicate that as not just plausible, but probable.
No idea where I'd seen that, though, since it's been over 30 years.