Operation Thunderbolt (film)

Operation Thunderbolt
Operation Thunderbolt
	USA theatrical poster
Directed by	Menahem Golan
Written by	Ken Globus; Menahem Golan; Clarke Reynolds
Produced by	Menahem Golan; Yoram Globus; Rony Yakov
Starring	Yehoram Gaon; Gila Almagor; Assi Dayan; Sybil Danning; Klaus Kinski
Cinematography	Adam Greenberg
Edited by	Dov Heonig
Music by	Dov Seltzer
Distributed by	Cannon Film Distributors (Israel); Warner Bros. (U.S)
Release date	January 27, 1977;
Running time	124 minutes
Country	Israel
Languages	Hebrew; English; Arabic; German; French; Spanish

Operation Thunderbolt, known in Israel as Mivtsa Yonatan (מבצע יונתן, literally "Operation Jonathan"), is an Israeli film from 1977 based on an actual event – the hijacking of a flight and the freeing of hostages (Operation Entebbe) at Entebbe Airport in Entebbe, Uganda, on July 4, 1976. The film was directed by Menahem Golan and stars Klaus Kinski, Yehoram Gaon, and Sybil Danning. It follows the events following the flight's takeoff until the hostages' return to Israel.

Cast

Yehoram Gaon – Col. Yonatan Netanyahu
Klaus Kinski – Wilfried Bose
Sybil Danning – Halima
Gila Almagor – Nurit Aviv
Assi Dayan – Shuki (based on Muki Betser)
Arik Lavie – Brig-Gen. Dan Shomron
Shaike Ophir – Gadi Arnon
Gabi Amrani - IAF commander MajGen Benny Peled
Arie Gardus - Maj-Gen Yekutiel Adam, overall operation commander
Mark Heath – Idi Amin Dada
Henry Czarniak – Michel Bacos
Oded Teomi – Dan Zamir, government spokesman
Ami Weinberg - Ram Weissberg (Based on Jean-Jacques Maimoni)

Production

The film was produced with the co-operation of the Israeli Air Force and the Israeli government. The film features original footage of prominent politicians such as Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yigal Allon, although scenes with Peres being briefed by Netanyahu's team and a hostage's father talking to Rabin feature a stand-in whose face is not seen. The exterior scenes set in Uganda were photographed near Eilat, Israel. Nearly all of the extras portraying Ugandan soldiers were played by African Jewish immigrants from Ethiopia, and three of the four Hercules transports that were flown in the mission are shown. The scenes featuring the Knesset were filmed in Jerusalem, and the Tel Aviv airport sequences were filmed at Ben Gurion International Airport.

Originally filmed with all characters speaking in either Hebrew, German, Arabic, or English per role, the film was shot a second time in an all-English version for the international market. With permission from the Globus Group, a number of documentaries on the rescue use footage from the movie alongside dramatizations of the events.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Music

Dovi Seltzer composed the movie's score. Yehoram Gaon performed the theme song, "Eretz Tzvi" (Land of the Deer) with lyrics by Talma Alyagon Raz. Like the movie, Eretz Tzvi would become a famous song as well.^[4] In 2014, Gaon and Raz collaborated to make a new version of the song, with new lyrics inserted in honor of Roi Klein.^{[citation needed]}

Critical response

The film was well received in its native Israel and was somewhat successful overseas. In 1978 it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.^[5]

Home media

Although the film had some VHS releases over the years, Israeli video company SISU Home Entertainment released a special 25th anniversary two-disc DVD set of the movie in 2003. The set contains the movie with original multilingual audio and English subtitles on one disc and a 60-minute documentary about the raid on the other, plus a letter by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his brother's role in the operation. ^[6]

References

^ Yoni, Hero of Entebbe. WS Productions
^ Operation Thunderball. Morningstar Entertainment/The Learning Channel, 2000
^ "Assault on Entebbe", an episode of the National Geographic Channel documentary Situation Critical
^ http://hebrewsongs.com/?song=mivtzayonatan
^ "The 50th Academy Awards (1978) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2012-06-16.
^ http://www.sisuent.com/i/4146/operation-thunderbolt-2-set-israeli-features-drama-dvd.htm

External links

Mivtsa Yonatan at IMDb

[1] Yoni, Hero of Entebbe. WS Productions

[2] Operation Thunderball. Morningstar Entertainment/The Learning Channel, 2000

[3] "Assault on Entebbe", an episode of the National Geographic Channel documentary Situation Critical

[4] ttp://hebrewsongs.com/?song=mivtzayonatan

[Oscars1978-5] "The 50th Academy Awards (1978) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2012-06-16.

[6] ttp://www.sisuent.com/i/4146/operation-thunderbolt-2-set-israeli-features-drama-dvd.htm

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