In late June 1976, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), together with members of a German terrorist group, hijacked an Air France plane with over 150 passengers, just under 100 of them Israeli citizens. Stated Israel policy is that it does not negotiate with terrorists, abductors, and other criminals, regardless of whether its own citizens' lives are under threat. The PFLP and its terrorist chums should have known that, in the end they looked pretty useless and, of course, evil, while Israel scored a memorable triumph with a daring raid on a small airport in a remote area of Uganda, whose President Idi Amin Dada had expelled most foreigners, including all Asians and Jews, from the country in 1972.
Yaphet Kotto completely steals the show as the two-faced Idi Amin, laughing broadly while promising good treatment for the hostages, and noting that more than 50 would be set free. Those freed were not Israeli citizens, of course, with the Ugandan president asserting that the whole incident could be resolved with Israeli goodwill i.e. It had to negotiate with the abductors, who wanted around 200 PFLP and other terrorists released in a number of countries, plus $5 million for the Air France aircraft.
The injustice of the whole incident, the depravity of using common flight passengers as hostages, with Idi Amin giving his blessing and support, had me seething even though I am not Jewish.
Sadly, the film loses some oomph with its overlength. It uses stars like Peter Finch (as then Israeli PM Rabin, looking unwell, would die of heart failure soon after this shoot, missing out on his posthumously awarded Oscar), Charles Bronson (clearly customer bait, the film could have done without his part), Martin Balsam - as makeshit spokesman for the flight passengers -, Sylvia Sidney as the unfortunate old lady who dared interrupt Amin, a very young James Woods, and Horst Bucholz as a terrorist with a conscience who has the chance, but decides not to blow up the passengers. Eddie Constantine is convincing as the honorable and duty-bound Air France airship captain who stayed with the crew and abducted passengers to the bitter end.
Cinematography is average, as befitted a product that went on screen within months of the incident, and the script seems tailored to accommodate useless parts like Bronson's and John Saxon's. The schmaltzy scenes at the end do not gel with the unemotionally and piecemeal planned operation.
All told, it is worth viewing if less than memorable. 7/10.
Yaphet Kotto completely steals the show as the two-faced Idi Amin, laughing broadly while promising good treatment for the hostages, and noting that more than 50 would be set free. Those freed were not Israeli citizens, of course, with the Ugandan president asserting that the whole incident could be resolved with Israeli goodwill i.e. It had to negotiate with the abductors, who wanted around 200 PFLP and other terrorists released in a number of countries, plus $5 million for the Air France aircraft.
The injustice of the whole incident, the depravity of using common flight passengers as hostages, with Idi Amin giving his blessing and support, had me seething even though I am not Jewish.
Sadly, the film loses some oomph with its overlength. It uses stars like Peter Finch (as then Israeli PM Rabin, looking unwell, would die of heart failure soon after this shoot, missing out on his posthumously awarded Oscar), Charles Bronson (clearly customer bait, the film could have done without his part), Martin Balsam - as makeshit spokesman for the flight passengers -, Sylvia Sidney as the unfortunate old lady who dared interrupt Amin, a very young James Woods, and Horst Bucholz as a terrorist with a conscience who has the chance, but decides not to blow up the passengers. Eddie Constantine is convincing as the honorable and duty-bound Air France airship captain who stayed with the crew and abducted passengers to the bitter end.
Cinematography is average, as befitted a product that went on screen within months of the incident, and the script seems tailored to accommodate useless parts like Bronson's and John Saxon's. The schmaltzy scenes at the end do not gel with the unemotionally and piecemeal planned operation.
All told, it is worth viewing if less than memorable. 7/10.