Monday, December 31, 2012

Raid on Entebbe

In 'Raid on Entebbe' the soldiers, en-route to Entebbe, are studying the faces of the terrorists in a folder (the better to shoot them all dead, my dear):

Lt. Col. Yonatan 'Yoni' Netanyahu: What if he came through that door?

Capt. Sammy Berg: I'd shoot him.

Netanyahu: What if he was surrounded by fifty women and children?

Berg: (thoughtful pause) I wouldn't miss.


A great film, but like a lot of films made in ye olde days, the pacing is slower than we're used to with newer films.   But once you get used to that, you're watching a great film, showing the terrorists, hostages, politicians, soldiers, all doing their thing.  Plus Yaphet Kotto as Idi Amin.

I have no idea how faithful the movie is to the actual events.  Wiki claims the soldiers destroyed the Ugandan fighter planes on the ground.  Knowing that, I was expecting some guys to run around with C4, some hammers.  The movie soldiers used a jeep-mounted recoilless rifle and there were lots of kabooms and explosions which delighted my inner-child. 

Me, I'd use explosives and the hammers to wreck the fighters - planes are fragile.   Save the recoilless ammunition to repel any soldiers that show up.  You can always shoot it off as you're leaving.  But .. explosions!  The heck with historical accuracy, am-I-rite?

Also: Charles Bronson as the ground commander spent all of his time on the ground yammering into the radio.  Which made my the war movie critic in my head happy; that's how it's really done.

The ending is .. I shed a manly tear.  They did that sucker right.

Joe Bob says check it out.


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