21 Hours at Munich

1976

Action / Drama / History / Sport / Thriller

1
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 57% · 4 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 57% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.3/10 10 1365 1.4K

hotel airport sports hostage olympic games 1970s

Plot summary

A dramatization of the incident in 1972 when Arab terrorists broke into the Olympic compound in Munich and murdered 11 Israeli athletes.

Director

William A. Graham Photo
William A. Graham

Top cast

Richard Basehart Photo
Richard Basehart as Chancellor Willy Brandt
Günther Maria Halmer Photo
Günther Maria Halmer as Spitzer
Georg Marischka Photo
Georg Marischka as Genscher
Shirley Knight Photo
Shirley Knight as Anneliese Graes
720p.BluRay
927.48 MB
1280*688
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 41 min
Seeds 1

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ma-cortes 7 / 10

Adequate and interesting recreation of the infamous 1972 massacre into the Olympic compound at Munich

Made-for-TV treatment of the slaughter of the Israeli sportsmen by Arab terrorists , being based on real events about one of the most violent episodes in the history of terrorism. It happened at 4:09 am on September 5, 1972 , as eleven Olympic athletes were taken hostages by terrorists. For the next 21 hours the World held its breath.. Israeli goverment presided by Golda Meier follows its policy of no negotiation with terrorists. As some German authorities : William Holden , Shirley Knight , Noel Willman have to negotiate with the Palestinian , but things go wrong .Nice and well-made reenacting of the infamous attack on Israeli athletes and coaches in the Olympic village is competently chronicled with good actors , adequate period detail and in semi-documentary style , as well as adding some stock footage . The movie was produced using the actual Munich location. Main and support cast are pretty good . As William Holden gives a sober and serious acting , adequate Shirley Knight , an appropiate Richard Basehart as Chancellor Willy Brandt , Noel Willman as Interior Minister , Paul Smith an Israeli hunk coach being kidnapped and Anthony Quayle as General Zamir . Special mention for Franco Nero who steals the spectacle as an extremely nasty terrorist who really shows a deep hateful against Jews . The motion picture was compellingly professionally directed by William A Graham (Amazing Howard Hughes , Birds of Prey , Change of habit , Deadly encounter, Doomsday Fight , Harry Tracy, Mr Inside Mr Outside, Waterhole) . Rating 7/10 , above average . Worthwhile watching .
Reviewed by unbrokenmetal 7 / 10

Wordy, but believable

A semi-documentary movie about the terrorist attack on the Israeli team at the Olympic Games at Munich 1972. In opposite to later adaptations of the same historical event, "21 Hours at Munich" was shot on the original locations. However, it is a little bit less of a documentary than it seems at first, it does take a bit of creative freedom in the narration. Which has been criticized by some reviewers, but makes it a better movie after all. Excellent performances by William Holden as the police chief and Franco Nero as the terrorist leader, whose motivation is explained remarkably well. He is not just the one-dimensional Hollywood villain firing bullets in all directions. That was important to make the film believable, as well as the discussions between the politicians. Even it makes the movie quite wordy, the reasons why and when and how the police fights the terrorists are explained well. "21 Hours at Munich" is a movie you should watch, first for the tragic history that hopefully will never be repeated, second for its solid story telling and acting which is above the genre average.
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