Sword of Gideon

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Sword of Gideon
Genre	Action Drama Thriller
Written by	George Jonas (novel) Chris Bryant
Directed by	Michael Anderson
Starring	Steven Bauer Michael York Robert Joy Laurent Malet Peter Dvorsky Rod Steiger Lino Ventura Colleen Dewhurst Leslie Hope John Hirsch Cyrielle Clair Linda Griffiths Daniel Alfie Hrant Alianak Sonia Benezra
Music by	Georges Delerue
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Denis Héroux John Kemeny Robert Lantos
Producer	George Jonas
Cinematography	Claude Agostini
Editor	Ron Wisman
Running time	173 min.
Production company	HBO Pictures
Distributor	HBO Entertainment One
Release
Original network	HBO
Picture format	Color
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	November 29, 1986 (1986-11-29)

Sword of Gideon is a 1986 Canadian television film about Mossad agents hunting down terrorists associated with the 1972 Munich massacre. It was first shown on the CTV Television Network in Canada as a four-hour miniseries and later on HBO in the United States. Directed by Michael Anderson and written by Chris Bryant, the film stars Steven Bauer and Michael York. The film is based on the book Vengeance by George Jonas, an account of the incident which has been criticized by some intelligence personnel as fictional, though because of its covert nature is difficult to prove or disprove. In some countries the book was titled Vengeance: Sword of Gideon, from which the movie title is drawn. The story was retold in the 2005 film Munich by Steven Spielberg.

Plot[]

Avner, an adept Israeli military officer is selected as the leader of a Mossad team of expert agents for a covert mission to avenge the Munich massacre and other recent attacks. They are initially successful in their assassinations but as they progress it becomes harder and harder to find their targets and they themselves are targeted with varying success by their enemies. With Avner and Jean the driver being the only survivors the mission is called off. He wishes to retire from Mossad and rejoin the regular ranks of the IDF, but his case officer is reluctant to let his most valuable asset go.

Cast[]

• Steven Bauer as Avner
• Michael York as Robert
• Robert Joy as Hans
• Laurent Malet as Jean
• Peter Dvorsky as Carl
• Rod Steiger as Mordechai Samuels
• Lino Ventura as Papa
• Colleen Dewhurst as Prime Minister Golda Meir
• Leslie Hope as Shoshana
• John Hirsch as Avner's Father
• Cyrielle Clair as Jeanette Von Lesseps
• Linda Griffiths as Carl's Widow
• Daniel Alfie as Ali Salameh
• Hrant Alianak as Wael Zwaiter
• Sonia Benezra as Mrs. Hamshari

Home media[]

The film was released on VHS by HBO/Cannon Video under license from Home Box Office. However, HBO didn't own it and then in 2004 was released on DVD by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment. Currently, the film belongs to Entertainment One (formerly Alliance Entertainment).

External links[]

• Sword of Gideon at IMDb
• Sword of Gideon at AllMovie
• Sword of Gideon at Rotten Tomatoes

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