Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0096009112899
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Full Screen
Label: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Region Code: 1
Release Date: June 15, 2004
Running Time: 172 minutes
Sales Rank: 17073
Studio: Echo Bridge Home Entertainment
Theatrical Release Date: 1986
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Very intense drama
Sword of Gideon is a story of revenge by a team of Israeli spies on the perpetrators of the 1972 massacre during the Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. Speilberg's movie Munich is a poor remake of the Sword of Gideon. I disagree with other reviewers who call this a poor man's Munich. This show tells the story much better and does not need the gore and blood to do it. Plus Spielberg's treatment of the main characters is quite poor -- in his version they're confused knuckleheads who're trying to figure out what it is they're doing. It's hard to conceive that MOSSAD would ever dispatch such a team for a mission this critical. Sword of Gideon does a much better job portraying the characters and telling the story. After all the better storyteller does not need to use pictures to tell his story -- which is what Spielberg does. He can't tell a good story so he fills up his show with gore.
The show is based on a book that while fictional, is based on real-life events. One of the things the book and this film try to show is the moral dilemma faced by the Israeli agents -- something most Israelis and Jew decry. In either case, it and intense movie, one of the great spy shows out there and definitely worth watching.
Rating:  - The Poor Man's 'Munich'
'Sword of Gideon' is essentially a B-rated, 1980's version of Steven Spielberg's 'Munich.' I was a bit surprised at the striking similarity between the two; many of the scenes were almost identical. Depending on how you look at it, you could call the latter either a rip-off or a remake of the former. Nevertheless, I don't see how anyone could think this was better than 'Munich.' It does go into a bit more detail in some parts, but the acting, cinematography, dialogue and the overall production quality is all second rate. Worth a watch if the subject matter interests you, but hardly a monumental cinematic achievement by any means. Or so the prophecy says.....
Rating: - Revenge is Mine
The strenght of an old woman a strong leader "Golda" establisted the new ground rules , hit them at the center , suspense . tense , constant action , Steven Bauer , Michael York and the team fit well together in this action of vengeance no matter the cost , yet with a true code of honour and respect for those innocent by standers, unlike the terrorist
with savage unconcern for human life ingeneral. The eventual strugle between duty , commitment for country and self emotions stirrs one own heart you get caught up in the action of these honourable anti-terrorist commandos and their dedication to the rules .Rod Steiger, plays a great part of the control and director of communication and the finanical support , an unemotional get the job done , yet he express's a deep tenderness that slips out to show his humanside,his love for Israel is first and goes without question.
Worth seeing , worth having in you libary !!!!!!!!!!!
Luddy
Rating: - The movie that Spielberg's "Munich" was a remake of...
Having originally seen this made-for-HBO movie in the 1980's when it was first on cable, I decided to watch it again after seeing Spielberg's "Munich." The two movies, both based on the same book, differ in a few minor plot devices but are otherwise quite similar. I would say that the earlier version has a slightly less dark emotional feel to it; the Mossad handler comes across as not quite as evilly conniving as Spielberg's, for example. Both movies make Avner out to be the archetype Hero, mislead by the evil Spymaster into becoming an assassin, but finally seeing the Light and turning back to Righteousness. That's to be expected, I guess, since their both based on his book. But neither addresses the inherent disparity between a soldier's concept of honor and the pragmatism necessary to a covert ops team.
Rating: - The forerunner, almost a first draft, of "Munich"
My understanding is that Spielberg based the more recent film "Munich" on the same book that this HBO film from 20 years earlier was based on, which would account for the eerily similar, almost identical, sequence of events and character development. What I found dumbfounding is that not only are the story, the characters, and the incidents the same, but the sequence, some of the scenes, even some of the dialogue, are nearly identical: the early recruitment scene with Golda Meir eating fruit and pouring tea, Avner having bad dreams, the cut-away to exterior shots when explosions happen inside buildings, etc. Munich was a tighter and slightly shorter film and it has Spielberg's panache. "Munich" also has a post-9/11 sensibility that this earlier film of course could not have had. This film is somewhat less conflicted than "Munich" is about good vs evil, revenge vs justice. There is psychological conflict in this film, but we have no doubt about who the good guys and the bad guys are.
This is a bit easier to watch because the gore and violence are circa 1986 HBO, not 21st century for the big screen. The acting, dialogue,and details are serviceable,not with the same subtlety or interest as in the later film.
Despite the wig and prosthetic facial changes, I didn't buy Colleen Dewhurst as Golda Meir for one second, and she didn't even try to change her voice or accent.
The film quality seemed a bit washed out to me. The DVD has no features; the choices are either ... Read More
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