The film is based on an actual event: Operation Entebbe and the freeing of Israeli hostages at Entebbe Airport (now Entebbe International Airport) in Uganda.

Helmut Berger
as Wilfried Böse

Theodore Bikel
as Yakov Shlomo

Linda Blair
as Chana Vilnofsky

Kirk Douglas
as Herschel Vilnofsky

Richard Dreyfuss
as Colonel Yonatan 'Yonni' Netanyahu

Stefan Gierasch
as General Mordecai Gur

David Groh
as Benjamin Wise

Julius Harris
as President Idi Amin

Helen Hayes
as Etta Grossman-Wise

Anthony Hopkins
as Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin