'' is a
1986 Action Film starring
Chuck Norris and
Lee Marvin as leaders of an elite squad of
Special Forces troops based on the real life
U.S. Army Delta Force unit. It was directed by
Menahem Golan and featured
Martin Balsam ,
Joey Bishop ,
Robert Vaughn ,
Robert Forster ,
Shelley Winters , and
George Kennedy .
''The Delta Force'' was Lee Marvin's last film.
A group of
Palestinian Terrorists Hijack an American
Airliner bound for
New York City . Taking all passengers and crew
Hostage and diverting the plane to
Beirut , the group, the pro-
Khomeini New World Revolutionary Organization, make demands to the
United States government that, if not met, will result in the death of them all.
As a compromise, the terrorists release the non-Jewish, women, and children passengers. The remaining hostages are transported to a militant controlled area of
Beirut . Using a sympathetic
Orthodox Priest , the Israeli Army Intelligence prepare an operation to free the hostages.
The U.S. quickly responds by sending in Delta Force, an elite
Counter-terrorism unit to rescue the hostages. Successfully infiltrating the terrorist compound, they rescue the hostages and flee to the safety of
Israel on the ATW jetliner, before returning the U.S on a C-130 transport plane.
The film was followed by two sequels, ''Delta Force 2: The Colombian Connection'' and ''Delta Force 3: The Killing Game'' in
1990 and
1991 .
The film was photographed entirely in
Israel , making use of
Menhaem Golan and
Yoram Globus 's newly opened
GG Israel Studios facility in
Jerusalem .
The
Beirut ,
Tel-Aviv and
Athens airport sequences in the film were shot at
Ben Gurion International Airport in
Tel-Aviv .
In some sequences,
Hebrew Lettering and Israeli Police emblems are visible on some of the supposed
Lebanese airport barriers.
The hijacked flight in the movie bears many resemblances with the real-life hijack of
TWA Flight 847 in
1985 :
- The route is Cairo - Athens - Rome (in the movie, the flight continues to New York City; in real life the final destination was London ).
- Two terrorists took over the flight, the third one being arrested in Athens.
- The flight was diverted to Beirut and Algiers .
- The lead Flight Attendant (played in the movie by Hanna Schygulla ) was of German Descent and was asked by a hijacker to single out the Jewish passengers on board.
- Upon landing, one of the hostages, a United States Navy Diver , was shot.
- Above all, the fictional airline in the movie, ATW (American Travelways), is an Anagram of TWA.
The hostage rescue operation was inspired by
Operation Entebbe , which was conducted by Israeli commandos in
1976 . It was the subject of another movie by Menahem Golan, ''Mivtsa Yonatan'' (released in English as ''Operation Thunderbolt''), in
1977 .
The beginning of the film was a replica of
Operation Eagle Claw , the aborted attempt to rescue
American Hostages Held At The U.S. Embassy In Iran in
1980 .
