During the 1972 Munich Olympics, an American sports broadcasting crew finds itself thrust into covering the hostage crisis involving Israeli athletes.

Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

• Roone Arledge: Peter Sarsgaard
• Geoffrey Mason: John Magaro
• Marvin Bader: Ben Chaplin
• Marianne Gebhardt: Leonie Benesch
• Jacques Lesgards: Zinedine Soualem
• Gladys Deist: Georgina Rich
• Hank Hanson: Corey Johnson
• Carter Jeffrey: Marcus Rutherford
• Gary Slaughter: Daniel Adeosun
• Peter Jennings: Benjamin Walker
• Hermann Jäger: Ferdinand Dörfler
• Roone’s Assistant: Solomon Mousley
• Assistant Editor Judy: Caroline Ebner
• Director Swim Race: Daniel Betts
• Camera Assistant Ben: Leif Eduard Eisenberg
• Police Officer: Sebastian Jehkul
• David Berger: Rony Herman
• Berger’s Father: Jeff Book
• Director’s Assistant: Robert Porter Templeton
• Communicator: Stephen Fraser
• Lighting Technician: Leon Dragoi
• Content Assistant: Doris Meier
• Sound Engineer: Mark Ruppel
• Camera Control Technician: Christine Ulrich
• Content Manager: Günther Wernhard
• Script Assistant: Antje Westermann
• Stage Assistant Larry: Harry Waterstone
• Stage Runner JJ: Andreas Honold
• VTR Tech Chuck: Stefan Mittermaier
• Hans Klein: Miguel Abrantes Ostrowski
• Ulrike Meyfarth: Kim Hanfland
• Mark Spitz: David Iselin
• Werner Lampe: Nikita Borisov
• Anneliese Graess: Karolina Gabinger
• Hans-Dietrich Genscher: Robert Glade
• Terrorist Issa: Immanuel Rahman
• Masked Man / German Athlete: Paul Böhme
• American Interviewer: Brendan Todd
• ZDF Interviewer: Dirk Schepanek
• Mohamed Tarabulsi: Saeid Yazdani
• Jim McKay Double: Matthias Schum
• Tuvia Sokolsky Double: Stiev Neubert
• Translator Double: Rafael Peña

Film Crew:

• Producer: Tim Fehlbaum
• Second Unit Director: Moritz Binder
• Producer: Thomas Wöbke
• Producer: John Wildermuth
• Producer: Philipp Trauer
• Producer: John Ira Palmer
• Original Music Composer: Lorenz Dangel
• Director of Photography: Markus Förderer
• Editor: Hansjörg Weißbrich
• Co-Producer: Rüdiger Böss
• Co-Producer: Constanze Guttmann
• Executive Producer: Martin Moszkowicz
• Executive Producer: Christoph Müller
• Producer: Mark Nolting
• Producer: Sean Penn
• Co-Producer: Christian Reitz
• Casting: Simone Bär
• Casting: Nancy Foy
• Casting: Lucinda Syson
• Co-Writer: Alex David
• Second Unit Director: Julian R. Wagner
• Costume Design: Leonie Zykan
• Sound Designer: Frank Kruse
• Associate Producer: Anna-Malike Eigl
• Associate Producer: Jimmy Schaeffler
• First Assistant Director: Ulrike Schürhoff
• Second Assistant Director: Tina Rexilius
• Crowd Assistant Director: Sophia Kretschko
• Art Direction: Uwe Stanik
• Assistant Art Director: Peter Ackermann
• Set Designer: Andreas Zuhr
• Set Decoration: Melanie Raab
• Set Dresser: Mitch Enzmann
• Set Dresser: Thomas Wimmer
• Set Decoration Buyer: Sarah Hesse
• Set Dresser: Till Zimmermann
• Set Dresser: Florian Froese-Peeck
• “B” Camera Operator: Stefan Sosna
• Special Effects Technician: Uwe Greiner
• Stunts: Katja Jerabek
• Foley Mixer: Uwe Zillner
• Visual Effects Supervisor: Martin Jurado
• Visual Effects Producer: Mareike Keller
• Title Designer: Lutz Lemke
• Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Lars Ginzel
• Thanks: Bob Iger
• Post Production Supervisor: Paul Andexel
• Unit Manager: Max Locher
• Property Master: Marco Böhm
• Assistant Production Design: Gini Ganserich
• Assistant Set Decoration: Friederike Gast
• Concept Artist: Leif Heanzo
• Sound Re-Recording Assistant: Alexander Wunsch
• Foley Editor: Benedikt Uebe
• Sound Recordist: Markus Stemler
• Foley Editor: Johanna Rellinghaus
• ADR Mixer: Tristan Radajewski
• ADR Mixer: James Hyde
• Supervising ADR Editor: Mario Hubert
• Dialogue Editor: Marco Hanelt
• Sound Re-Recording Assistant: Anton Dillinger
• Compositing Artist: Matthias Backmann
• VFX Editor: Lisa Bauch
• Executive Visual Effects Producer: Michael Brink
• Compositing Lead: Manuel Houben
• Compositing Artist: Niko Junge
• Compositing Artist: Javier Keltai
• Pipeline Technical Director: Jan-Philipp Koch
• Compositing Artist: Vincent Meunier
• 3D Artist: Salvatore Miranda
• Executive Visual Effects Producer: Rolf Muetze
• Compositing Artist: Kenny Rosset
• VFX Editor: Pia Röbke
• 3D Artist: Ilhan Soydemir
• Visual Effects Supervisor: Dominik Trimborn
• Visual Effects Coordinator: Gunnar von Voss
• “A” Camera Operator: Pablo Gotzes
• First Assistant Camera: Oliver Schill
• Casting Associate: Alexandra Montag
• Location Casting: Juliette Ménager
• Casting Assistant: Steph Tataryn
• Casting Associate: Natasha Vincent
• Senior Colorist: Florian Martin
• VFX Editor: Daniel McMahon
• Additional Editor: Andreas Menn
• Online Editor: Jonathan Roth
• First Assistant Editor: David Maria Vogel
• Post Production Producer: Johannes Weihs
• Assistant Editor: Sebastian Wild
• Scoring Mixer: Jonathan Feurich
• Score Engineer: Felix Trawoeger
• Script Supervisor: Magnus Maria Holzapfel
• Script Consultant: Tobias Madison
• Driver: Christof Bojanowski
• Production Coordinator: Sophia Gilles
• Production Accountant: Rabeah Hinrichs
• Dialogue Coach: Ernestine Kahn
• Sound Designer: Marc Parisotto
• Hair Designer: Sabine Schumann

Movie Reviews:

• Brent Marchant: It’s invariably disappointing when a movie you’ve been looking forward to seeing doesn’t live up to expectations. But such is the case with the latest offering from writer-director Tim Fehlbaum. This re-creation of the day when Black September terrorists took members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage at the 1972 Munich Summer Games, sadly, misses the mark on many fronts. As told from the perspective of the ABC sportscasting crew covering the story, the film comes up short in conveying the sense of urgency and immediacy associated with this human tragedy, which was broadcast live around the globe and is said to have attracted more viewers than Neil Armstrong’s 1969 moon landing. While the picture is to be commended for its apparent authenticity and insights at capturing the events and mood inside the broadcast headquarters, much of the narrative nevertheless descends into a talky, overly technical take on what was transpiring around the TV crew, not a particularly effective way of depicting the nature of an event that shook the world and inevitably changed the way on which crisis situations are reported. While I certainly was not looking for sensationalist treatment here, I also wasn’t expecting to be bored by its clumsy, underwhelming chronicling of circumstances that had the globe on the edge of its seat. The depiction of this scenario, including the coverage of the particulars of that day, as well as examination of the myriad moral implications involved in their televised presentation, fail to captivate viewers on the same way as the events themselves did. I personally remember this fateful day quite well as one that became indelibly etched into the memory of an impressionable 15-year-old – and one that played a critical role in my eventual decision to pursue an education and career in journalism. Because of that, perhaps I expected too much from this release. Perhaps I had unrealistic hopes that an entertainment vehicle could live up to the compelling journalistic portrayal of an event such as this. Either way, though, that doesn’t make up for the disappointment associated with the telling of this story. In a world plagued by as many catastrophes as we experience these days, one could argue that we needn’t be reminded of those that are now behind us. But, if we choose to embrace the notion of “never forget” associated with such traumatic incidents, it behooves those behind such painful commemorations to make sure that their impact unmistakenly comes through, something that is definitely not the case with this offering.
• r96sk: ‘September 5’ is based upon a true story, one that I had somehow not really known about – despite being into sports, albeit not a big Olympics guy. The event in question did ring tiny bells in my head pre-watch, but oddly not as much as other Olympic events would have.
• As such, I didn’t actually know how this story was going to play out. That was actually very beneficial, as I was moving up and down with all the dramatic and disturbing developments. This film portrays its plot tremendously, they set the perfect vibe and pace throughout.
• The acting is also of good quality. John Magaro is the one who impressed me most, though Peter Sarsgaard, Ben Chaplin and Leonie Benesch are also excellent. It’s fascinating to see it all from the media’s perspective, especially in terms how they broadcast; e.g. the onscreen graphics.
• CinemaSerf: I worked in sports broadcasting for 30 years, including at the Olympics in Atlanta when a story of a similar nature to this one broke around the bombing in Centennial Park. Even though we’d moved on a few decades since this scenario, there are still similarities that ring true between this representation of what might have happened in the studio gallery of ABC and what happened in 1996. They are off the air and everyone is getting some rest after a long day when news begins to filter through that there have been gunshots. The programme producer Geoff Mason (John Magaro) summons help from his boss Marv (Ben Chaplin) and from his boss Roone (Peter Sarsgaard). With information limited and their access to an interpreter even more so, they recruit the services of the versatile Marianne (Leonie Benesch) and jury-rigging their comms, wheeling an half-ton camera out onto the concourse and fighting internal battles to avoid the all-powerful news division from muscling in on the operation, this team have to live on their nerves and instinct as they try to convey this breaking news to their population watching at home. It’s quite interesting that a quick flick around the channels available to them reveal they are the only people broadcasting so they press on doing what their journalistic instincts tell them to – and it has to be said, with great ingenuity as walkie-talkies and hard-wired kit were all that was available and official sources were obviously not obsessed with keeping the media briefed as it transpired that “Black September” had killed one and taken another eleven Israelis hostage. Tim Fehlbaum does well to keep the pace taut here as the day’s events unfold, and to give us an illustration of just how tough it was to verify sources whilst trying to stay one step ahead of the competition from people who might not have had the boots on the ground, but who did have ownership of the satellite. One of the reasons that they were the only live broadcaster was that the principal European broadcasters (RAI, France Televisions and the BBC) had already discussed the dangers of the terrorists actually watching the closed-circuit feeds available throughout the Olympic village, and so their sports teams were not broadcasting anything useful. Sadly, that isn’t something that dawns on these guys as the penny begins to drop that they are essentially providing the captors with some external coverage of the authority’s activities in/around the building. Unfortunately, for me, the sort of biggest, best, first, hyperbole that now follows rather undermined what could have been a really quite compelling look at how live television has to react in fluid situations like this. The dialogue starts to become peppered with disparaging remarks about their hosts’ competencies and a certain unpleasant arrogance starts to emanate from this team. Technically, they resort to the radio, in German, rather than co-ordinate with others on site and when the cops finally show up to, admittedly rather heavy-handedly, tell them to get off the air – the emphasis seems to be more about the police with guns invading the control room rather than the irresponsible producers with weapons way more powerful (and useful to to their antagonists) cocking it up. The denouement is also a testament to just how crucial it is to take your time and get your facts straight.
   – and sometimes even the most plausible sources aren’t reliable. In the end, there may be no winners. The anachronism of all of this happening whilst there’s some sport going on elsewhere isn’t wasted here, nor is the inventiveness of those from a professional sport background who put something to air for which none of them had been trained. The world was, indeed, watching though most of the 900 millions were not watching ABC Sports outside of the USA – just a few in Munich whom we all wish weren’t.