September 5: This new release written and directed by Swiss born Tim Fehlbahm. It speaks about the day when Palistinian terrorists infiltrated some of the Israeli rooms in the Olympic Village and demanded release of 200 political prisoners held in Israel. If you think you know this story, you likely do from the previous Steven Speilberg 2005 film Munich starring Eric Bana. The difference is that this movie focuses on the ABC Sports TV team who covered this story during the second week of the 1972 Munich Olympics. It also focuses on the production team at ABC for that 24 hour period from the initial hostage taking to the resolution that the local military airport. The movie interlaces archived coverage from the actual broadcast with host Jim McKay and the actors in the control room.

The team features in real life was Roone Arledge (played by Peter Sarsgaard), Geoff Mason his producer (played by John Magaro) and also Peter Jennings (played by Benjamin Walker). There are many others with various technical roles who contribute, along with a German technician who beomes more and more important as understanding the commincations among police orgaizations and news stations becomes more important.

For me with a son in the TV business now, I was fascinated at the processes taken to get a picture to the screen. We take for granted now all the computer graphics on the screen. These didn’t exist in 1972. There are satellite uplink times shared by numerous networks, hard tapes from large and heavy cameras which need to be developed, viewed and edited. Rotary dial telephones are needed to be patched into live feeds to allow the host to speak to a reporter in the field. All this gets created on the spot. Meanwhile, the unthinkable is happening with this unexpected attack by a radical group on the athletes with shots fired in the Village. The German police are inexperienced and with little training for a situation like this. It was not their finest hour. The situation continues with plenty of tension in the control room with plenty of external factors. No one seems to know just how important this series of events is playing out on the world stage.

We were at a showing where they had members of the cast and crew responding to questions from a moderator. Sarsgaard spoke about the human ability to compartmentalize, that even after watching something utterly horrific (like a man with a gun pointed at his head) we can shift back to a sporting event and cheer a good play. This ability has been honed especially these days with an inundation of news and stories, but it is shown for dramatic effect as the Olympics continued while the hostage taking was going on and competition still took place. The post script of the film talked about 900 million people watching the coverage of this. They make the argument that this is the first time the world had watched a news event live like this. I disagree. I think the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald in November 1963 was one of the first times this occured and later in 1969 the world watched the moon landing. So in 1972, there were many times when this was happening. Part of the allure for the terrorists is knowing that there would be coverage. Overall, the was an engaging and entertaining film. 51 years prior to the atrocities of October 7, 2023 we replay a terrorist attack by Palestinians against Israel. I think is well worth watching, although I am not sure this is a big screen movie. Check it out.

The Ultimatum Season 3: On Wednesday, the final episode and the reunion show were dropped for this forgettable season. The final episode showed the remaining resolution for the four remaining couples out of six. Two as you recall had left early and left two other singles lingering without partners. I have to admit that I was surprised with two of the end decisions. It doesn’t matter which of the two it was.

One of those decisions was remedied in the Reunion show. Still this is a show where so many of those who participated appeared to be nowhere near ready to be married. But it’s really a wonder why such couples would want to put themselves and their relationship (which is clearly coming to a decision point) before the whole world to see. Sadly this group had a couple of people who were over-the-top troubled and it impacted not only their experience but also of those around them. The premise is flawed which I have talked about before, as it makes no sense to put strangers in a living situation for a Trial Marriage in order to assess their current relationship. So while this is mind candy and senseless TV for me, this is a season and a group of people that I didn’t need to spend time with.