The Munich Summer Games of 1972, the showcase of Olga Korbut’s gymnastics and Mark Spitz’s swimming, were “the Olympics of Serenity,” as Germany billed them, that became “the Olympics of Terror.” For 21 hours under the unblinking cameras of ABC television, hooded gunmen of the Palestinian faction “Black September” held Israeli athletes hostage, killing 11 of them before the botched getaway and airport firefight were over.
It was a horror story on live TV that changed forever the mood of the Olympics and the imagery of terrorism. And now it’s the stuff of an Oscar winning experiment in movie-making: a documentary that’s also a thriller. Perhaps the strangest note in the hindsight on the Munich massacre is that it’s the German politicians and security bunglers who still don’t want to talk about it, and the last surviving Palestinian warrior who does. “One Day in September” and the men who made the movie. Listen in.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Arthur Cohn, Co-Producer of Oscar-winning “One Day in September” and winner of 5 previous Oscars
and Kevin Macdonald Director, One Day In September