Escape to the Sun

Escape to the Sun
Directed byMenahem Golan
Written byMenahem Golan
Produced byMenahem Golan
StarringLaurence Harvey
Yehuda Barkan
Josephine Chaplin
Jack Hawkins
CinematographyDavid Gurfinkel
Edited byAlfred Srp
Music byDov Seltzer
Production
companies
Comacico
Noah Films
Distributed byCinevision (U.S.)
Release date
  • 31 October 1972 (1972-10-31) (U.S.)
Running time
118 minutes

Escape to the Sun is a 1972 drama film written and directed by Menahem Golan and starring Laurence Harvey, Josephine Chaplin, John Ireland, Lila Kedrova and Jack Hawkins. The film was a co-production between Israel, France and West Germany.

The screenplay was written by Menahem Golan and Yosef Gross, based on a short story by Uri Dan. The plot centers around a group of Jews attempting to hijack a plane to escape from a police state. The country's name is not mentioned in the film, but it is clear that it refers to the Soviet Union.

The storyline is inspired by Operation Wedding, an attempted hijacking of a civilian plane on June 15, 1970, by a group of Jews, including refusal-to-emigrate individuals and human rights activists in the Soviet Union. However, the resemblance between the two is minimal.

The film was shot in West Berlin and Norway.