Operation Daybreak PG

The mission: Assassinate SS Obergruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich, the diabolical murderer William L. Shirer called "the genius of the Final Solution." Directed by Lewis Gilbert (The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker), written by The Pianist Academy Award winner Ronald Harwood and filmed where the real events occurred, this taut thriller stars Timothy Bottoms, Anthony Andrews and Nicola Pagett as brave Czechs who defy their German invaders. You'll see the abortive first assassination attempt and the flawed yet successful second. You'll witness furious Nazi reprisals, including the annihilation of Lidice. And you'll marvel at the bold last stand of seven patriots. Throughout, you'll know these seven were real people in a real time. Ordinary people by everyday standards. Heroes by every other measure.

In OPERATION DAYBREAK, the Nazis have positioned maniacal commander Reinhard Heydrich (Anton Diffring) in the Czechoslovakian capital of Prague. Allied intelligence fears that should Hitler fail, Heydrich would continue the deadly expansion of the Third Reich. The British act quickly and send in three Czech parachutists to perform Operation Daybreak--a mission to assassinate Heydrich at any cost. The operation seems to be going according to plan for the Czech liberation movement until one of the parachutists, Sgt. Karel Curda (Martin Shaw), turns from Allied spy to informer, revealing the location of the Czech rebel headquarters to the Nazis. Timothy Bottoms gives an impressive performance as Jan Kubis, leader of the ill-fated revolutaries in this riveting drama.

With OPERATION DAYBREAK, director Lewis Gilbert returns to his war film roots. Gilbert combines the lightning-fast story telling technique he learned in his first James Bond film, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, with his first-hand experience in the Royal Air Force to create a realistic and visually stunning film.