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The Day of the Jackal (1973) 7.8
A professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" plots to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France. Director:Fred Zinnemann |
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Edward Fox | ... | ||
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Terence Alexander | ... |
Lloyd
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Michel Auclair | ... | |
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Alan Badel | ... | |
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Tony Britton | ... | |
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Denis Carey | ... | |
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Adrien Cayla-Legrand | ... | |
| Cyril Cusack | ... | ||
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Maurice Denham | ... | |
| Vernon Dobtcheff | ... | ||
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Jacques François | ... |
Pascal
(as Jacques Francois)
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Olga Georges-Picot | ... | |
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Raymond Gérôme | ... |
Flavigny
(as Raymond Gerome)
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Barrie Ingham | ... |
St. Clair
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| Derek Jacobi | ... | ||
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Plot Summary
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Plot Synopsis
Storyline
It is the early 60s in France. The remaining survivors of the aborted French Foreign Legion have made repeated attempts to kill DeGaulle. The result is that he is the most closely guarded man in the world. As a desperate act, they hire The Jackal, the code name for a hired killer who agrees to kill French President De Gaulle for half a million dollars. We watch his preparations which are so thorough we wonder how he could possibly fail even as we watch the French police attempt to pick up his trail. The situation is historically accurate. There were many such attempts and the film closely follows the plot of the book. Written by John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
Taglines:
Fred Zinnemann's film of... See more »Genres:
ThrillerParents Guide:
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Details
Release Date:
30 July 1973 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Chacal See more »Box Office
Gross:
SEK 1,959,165 (Sweden)Company Credits
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company contact information
on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)Color:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
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Commentator: August 1962 was a stormy time for France. Many people felt that President Charles de Gaulle had betrayed the country by giving independence to Algeria. Extremists, mostly from the Army, swore to kill him in revenge. They banded together in an underground movement, and called themselves the OAS.
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(1914) (uncredited)
Music by Kenneth Alford
Played by an accordionist
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Did You Know?
Trivia
There are 31 individual insert shots of clocks in the movie. By contrast, High Noon, also directed by Fred Zinnemann and more directly concerned with the passage of time, contains only 13 insert shots of clocks. See more »Goofs
During the Mass scene at the cathedral, the priest is seen standing behind the altar facing the congregation. At the time the movie portrays (1963), the priest would have his back to the congregation. The change in the mass was one result of the Church's Vatican II council in 1968. See more »Quotes
[first lines]Commentator: August 1962 was a stormy time for France. Many people felt that President Charles de Gaulle had betrayed the country by giving independence to Algeria. Extremists, mostly from the Army, swore to kill him in revenge. They banded together in an underground movement, and called themselves the OAS.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The Cross of Lorraine, a symbol General Charles de Gaulle used during his lifetime, appears at the beginning of the film. See more »Soundtracks
"Colonel Bogey March"(1914) (uncredited)
Music by Kenneth Alford
Played by an accordionist
See more »
The opening five minutes of the film are a marvel. Almost completely devoid of dialogue the scenes portray visually more story than most modern thrillers can fit into two hours. This is about the best book-to-film conversion I've ever seen. The cuts, where they are made, are logical and some locations are combined. From Forsyth's first, and probably best book (written in less than 5 weeks) this film contains nothing that does not drive the story forward. The character of the Jackal is brilliantly finely drawn. He doesn't contain any of the cliches that you would expect to see in a film written in the last twenty years (he doesn't display mental instability, or have flashbacks to some event in his past). He never tries to justify his pernicious occupation to anyone yet, strangely, doesn't come across as an evil man. Simply as a professional doing his job. The French police inspector is wonderfully underplayed and is as far away from the he-breaks-the-rules-but-he-gets-the-job-done cliche as you can possibly imagine. He is first seen attending to his pigeons and upon being told he is being put on the case simply says "Oh God..."....
Zimmemann's direction is great and the scenes are beautifully photographed - particularly in Paris.
This is an all-time great film. Definitely in my top ten. I suppose I must put something in negative so it makes for a balanced review so errr.... I think the French minister is wearing a very bad wig. Beyond that -marvelous.