The Assignment (1997)

Director:

Christian Duguay

Writers (WGA):

Dan Gordon (written by) &
Sabi H. Shabtai (written by)

Release Date:

26 September 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Plot:

An American naval officer is recruited for an operation to eliminate his lookalike, the infamous terrorist Carlos The Jackal.

Plot Keywords:

Terrorist | Naval Officer | Little League Baseball | KGB | Intelligence Agent

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Dec. 1

8:00 PM

MAX

Cast

Aidan Quinn	...	Lt. Cmdr. Annibal Ramirez / Carlos
Donald Sutherland	...	Jack Shaw / Henry Fields
Ben Kingsley	...	Amos
Claudia Ferri	...	Maura Ramirez
Céline Bonnier	...	Carla
Vlasta Vrana	...	KGB Head Officer
Liliana Komorowska	...	Agnieska
Von Flores	...	Koj
Al Waxman	...	Carl Mickens - CIA
Mitchell David Rothpan	...	Joey Ramirez
Gregory Hlady	...	KGB Aide
Gabriel Marian Oseciuc	...	KGB Agent
Frédéric Desager	...	KGB Agent
Kliment Denchev	...	KGB Technician
Yonathan Gordon	...	Yoni

Also Known As:

Jackal (USA) (working title)
Le mandat (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, sexuality and language.

Runtime:

Spain:111 min | USA:115 min | Canada:119 min (Ontario)

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | UK:18 | South Korea:15 (video rating) (cut) | South Korea:18 (original rating) | Philippines:R-18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Acre, Israel

Company:

Allegro Films

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Annibal Ramirez is going around in the Jerusalem market (about 15 minutes into the movie) we see him reach into his bag for film (to supposedly reload his camera), but the subsequent shot clearly shows there is no film in the open camera that he closes before he takes the picture of the two guards.

Quotes:

Jack Shaw: What did Darth Vader say to Luke Skywalker? Come over to the dark side. Come over, Annibal. You have no idea of the power we have.

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Soundtrack:

Swing Dixie

Smart, Sophisticated Action/Thriller

I loved this film. It was so intelligent but it also had some great action sequences, without basing the movie solely around them. Quinn, Sutherland and Kingsley all put in fantastic performances and there are enough twists to keep anyone interested. The ending was great as well.