After yet another assassination attempt on President Charles De Gaulle fails, and most of the group now arrested, the O.A.S. decides to hire an outsider to get the job done. When French officials find out someone has been hired, they understandably panic, especially when de Gaulle's liaison tells them that the investigation must be conducted in absolute secrecy. The leader of the investigation, Lebel, is sharp, but is he sharp enough to figure out who The Jackal is without any clues to his identity?
The Day Of The Jackal is a superb thriller directed by Fred Zinnermann and based on the novel by Fredrick Forsyth. It was released in 1973 and looks very dated now, however, it is still an excellent movie.
Edward Fox is excellent as the professional hitman, code-named 'The Jackal'. This is a man who is suave, sophisticated and displays a cold detachment especially when it comes to his interaction with people, and those people he interacts with are only necessary to help him get closer to his goal. He is completely driven to achieve his goal. Even when his contact at the O.A.S. informs him that the authorities are aware of the plot, he still goes ahead with his plans regardless, assuming he still had the upper hand.
The great thing about this 'villain', is that there is nothing over the top about him. He's anonymous, blends in, quiet, and despite his intent, you almost feel admiration for him without actually rooting for him,
Michel Lonsdale plays Lebel and does such a brilliant job. There is frustration at all the secrecy he has to abide by but will go to any length to get the job done. In one terrific scene, he is at the meeting of all the senior officials involved in the investigation, and knowing that information has been leaked to The Jackal, keeping him one step ahead of the police at all times, and that leak came from one of the officials present, he plays a recording from a bug in the officials home. When asked how he knew which of the official's home telephones to bug, he replies coolly "I didn't, so I bugged them all".
The only two main female characters in this film are both beautiful and integral to the plot. One is an insider of the O.A.S. who is sleeping with the official to gain the much-needed information about what the authorities know and get it passed on to the Jackal. The other is an innocent woman whom the Jackal meets at a hotel he is hiding out in, and seduces her, sleeps with her and you actually believe he likes her. However, when the police discover the fact that he is at the hotel, the Jackal has already moved on and he ends up at the woman's home. It transpires that she is aware that he is a wanted man and he ends up calmly killing her to ensure her silence.
Given the fact that this is a film about a man out to assassinate a real-life figure, and we know that said figure wasn't assassinated in real life, you would think this film would be free of any suspense cause we know how it will end, but that's not the case at all. This is an incredibly gripping film, and it draws you in, building the tension as the day of the assassination draws nearer.
The film, by today's standard, seems slow but that is what makes it so good. There is no ridiculous exposition all the time, there aren't any stylistic flourishes or action sequences, the last 15 mins of the movie has hardly any dialogue but yet is incredibly exciting, and all this is down to the excellent direction of Zinnermann, who was responsible for directing classics like 'High Noon', 'From Here To Eternity' and even the movie adaptation of 'Oklahoma!'
The whole cast is fantastic and made up of, at the time, relatively unknowns. To have had a 'star' play the Jackal would have, in my opinion, taken away the mystique of the character. The supporting cast was made up of TV and theatre stars of the time. Tony Britton plays the British Inspector, Derek Jacobi plays Lebel's assistant Caron, Ronald Pickup as The Forger. Timothy West, Cyril Cusack, Donald Sinden and Maurice Denham also appear.
This is a truly clever, gripping and classic thriller which, although didn't do well at the box office on its release, probably due to the lack of a 'star' name, garnered enormous praise from critics and despite it's 'dated' look, still holds up today.
I just love it and am happy to highly recommend it for any DVD collection.
Review of The Day of the Jackal
