There's always something fascinating about a film that takes a well-known historical event and twists a fictional story around it. Not only does it effectively add a true sense of realism, thus increasing the suspense and visceral intensity of the plot, but there's also that inkling of a feeling that perhaps the story isn't fictional, after all. It goes against all our logic, but the sentiment still sits at the back of our minds; as far as we know, maybe there was an assassination attempt on Charles de Gaulle on August 25, 1963 that was promptly covered up by authorities. Of course, Fred Zinnemann's 'The Day of the Jackal (1973),' based upon the acclaimed 1971 thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth, never purports to be telling a true story, but it remains a exciting consideration. The film follows a cunning, ruthless assassin codenamed the Jackal as he plots to sniper the French President, as well as the frantic attempts of authorities to capture the anonymous man before he can carry out his plans.
Unlike most thrillers concerned with capturing a killer before he can strike, 'The Day of the Jackal' spends most of its time with the assassin himself, where we watch him intelligently and artfully drawing his meticulous plans and putting them into execution. The Jackal (Edward Fox) is a man of few words; a silent and scrupulous professional who never allows emotion to affect his work. We come to recognise his sly brilliance in everything he does, and yet the film never celebrates his cleverness, and admiration is not an emotion with which we are willing to respond to him. On the opposite side of the moral scale is Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel (Michael Lonsdale), a shy and softly-spoken detective who reveals himself to be a surprisingly cunning and resourceful investigator. The means by which he and his colleagues break-down the Jackal's impenetrable scheme is genuinely captivating and intriguing.
Given the story's historical grounding, it is inevitable that the assassination attempt be unsuccessful, though Zinnemann manages to infuse the story with a continuing air of suspense, which slowly escalates as the fateful day Liberation Day in Paris approaches. 'The Day of the Jackal' joins the ranks of such films as 'All the President's Men (1976)' and 'Zodiac (2007),' which somehow manage to maintain the tension despite their conclusions never being in any doubt {though, admittedly, those two had the added burden of a completely factual story}. Despite the phenomenal success of Forsyth's novel, the film adaptation was a box office failure, which Zinnemann later blamed upon having an unknown in the title role. Nevertheless, 'The Day of the Jackal' is now considered a classic thriller, which also spawned an average 1997 remake, 'The Jackal,' starring Bruce Willis and Richard Gere.
