The Day of the Jackal
by Fred Zinnemann
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DVD details
Actor: Alan Badel, Edward Fox, Michel Auclair, Terence Alexander, Tony BrittonDirector: Fred Zinnemann
Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA)
Cinematographer: Jean Tournier
Editor: Ralph Kemplen
Producer: David Deutsch
Producer: John Woolf
Producer: Julien Derode
Writer: Frederick Forsyth
Writer: Kenneth Ross
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Letterbox, 1.85:1
Running Time: 143 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-04-29
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of The Day of the Jackal
DVD Review: Forget 1997's The Jackal. This is the one to see!
Summary: 5 Stars
Thoroughly compelling thriller. Shot on location across Europe. Further evidence that movies can (or at least, could) be entertaining without CGI, blatant cursing, and explicit sex.
Edward Fox is suave as The Jackal. In my opinion, the best proof of his total dedication to the job is his willingness to sleep with both men and women to attain entry or elude authorities. Michael Lonsdale as the detective is just as good as the overworked and underappreciated detective. It's frustrating that these two excellent actors did relatively few mainstream American films. Eagle-eye viewers might notice a young(er) Edward Hardwicke at the end. Doesn't quite look like Dr. Watson without the mustache!
This is not a critique of the film, but this DVD is over 10 years old. That's an eternity in media nowadays. Both main actors are still alive (and indeed, active) so perhaps one or both could be enticed to provide commentary for a new release?
DVD Review: The best
Summary: 5 Stars
This is simply one of the best action films ever made. Beautiful cinematography, good story and great shots of a 70s Europe. (I know the film is set in 1963, but everything looks like the 70s including many of the cars!) This is intelligent action. Not actually a lot of violence on the screen so it will not appeal to people interested in special-effects.
If peoplea are aware of hidden gems with a similar 70s European setting, I would appreciate a comment to this review!
DVD Review: Terrific movie based on a great book
Summary: 5 Stars
Frederick Forsyth's best book made into an excellent and exciting movie - I highly recommend it!DVD Review: Falling Prey to the Jackal
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Day of the Jackal" (1973) is a parallel procedural in which we follow an assassin and his police pursuers through all sorts of moves and counter-moves. President Charles De Gaulle gave independence to Algeria from France, and a group of retired army officers (the OAS) vowed to kill him. After a failed attack on his limousine, the plotters hire a British contract killer, a superb marksman, code named Jackal, brilliantly played by Edward Fox. He is a meticulous and clever planner, a tactician, who hires a forger to fake documents and an armorer to design a special sniper rifle that can be assembled from small sections and easily concealed. (Watch for what Fox does to a watermelon.) All the steps of his preparation for his assassination are documented, using guile and disguises, and along the way he has to dispatch people who get in his way.
The French investigation unit led by the unassuming but sharp-witted plodder Lebel (Michael Lonsdale) enlist the aid of Scotland Yard to track down the identity of the Jackal. Lebel's assistant is Caron (Derek Jacobi) who resembles Fox. Suspense is built up as the Jackal barely manages to stay one step ahead of the cops. He's a flashy dresser and sports an ascot. There's a James Bond quality to him.
It's a movie that engrosses the viewer, with a clever, complex plot, well acted, and beautifully photographed with great shots of European sites. The preparations and parading on French Liberation Day around the Arch of Triumph intensify the suspense build-up.
DVD Review: Read the Book Instead
Summary: 3 Stars
The book is so infinitely better than the movie, that I would not see it until after reading it. The person playing the jackal is disappointing. Scenes are rushed (due to time constraints).
Description of The Day of the Jackal
AN ASSASSIN TARGETS THE PRESIDENT OF FRANCE IN THIS TENSE FREDERICK FORSYTH THRILLER. FEATURES PRODUCTION NOTES, TALENT BIOS, FILM HIGHLIGHTS, AND TRAILERS.With its high-intensity plot about an attempt to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle, the bestselling novel by Frederick Forsyth was a prime candidate for screen adaptation. Director Fred Zinnemann brought his veteran skills to bear on what has become a timeless classic of screen suspense. Not to be confused with the later remake The Jackal starring Bruce Willis (which shamelessly embraced all the bombast that Zinnemann so wisely avoided), this 1973 thriller opts for lethal elegance and low-key tenacity in the form of the Jackal, the suave assassin played with consummate British coolness by Edward Fox. He's a killer of the highest order, a master of disguise and international elusiveness, and this riveting film follows his path to de Gaulle with an intense, straightforward documentary style. Perhaps one of the last great films from a bygone age of pure, down-to-basics suspense (and a kind of debonair European alternative to the American grittiness of The French Connection), The Day of the Jackal is a cat-and-mouse thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat until its brilliantly executed final scene (pardon the pun), by which time Fox has achieved cinematic immortality as one of the screen's most memorable killers. --Jeff Shannon
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