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: Universal
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-Video, 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: Funny, you dont sound like your from Holland...
Summary: 4 Stars
Synopsis: Assassin for hire code name "Jackal" takes a high paying, high risk job (the one that retires you) the target: French President Charles De Gaulle; Simple enough storyline, attached with a cat and mouse game.
Although I'm normally very good at separating novel from film adaptation I'm not sure how I can in this case. The movie is pretty faithful to book. The book a top 5 in its genre all time must be read by genre lovers. The film does its best to stress the detailed competency and professionalism of both the Jackal and Head Investigator Lebel (although the Jackal is represented better in the film than the inspector is) but somewhat fails as I read the reviews of genre lovers who don't rate this film highly.
I rate this film 4 stars not so much because it is a 4 star movie, but because the lack of quality ones in the genre. Problems: its sometimes clumsy editing, low sound quality (DVD problem though), and the lack of actor's Edward Fox (as the Jackal) ability to shift his accent (English all the way through). I couldn't believe that he was none of the nationalities he feinted (the book doesn't make this mistake). Pick an actor that can play the part entirely, I ask. Also the tension of Lebel with the govt. committee he reports to is not portrayed well at all! You barely get the sense of urgency and desperation in the old men at the table; or the tact, internal personal/professional pressure of Inspector Lebel. Highlights: 2 red heads w/frontal nudity, lack of gratuitous blood and violence (off scene).
I rate movies by their genre. Although this is a classic and I recommend it to any lover of this genre there are better political intrigue/ suspense films out there or equal to. Hate to say it but if you want it right, read the book....also the ending scene is 1000% portrayed better.
DVD Review: Wonderful, yet so sad...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is probably superfluous, but thanks to all of the commentators above. Not only is this movie the ultimate political thriller, but it may be the epitome, cinematically, of "artless art". Fred Zinneman excels all others attempts at a documentary style. This is one of my favorite 25 films of all time. Then why am I sad? As so many others have stated, they just don't make them like this anymore. Why not? Perhaps it's just too intelligent for today's audiences.DVD Review: A mostly terrific film
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a mostly terrific film with, IMO, some awful moments of acting/scripting/directing. It is one of my most-watched DVDs, but I am so annoyed at its handful of clumsy moments that I just can not give it five stars. I also really dislike the strutting, bantam-rooster style of star Edward Fox. I find him unconvincing and a little ridiculous in a lot of his dialogue. The film survives this because it is basically a lonely-hunter scenario in which Fox's deficiencies are not continuously on display.
The film is niftily embedded in a real and fascinating historical moment to which it is very true. In fact, the remarkable, long, dialog-free opening sequence, which is a re-enactment of a real attempt on De Gaulle's life, is brilliant film-making for which Fred Zinnemann deserves high praise. And he was wise to stick close to the Forsyth novel, which is superb. Even though I will give him some hard shots in a moment, this film is remarkable for telling so much of this story cinematically and so thoroughly entertaining us while doing so. It is classic in its tautness, the steady build-up of tension, and the exciting climax.
OTOH, there are moments of Fox's acting and dialog that are nothing short of embarrassing. His cocky personality and his joking about De Gaulle's security in his initial meeting with the OAS, were ridiculous. A little later, we need to know that the OAS has deposited the agreed-upon payment in the Jackal's Swiss bank account. Zinnemann has Fox shout into a telephone, "Hello Zurich...the money's been deposited?" The words on a webpage can not possibly do justice to how clumsy this moment is on the screen. And then we have Zinnemann needing to let us know that the Jackal has been working on his plan so we see Fox write three bullet points on a pad of paper -- "When / Where / How," or something on that order. Then Fox rubs his eyes with great weariness and switches off his light. It would have been more artful if a placard had just appeared like in the silent movies and said, "The Jackal makes his plan." Later, the Jackal chats up a woman in an inn. Let's just say he ain't no Sean Connery. Apparently, many people loved Fox's performance. Go figure.
But criticisms notwithstanding, I watch this film over and over again. It is much too terrific a film to be ruined for me by a few moments where I wince.
DVD Review: The Military Conspiration
Summary: 4 Stars
Whatever you ask for a first class political thriller you will find in this excellent film. The Day of the Jackal is one of those uncommon movies that you are eager to see again, and again and again. Undoubtly a must-see film. DVD Review: Edward Fox: the Original Terminator...
Summary: 5 Stars
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Edward Fox: the Original Terminator...
It's an old adage in fiction: there are no new stories, only well re-told ones. One can see this in 1973's The Day of the Jackal wherein the suave Edward Fox is the original Terminator rising from each setback to ruthlessly continue his terminator mission.
I don't usually review films because so many other people do and there may or may not be little left to say. However, sometimes a truly quality work of cinematographic art moves me to emphatically share with others its excellence: this is the case with The Day of the Jackal.
Now, probably most viewers will have seen this old chestnut on commercial TV interspersed with infinite advertisements, sliced and diced to atomic particles. That is NOT the way to see this film, for this is an extremely well-made film the fine editing of which is lost on commercial TV.
This was one of the first films to portray simultaneous multiple story lines. As mentioned, the editing is excellent. The set designs and especially the cityscapes of Paris, London, and Genoa are superb.
It's also very interesting to see the re-creation of the early-1960s time-frame.
Nominally a "political thriller," actually the plot has two main facets: (1) a detective story, and (2) the portrayal of the "Terminator." And while the former is interesting, the latter of these is most fascinating with Edward Fox as the star of the show. Not a big man--but well built--the "belle laide" Fox is totally ripped with low body fat.
It's fascinating to see him move through the motions of obtaining multiple identities, obtain and prepare the weapon, and plan the attack.
Once in motion, his goal is inexorable. Unto the very end, when it looks like his own escape will be certainly impossible, he continues simply because he single-mindedly wants to achieve his goal.
In the meantime, he shows himself to be utterly amoral and bisexual; along the way he murders four people with his bare hands; and he eludes an international dragnet of law-enforcement.
The heterosexual scenes with the French aristocrat are not graphic but quite erotic; and the following scenes in the bath house and the Frenchman's flat are subtle but unmistakably gay. (The campy d?cor of the Frenchman's flat is hilarious!)
Fox's changes of disguise parallel the Terminator's morphing abilities.
This is a very quiet film with little music, giving it a documentary ambiance and an high seriousness.
Of course there are some glaring plot failures, but with quality fiction one must suspend disbelief and simply enjoy the story itself.
This is really quite a quality film worthy of multiple viewings.
Vive la France!
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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. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 06/01/2004 Starring: Edward Fox Alan Badel Run time: 143 minutes Rating: PgWith 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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