The Day of the Jackal
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Movie Reviews of The Day of the Jackal
Movie Review: Compelling Entertainment
Summary: 5 Stars
Years before the U.S.'s controversial involvement in South Viet Nam, France struggled and eventually failed to sustain its own involvement in Algeria. Many of its senior officers felt betrayed by their government. Efforts to assassinate President De Gaulle failed. Frederick Forsyth had this in mind when writing the novel on which this film is based. At substantial cost, an assassin known only as "The Jackal" is retained by dissidents to succeed where others had failed. There are two separate but related plots: one focuses on the assassin's meticulous preparations; the other on Inspector Lebel's equally thorough efforts to identify, locate, and capture him. Of special interest to me is director Fred Zinnemann's decision to tell the story (as does Forsyth) in a straightforward manner, without any special effects or gratuitous violence. He presents Lebel (Michael Lonsdale) and The Jackal (Edward Fox) as highly skilled professionals. Each fully understands what he must do and how to do it. True, both receive assistance from others along the way but they nonetheless remain in complete control until their ultimate confrontation.
Although some have referred to this film as a "political thriller," there is an almost total absence of politics within its narrative. Although his client has specified Charles DeGaulle, The Jackal would kill anyone for the right price. Moreover, there is absolutely no indication of Lebel having any political loyalties or even personal opinions. He is a public official doing his job, no matter who is in danger. For some, I guess, this film is a thriller. It certainly has a number of exciting moments but I, for one, never had any doubt that Lebel would eventually prevail. My interest is explained almost entirely by the seamless development of the two plots, each of which includes several especially well-portrayed incidents. For example, when Lebel confronts a high-level minister who has unknowingly provided The Jackal with privileged information and then later, when The Jackal penetrates security defenses to position himself so that he has a clear shot at his target. "Riveting" rather than "thrilling" summarizes my response to events throughout this crisp and cohesive film.
Movie Review: Lean, Clean, Mean
Summary: 5 Stars
There's hardly any spare flesh on The Jackal. Ars est celare artem --- the art is to hide the artistry. This is a rattling good yarn, superbly told, no messing; and there's infinitely more art in it than in any of those flicks that scream ART at you. Suspense is not a matter of not knowing the outcome, but in watching the net tighten, and waiting to see just how close the Jackal can get to his target. The structure is V shaped: a very wide gap to start with, growing narrower by the hour, until the two tracks finally converge to a point: a bullet-point. The direction has a lot in common with Zinnemann's other masterpiece, High Noon, where, in effect, we are also assured of the outcome. In HN the ticking clocks are prominent, in DOTJ there are more of them, but they're not so obvious. In one film it's the good man against the rest; in the other it's the bad man against the rest. Where I come from, we root for the underdog, regardless. Why did the Jackal fail, and what was his tragic flaw? Ice-cold as he may have seemed, he got emotional. The key moment comes just after he's told his cover is blown. He can either pull away, and turn off back to Italy, when the roads fork, and wait for another day. Or he can carry on to Paris. He lets emotion get the upper hand, and carries on to Paris, which is not the sensible decision for a wise percentage player.
After watching the action repeatedly, a number of blips in continuity become apparent, and several of these are noted elsewhere. There seem to be quite a number of cuts. Like, maybe he did kill Cusack after taking delivery of the custom-tailored gun. This would have eroded viewer sympathy too drastically and too early, whereas nobody gives a damn for the slimy, blackmailing photographer. How did the Jackal suddenly produce a spray-gun filled with blue paint? What happened to the barking Alsatian dog, after the car crash? Does it matter? Less is more, and explanations can be sacrificed for the sake of the pacing. Zinnemann has this great sense of what will work, what is necessary and what isn't, and how to be economical and cost-effective. I could go on. This is a film review, not a book review, which is something entirely different.
Movie Review: Altogether Superb Thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
It's worth watching Michael Caton-Jones 1997 remake with Bruce Willis just to get a measure of just how good this is, just how easy it would be to make a routine, dull, forgettable film using the essentials of this plot. Routine, dull and forgettable is exactly what Caton-Jones and Willis deliver. What Zinnemann and Edward Fox deliver is one of the very classiest thrillers there is. It's a beautifully understated film, a quiet and deceptively slow-moving cat and mouse game in which Fox's mysterious super-assassin, the Jackal, is hired by the OAS to kill General de Gaulle. As he moves in on his target the authorities and in particular French Detective Lebel struggle frantically to stop him. The latter part of the story is a brilliantly compelling police procedural where we watch the combined forces of two countries, France and Britain, plod through endless tedious chores, ploughing through thousands of passport applications in search of a single dodgy one or through all the hotel registration books in greater Paris looking for people claiming to be Danish one of whom might be their man. Meanwhile Fox is superb as the Jackal - hateful though he clearly is, at least a part of one's brain is rooting for him through much of the movie, at least until the body count of those who have got in his way starts to mount up, just because he is a single individual pitted absolutely alone against the might of two states and everything their security apparatus can thrown at him. And so the story moves on through countless beautifully conceived details, the OAS spy who seduces a top official to keep tabs on the investigation, Delphine Seyrig and Anton Rogers as the people the Jackal seduces, best of all perhaps Cyril Cusack as the assiduously comme il faut gunsmith, calmly asking Fox, "Will the gentleman be moving?" as if he were a tailor making a suit. Finally we arrive at a climax that should be relatively free of suspense - we all know after all that de Gaulee in fact retired peacefully in 1969 - but is in fact one of the most brilliantly tense climaxes of any thriller I know.
Movie Review: Superb film from a superlative novel
Summary: 5 Stars
One of my favorite films. Essentially the plot is lifted intact from Frederick Forsyth's wonderful novel involving the herculean task given a mid level police inspector to track down and stop an unknown assassin from killing Charles de Gaulle, then president of France. The movie was filmed entirely on location in Europe employing actors most likely unknown known to you, although a couple will probably be vaguely familiar. The movie was released in 1973 and concerns itself with a fictional assassination attempt circa 1962 by a rogue ex french army group determined to kill de Gaulle for allowing Algeria it's independence from French colonial rule. Just how "fictional" both the assassination attempt and the assassin (The Jackal) were has long been a matter of debate. Paid international assassins were quite common in the first couple decades after the Second World War and it was not at all uncommon for world figures to fall victim of such plots. Witness our own confused legacy of conspiracy over the killing of President Kennedy.
Essentially the captivating quality of the film is the race against the clock to identify, track down and finally stop "The Jackal" from completing his task. At the same time the assassin is provided with witting and unwitting assistance from inside the very investigation itself. Initially, the detectives start to close in on Edward Fox's character resulting in large misses but as the film develops and hurtles towards it's inevitable conclusion the tension builds as The Jackal escapes by ever decreasing margins.
While the story is riveting, the cinematography is superb, wonderful French and Italian scenery. Edward Fox plays the assassin as they probably really are; no audience compassion for this guy. The Detective initially seems to be a cross between Clouseau and one of the French Connection II gendarmes, but rises to accept the challenge and track down his man as only a Frenchman, given the circumstances, could.
A great film. Do try and see it if you can.
Movie Review: A timeless thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
An extremely intelligent thriller that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats all throughout, this classic from Hollywood veteran Fred Zinnemann works wonderfully well despite the fact that its outcome is known from the very beginning.
After all, everyone knows French President Charles de Gaulle wasn't assassinated. The trick, then, is the careful manner in which Zinnemann unfolds the tale of an attempt to assassinate the legendary politician, taking his audience on a breathless ride across scenic locales in Europe, including Genoa, Vienna and the etherally beautiful city of Paris.
I am writing this review after viewing the movie for the umpteenth time, and I just realised that it grows better with each viewing.
Forsaking explosive action for an intelligent pacing and clever script that sticks closely to Frederick Forsyth's bestselling novel (in my humble opinion, one of the strongest points about this movie), Zinnemann uses a cast of solid British and French actors as he brings to the screen, almost in a documentary fashion, the race by police across Europe to nab the canny and suave hitman Jackal (Edward Fox).
Juxtaposed with this is the Jackal's devious and meticulous preparations for the hit. Zinnemann's ability to get under the skin of his characters is one of the film's many strengths, and the film's documentary style has often been emulated, but never as successfully.
The gorgeous cinematography and sound design are two of the other strengths of this film, but they aren't very well served by the non-anamorphic video and standard two channel Dolby soundtrack of the DVD. There is, however, an excellent text supplement documenting the making of the film. It presents many worthy tidbits, such as the surprising fact that "The Day Of The Jackal" marked Zinnemann's return to the screen after a rather long hiatus.
They just don't make films like this any more. This one is definitely a keeper.