The Day of the Jackal
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.37 You Save: $4.62 (46%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $4.37 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Day of the Jackal
Movie 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.
Movie Review: A true classic
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie has some excellent acting, a wonderfully tight plot, and some brilliant casting, superb direction... I could go on.The movie is an assasination plot. Sure, we've seen so many of these in today's age. But this one is different. It is a serious plot, and is truly brilliant in its casting and direction. The expression of Lebel as he realises that he has to work round the clock, the expressions of anxiety, pressure, tiredness, excitement... and the pace of the movie keeps one riveted to the seat even if one knows the entire story beforehand by reading the book.
The film's strongest character is Fox, who plays the assassin. Cool, calm and collected, he is focused and decisive. He is ruthless and charming. He is cunning and meticulous. Fox has a toothy smile and his perfectly combed hair and his perfect attire make him the consummate Englishman. A lot of this films' directorial style and screenplay seems to have inspired another classic - The Fourth Protocol, where the whole Cat-and-mouse game is replayed. Fox plays the perfect professional killer - cold, methodical, planned and unremorsefully and ruthlessly committed to his goal.
The Day of the Jackal is a silent and terse film. The screenplay and the direction seem to show the same sense of urgency and focus within the plot, that the characters display in their own objectives.
If one has a collection of movies at home, this is one movie that demands its place. Definitely a treasure.
Movie Review: Kind of makes the remake look like a high school project
Summary: 5 Stars
Someone in the above reviews quipped, 'why don't they make movies like this anymore?' Good question. I guess because they're (today's producers) money driven and willing to pander to the more base instincts of youthful moviegoers in order to achieve just one more week at the box office.
This is one of the best movies ever made. It is plot driven, closely sticking to the Forsyth book, and although it's about the French which probably wouldn't get as much play today, it soon gets you to the edge of your seat and rivets you there.
DeGaulle for many reasons but especially for his politics in Algiers, has numerous attempts on his life. Remeber that in those post World War times, support of the Army was critical. The role of the Army in America probably came to an end in terms of its influential power when President Truman spanked General MacArthur in front of the entire class. In the real world, DeGaulle was an odd fellow, somewaht heroic, somewhat of an isolationist. The OAS, the French Army terrorist cell hires Edward Fox (who looks strangely like David Bowie, doesn't he?) as the suave, well dressed, cold blooded killer to assassinate DeGaulle.
Police procedural, scenic, Fox staying ahead of the police step by step, murder, rapid but contiguous scene changes. Just great stuff with great acting by then unknowns, several of whom didn't act again.
Highly recommended. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury
Movie Review: No, it's not Baby Willis -- It's the REAL 'Jackal' !
Summary: 5 Stars
Not much to add to earlier comments, except this: if you're looking for that truly dreadful Bruce Willis disaster of a so-called 'remake', and were directed instead to this original 'Jackal' by mistake, then go no further. You don't know how lucky you are to have missed the pure dreck of the remake -- rather, you've found your way to another masterpiece from the director who gave us "High Noon", and much more. Think of it as having embarked on a snipe-hunt for junkyard trinkets but happily stumbling onto a real gem. The DVD print is excellent, right down to conveying the subtley bleached effect that I recall from the original release, and the classic "look" and texture of the old Schneider Panavision lenses and European lighting -- all effects that heighten the movie's authenticity and mid-60's ambience. This classic is a far cry from the phony, who-are-you-kidding cinematic comic books of today that try to emulate computer games for overgrown adolescents. The writing, directing and acting are lean and direct, the visual style is spare, efficient, exceptionally effective. When you consider that this is a well researched, fairly accurate telling of actual people and events, you have one of those rare movies that, like "The Third Man", seriously upped the stakes for the espionage/suspense genre, raising the bar to heights that its imitators can't even hope to reach.Movie Review: Edward Fox is bloody brilliant!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, up front...I am an Edward Fox fan. Have been since he lumbered around in the 1966 FROZEN DEAD as Nazi Popcicle #3. Hey, he was one super fozen dead!! He had several good roles in next few years, but really stood out as Ian McShane's fellow flyer in THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. They stole the show in a cast of super Brits - Lord Larry, Michael Caine, Ralph Richardson and Robert Shaw, just to name a few - firmly setting their star potential. But Edward really carved his chunk of attention for the role as the Jackal in the 1973 DAY OF THE JACKAL.The film is a tight production, nearly boarding on documentary. Edward portrays the meticulous hitman of many disguises who has been hired to assassinate Charles de Gaulle. Based on the spy novel from Frederick Forsyth, director Fred Zinnermann focuses on the French detectives racing to track down the elusive Jackal before it's too late, and well as the dispassionate, professional preparations by Fox. But you are in two minds, actually. Fox is so winning in the performance, fleshing out the Jackal just not as a coldblooded killer, but as a man, so you oddly almost root for him to succeed, at the same time cheering for him to fail.
With the marvellous supporting cast of Derek Jacobi, Alan Badel, Maurice Denham, Cyril Cusack, the faced paced script by Kenneth Ross (Breaker Morant) keeps you absorbed from beginning to end.
Thanks awfully, Edward!!