The Day of the Jackal

Rating:
Summary: Different versions...
Review: OK, Fans,

We know you all love this terrific movie but there is a looming question that has bothered me for years. I would appreciate any insight anyone can offer...

In the second meeting between the jackal and the gunsmith (Cusack), the jackal is reviewing Cusack's handiwork and admiring the gun. Cusack then brings out the explosive bullets he has made. In almost all available versions that I have seen, this scene ends with a close-up of the jackal's hands as he loads the gun.

THERE IS ANOTHER VERSION. It is possible that I have completely lost my mind but I am convinced that I have seen a version of this scene wherein the jackal kills Cusack with the bullet he has just loaded.

This makes perfect sense in light of what we know of the jackal (that he would off any possible witnesses). Am I nuts? Has anyone else seen this version? Where did it go? Did the studio edit it for time? (It couldn't be more than a few seconds.) Did they edit it to make the jackal a more sympathetic character? (C'mon!)

Anyone? Anyone?

Thanks.

Rating:
Summary: Altogether Superb Thriller
Review:
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.


Rating:
Summary: Silence is Golden
Review: It is funny that a movie which originally was a book has so little words, especially in the end. That is exactly what makes this movie so good because Zinneman has pulled it off making a book into a movie but doing it so well that the movie can stand on it's own. It is no wonder therefore that this movie was counted among the Top 1000 movies ever

The actors were too old so I didn't know any of them but my favorite was the policeofficer hunting down the assasin trying the kill French president de Gaulle.

It is still strange to hear really good English spoken by people that are supposed to be French while there are also French people in the movie playing French people with a French accent, a little confusing sometimes..

Rating:
Summary: How To Stop A Stealthy And Anonymous Assassin
Review: First of all, this film has no relation to the recent film titled 'The Jackal' starring Bruce Willis which is complete fiction and bad fiction at that.

Fred Zinnemann directed this 1973 film based on actual events involving the attempted assassination of French President Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s. A great suspense thriller where the audience is gripped by both the elusive assassin's stealth as well as the chief inspector's tenacity.

The film follows the real political events in France in the early 60s at the close of the Algerian War of Independence. Faced with public outcry to end the war, President Charles DeGaulle seeks peace with the North African rogue colony of Algeria. Ardently opposed to DeGaulle are many top military officers who've formed a conspiracy to remove him from power: by assassination if necessary. The conspirators enter into a contract with an elusive assassin known only as 'The Jackal'(Edward Fox) who will stop at nothing to get the job done. Although French authorities are aware of the plot, they're equally ignorant as to the identity of the hired killer. The task of finding the assassin in time falls upon an officer of the Surete (Michael Lonsdale: Drax in Moonraker) who's determined to protect the president.

The film is fast paced and brings the audience into the cat-and-mouse game almost immediately. The film follows both the assassin and his pursuer until the climactic ending. The film quality is good for its time and the audience is kept in suspense as to the assassin's methods and plans. The gripping screenplay is brought to life by the great acting talents of the actors as well as a competent director.

Altogether a great political suspense thriller that is all the more convincing because its mostly true. A great film to own or watch numerous times.