Based on F. Forsyth’s best-selling novel, The Day of the Jackal concerns the 1963 plot to assassinate the powerful French President Charles De Gaulle by a professional English killer, hired by OAS extremists.
Grade: B+ (**** out of *****)
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Theatrical release poster
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The title refers to the code name of the designated assassin (well played by Edward Fox).
Unlike Costa-Gavras’ “Z,” the movie is based upon a single, fictional incident, rather than a series of complex historical and political facts. Technically, though, “Day of the Jackal” is a well-executed film from director Fred Zinnemann, but like most of his movies, it is competent without being exciting, continuously involving without being emotionally engaging.
One problem that works against this political thriller is that we know the end result, namely, that De Gaulle was NOT killed, thus the suspense of depend entirely on the process and details, namely how the assassination plot was planned, orchestrated with and through numerous players, and then failed. Known for his attention to detail and meticulous if unexciting craftsmanship, Zinnemann is the right director.
But you can’t help but think what a director of the older generation, such as Hitchcock or Don Siegel or Sam Peckinpah, or a member of the younger generation, such as Francis Ford Coppola (“The Conversation”), William Friedkin (The French Connection”) or Scorsese (“Taxi Driver”) would have done with the same text.
Most of the film consists of supporting roles and cameos, and the casting director who helped Zinnemann deserves praise for choosing some of the best British and French thespians working today, many of whom known for stage and TV work rather than cinema.
Watching the film is not exactly a spotting game because at least half of them are not recognizable names to American audiences. Even so, Michael Lonsdale as a French detective who trails the killer down, always one or two steps behind, Delphine Seyrig, as a bored baroness whom the assassin encounters en route, Cyril Cusack as Gunsmith, Alan Badel as the Minister, Vernon Dobtcheff as the interrogator, and last but not least Adrien Cayla-Legrand, as the President De Gaulle himself (shown briefly and usually from a distance).
“Day of the Jackal” is an international (French-UK) production, in which the various nationalities and multiple accents are so well orchestrated and coordinated that they don’t present an obstacle.
That said, there’s a letdown feeling at the end, due to the downbeat conclusion, which makes you feel that you have just watched a competent but gimmicky film.
The movie was popular at the box-office.
Remake
Stay away from a 1997 film, “The Jackal,” which is inferior to Zinnemann’s work in every department.
Oscar Alert
The film was nominated for the Best Editing Oscar by Ralph Kemplen.
Cast
Edward Fox as the Jackal, aka Paul Duggan & Per Lundquist
Michel Lonsdale as Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel
Terence Alexander as Lloyd
Michel Auclair as Colonel Rolland
Alan Badel as the French Interior Minister
Tony Britton as Superintendent Brian Thomas
Derek Jacobi as Caron
Denis Carey as Casson
Cyril Cusack as the Gunsmith
Maurice Denham as General Colbert
Delphine Seyrig as Colette de Montpellier
Jacques François as Pascal
Olga Georges-Picot as Denise
Raymond Gérôme as Flavigny
Barrie Ingham as St. Clair
Jean Martin as Victor Wolenski
Ronald Pickup as the Forger
Vernon Dobtcheff as the Interrogator
Eric Porter as Col. Marc Rodin
Anton Rodgers as Jules Bernard
Donald Sinden as Assistant Commissioner Mallinson
Jean Sorel as Jean Bastien-Thiry
David Swift as Montclair
Timothy West as Commissioner Berthier
Bernard Archard as Inspector Hughes
Philippe Léotard as Paris Gendarme
Adrien Cayla-Legrand as President Charles de Gaulle
Edward Hardwicke as Charles Calthrop (uncredited)
Howard Vernon as Minister Levesque (uncredited)
David Kernan as the real Per Lindquist (uncredited)
Féodor Atkine as an OAS member (uncredited)
Max Faulkner as a Special Branch Inspector (uncredited)
Liliane Rovère as Hotel Chambermaid (uncredited)
Credits
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Running time: 142 minutes
Produced by John Woolf, David Deutsch and Julien Derode
Directed by Fred Zinnemann
Screenplay: Kenneth Ross, based on Frederick Forsyth’s novel
Cinematography: Jean Tournier
Music: George Delerue
Editing: Ralph Kemplen
Music by Georges Delerue
Production: Warwick Film Productions; Universal Productions France
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date: May 16, 1973
Running time: 142 minutes
Box office $16,056,255
