"The Day of the Jackal" - the second novel (after the "History of Biafra") of the English writer Frederick Forsyth; won the Edgar Alan Poe Prize for best detective novel. Forsyth wrote the novel in three weeks and it is one of the 100 best detective novels of all time. I read the book - it's very cool. The movie was really atmospheric. Those who do not know the biography of de Gaulle will be doubly interesting. The smartest movie about confrontation. Those who read the novel will immediately understand and appreciate the fact that the tape is shot in a single key of the integrity and preservation of the text of the book, plus the framework of documentary functionality. Edward Fox plays brilliantly. The thriller is superimposed neatly on the detective. I recommend both the book and the movie. It was fucking interesting.
Yesterday I watched the film of the American director of Austrian origin Fred Zinnemann “The Day of the Jackal” / The Day of the Jackal, 1973, a joint production of Great Britain and France. It is an adaptation of the English writer Frederick Forsyth, who wrote about such things with knowledge, because for more than 20 years he was an agent of MI 6, like another famous writer John Le Carré, and even Somerset Maugham was an agent, as he visited even Russia, about which he wrote in several of his works that I also read. The film tells the story of the planning, preparation and execution of the assassination attempt on French President Charles de Gaulle, and at the very beginning of the story of the assassination attempt and the names of its organizers, which actually took place. Then the organizers were caught and the leader was shot, they were the worst enemies of De Gaulle from the SLA organization, who could not forgive him for granting independence to Algeria. In the film, we see a group of OAS-sheep of four people who plan a new assassination attempt, keeping the entire operation a secret. For its implementation, they decide to invite a person from the outside, whom none of the locals know, the choice falls on a certain Englishman, who is given the code name Jackal. He asks for a huge sum of 500 thousand dollars, for which they have to organize several robberies of banks. And then we see how scrupulous Jackal prepares this crime, thinking through literally everything to the smallest detail. But at some point after the capture of the security services, which also did not sit idle, one of the members of the group becomes known their plans and even the code name of the shooter. And the hunt for him begins. Despite the fact that he acts alone, and hunted by a huge number of police and special services, he constantly manages to escape. The end is tense, I won't tell you. But since everyone knows that De Gaulle died of his own accord, it is clear that the assassination attempt failed, but it was very interesting to watch the process. A lot of things happened there. I liked the film, liked the actor who played the Jackal, Edward Fox, whom I had seen before in some English films and TV series, but did not particularly remember, although the face is familiar, but his daughter Emilia Fox, also an actress, remember much better.
Another definition should not even be sought for the creation of Fred Zinneman.
In the center of the plot is the attempt of a number of French generals, after the failure of the conspiracy against Charles de Gaulle, to eliminate the first person of the Republic, by the hands of an unknown assassin. Well, like the plot is simple, say accustomed to a lot of modern viewers. It is. But it's about bringing this idea to the screen. Fred Zinneman beautifully and fascinatingly showed the intellectual duel of two professionals in his field.
On the one hand, we see intelligent, risky, but far-sighted actions of the killer, and on the other hand, scrupulous, careful, as in a balancing act, and accurate, like a Swiss watch, police work. Moreover, not only French, but also English in the picture in general raised a rare topic, the interaction of law enforcement agencies of different countries. I am sure that it was not without consultants from law enforcement agencies, their working days are painfully reliably shown. There is almost no shooting and chase, there is little blood and movement typical of American militants. Here is a sophisticated European cinema, for an intelligent viewer who understands that truly criminal cases are not conducted in this way. The investigator in the film is a smart guy, of course, but it’s not Sherlock Holmes who can unravel a cigar butt crime or a hair on an old carpet. The investigation is a stupid, uniform work, which does not immediately give the desired result and in the “Day of the Jackal” this side of police work is shown flawlessly.
However, the actions of the killer cause no less admiration for their unconventionalness and audacity. Preparations for the assassination are recreated on the screen, like a textbook. A good half of the preparatory process is not understood at all until the action comes to its climax.
As a result, more than a two-hour picture flies almost imperceptibly. I recommend it not only to fans of the genre, but in principle to anyone who loves smart cinema.
The initiation of the very dashing, non-systemic opposition of the OAS (composed in the bulk of its former military) to de Gaulle’s power in France decided that only the physical elimination of the president would bring them to power. The self-organized assassination attempt failed, and they decided to hire a professional killer. Around the preparation of the murder and counter-fight with the mercenary poster film.
Despite the fact that it was shot more than forty years ago, it is interesting to watch it today, but there are no special effects and dizzying tricks, but there is a tension of the plot, acting and a nostalgic look back. I’ll start with nostalgia – probably began to grow old, but I really like the views from the past, when Paris was not yet a conglomerate of African-French Arab descent, women wore dresses, and men costumes and looked elegant, even ordinary bourgeois please the eye with their appearance, now you see this only in provincial villages of France. Machines delighted with individuality, and smoking in all public places was taken for granted. But I got distracted. There is a nerve in the film that doesn’t let go until the very end, from the first attempt to the final shots. The daring plot of a solitary killer is confronted by the security services of France and England, they pursue him on his heels, and he presents them with surprises. And behind the elegant appearance of a gentleman hides a cold-blooded killer - scrupulous preparation, awareness (alas, but not without betrayal in the hunting headquarters) and cruelty in covering tracks. One of the film's iconic moments is a fork in the road - when the Jackal had the choice to give up the task (he was revealed) or continue. Seconds of reflection played and shot perfectly. The denouement in France was expected, but again perfectly shot, and the additional small touches in the form of a conversation of police officers in England looked original. The actors who played in the film were able to convey the tension of events and the charm of the era, which could not affect the pleasure of watching.
It turned out, albeit not a literal adaptation of Forsythe's novel, but very close to the text, where the dry statement of the confrontation between the criminal and the security forces, devoid of romance and nobility, but filled with a certain charm, comes to the fore.
The secret organization of the SLA is trying to overthrow the government of Charles de Gaulle. They hire a lone assassin named the Jackal to eliminate the French president.
Frederick Forsythe's novel The Day of the Jackal, published in 1971, is a classic of a political thriller. Two years later, the film adaptation was released, for which the Hollywood classic Fred Zinnenman took up (" Exactly at noon, From Now and Forever). The film is given features of documentary and carefully shows the preparation of the Jackal for the assassination. In parallel, there is a game of cat and mouse with the French police. The film is scrupulous in showing details and therefore sometimes boring and tedious. But the atmosphere and immersion in what is happening in the film can not take away.
The main role of the assassin was played by Edward Fox. He played wonderfully and eclipsed all other actors, including Michael Lonsdale, Cyril Cusack, and on the main female role Delphine Seyrig, the heroine of films by Alain René, Luis Buñuel, Francois Truffaut.
Atmospheric political thriller from Fred Zinnenman based on the most famous novel by Frederick Forsyth. A beautiful performance by Edward Fox as the Jackal. Some overload with detail and emphasis on documentary slightly reduce the dynamics and the film becomes somewhat tedious. And the timing is not sparing in 2 and a half hours. Nevertheless, a curious picture that has already become a classic of the genre.
“The Day of the Jackal” is read in one breath – the drive in the novel (and this is taking into account the manic detail of what is happening!) is truly extreme. Write a political detective more virtuoso than Forsyth, perhaps, impossible - the bar here he raised very high.
About the film:
Beautifully shot, but at the same time dry (as the main character) movie, clearly paling against the background of the fiery original. When watching now and then there is a feeling of excessive “niceness” of what is happening – the transfer of “documentary” from the book to the film to the benefit of the latter, alas, did not go – in terms of drama, the film is pale.
Conclusion: the book is not cooler.
Read the original is almost always a reason to scold the film version. "The Day of the Jackal" is no exception to the rule.
The mixture of a political thriller with a detective is not an easy thing, here the main thing in all these numerous negotiations and preparations is not to forget about the banal action. It is clear that there is no place for hurricane shooting, but the book version managed to cope with the task, making the process of preparing the killer not only highly professional and detailed, but also diluted it with small bloody showdowns, which both entertained the reader and emphasized the cool character of the hero. In the film, everything happened somehow by itself, the hero acted not as a delicate professional, but just a master of all trades. This also applies to police work, which kind of boils, but everything is so superficial and again past the viewer, who has no chance of being involved in what is happening.
Naturally, the book read drives ready-made images into your head and please them with a big problem. The film Jackal seemed to me to be some very subtile type, with a naive face, unable to inspire fear, when, as a bookish hypostasis, his intelligence, combined with manicness, did half the work, subjugating people.
I will not recommend the film for viewing, it seemed boring, meaningless, unable to interest the viewer. It is better to read the book, Forsyth is a master of his craft.
Fred Zinnemann made a very beautiful adaptation of the novel by Fredrik Forsyth. The film tells about real events. The ultra-right radical organization of the OAS tried to keep Algeria by all means.
They were dissatisfied with de Gaulle and organized assassination attempts on him.
The most famous assassination attempt was organized by Jean-Marie Bastien-Thierry, who was later executed.
However, in the film, the story is about the assassination attempt which was carried out by the mysterious Jackal. Mysterious criminal is taking orders.
I wonder how Zinnemann shows the cops and the Jackal. In his film, the Jackal is represented by a real alpha male, almost an analogue of James Bond. Truth devoid of moral prejudice. At the same time, the police and representatives of the special services are shown to be very boring and ordinary specialists.
Fred Zinnemann presents essentially a documentary, devoid of feelings and emotions, view of the problem. So the movie is pretty tough.
Since the film develops the theme of the war in Algeria, it is impossible not to notice the parallels with the “Battle of Algeria” by Gillo Pontecorvo. I think it is from here that Zinnemann creates an atmosphere of "documentation."
In my opinion, the film was shot flawlessly and is a benchmark indicator of the high professional level of its creators. An unexpectedly pleasant impression was made to me earlier by Edward Fox and Delphine Seyrig.
9 out of 10
When it comes to hunting, why not choose the name Jackal?
This film was shot in 1973 by the classic of the old American cinema Fred Zinneman on the bestseller of the same name by Frederick Forsyth.
The action takes place in the early 60s in France. After the failure of another attempt on Charles de Gaulle and the almost complete defeat of its cells in France, the ultra-right OAS group decides to use the services of a person not associated with the SLA. They choose a killer named the Jackal for this purpose. There's no data on the Jackal, no one knows his real name, where he came from. And the Jackal begins the hunt for de Gaulle, and there is only one person who can stop him - Inspector Claude Lebel.
Frederick Forsythe’s novel is unique: without lowering the bar intellectually, as well as the degree of tension, it is an incredible fusion of an encyclopedia of murder, a textbook on its investigation, historical work and excellent fiction. Fred Zinneman, the director of such films as “Man for All Time”, could film such a book well, but he coped with his task mediocre.
The first thing the film loses to is a very simplified script by Kenneth Ross. For example, no murder in the film looks like a murder, as if the Jackal is stunning someone. The interaction of the special services of different countries is shown as ideal, and in the novel the frictions between the special services are paid special attention, which added to the novel sharpness. And the elusiveness of the Jackal in the film looks like just a lucky coincidence, and the novel perfectly showed that the Jackal was stronger than all the special services and could always be ahead of them by one step. And many other simplifications, which does not make the film honorable.
Another disadvantage is that there is no music in the film. Although the music could make the film more intense (the simplest example is Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, where the music from the first frames creates an atmosphere of tension).
But there are good sides to the film. First of all, it concerns a good selection of actors. Edward Fox as the Jackal and Michael Lonsdale as Claude Lebel did well. France of the 60s is recreated in the film well. The final scene turned out well.
Bottom line: apart from the book, the film looks good, but in comparison with the book, the film is weak.
7 out of 10