Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Director Zinnemann succeeded in striking exactly the right note : his movie contains enough documentary (or pseudo-documentary) aspects to make a realistic impression, while telling a suspenseful and exciting story about the progress of an unusually competent, unusually deliberate criminal.Edward Fox gives a fine and well-measured lead performance. Every now and then he lets his character's bland and inoffensive mask slip, deliberately, so that one gets a tiny glimpse of the moral abyss inside, but he is wise enough to let his character's actions speak for themselves. This is a good decision, since any attempt at a psychologically profound and searching portrayal would throw the rest of the movie out of kilter. (Both movie and source novel focus on the mechanics of an international man hunt, rather than on individuals and their psyches.)The movie's budget was used wisely and well, and the location scouts knew their stuff. As a result the viewer is swept along in a varied and colourful tour of Europe, ranging from top secret briefings in London and emergency staff meetings in Paris to amorous escapades in countryside châteaux. So this is a pretty good movie. About the only aspect that annoyed me was the profusion of languages and (pseudo-)accents : English, French, Frenglish, Angelench, and so on. It was as confusing as the Tower of Babel disaster, especially since the use of these various tongues did not seem to be ruled by narrative logic. (If my memory serves me well it's a phenomenon similar to that seen and heard in "Where eagles dare", where everybody speaks everything and anything, all the time.)Fun note : watch out for the scene where the Jackal gets his just rewards. His body is thrown against an unfortunate piece of architecture. The said piece of architecture moves and shakes, visibly. Aaah, the tender walls of France, they're so sensitive !

I was very excited to finally watch The Day of the Jackal, especially with the top reviews and Edward Fox in the lead role. I know this will draw many people who disagree, and that's fine, free speech and all, but my review is politically incorrect because I wasn't drawn into the movie.It was hard to find anyone in The Day of the Jackal who spoke with a French accent - it got quite confusing. I mean The French Connection had more people speaking French! Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, especially as I guess in Valkyrie hardly anyone spoke German! At least in Allo Allo, some of the performers had French accents, even if they weren't French.The pacing was sort of okay, but still, it could have been better paced. The ending was rather poignant, especially with the Jackal being buried in an unmarked plot.

Fred Zinnemann's 'The Day of the Jackal' is a patient, studied and quasi-documentary translation of Frederick Forsyth's best-selling political suspense novel. The film appeals more to the intellect than the brute senses, as it traces the detection of an assassin hired to kill French President Charles de Gaulle.The story is set in Paris during a week in August of 1962. President De Gaulle (played by an uncanny look-alike), by granting Algeria their independence, upsets right-wing extremists and disgruntled war veterans, who form a secret terrorist organization known as OAS and vow to assassinate him. The film opens to a failed attempt on De Gaulle as he rides in a motorcade. After the OAS culprits are arrested and their leader executed six months later, their new leader and his three top aides secretly hire a mysterious Englishman- the eponymous Jackal (Fox) - to assassinate the President. Jackal accepts the offer and begins his methodical work to prepare the assassination. In the meantime, French security services receive some information about OAS plans and decide to hand over the case to Inspector Lebel (Lonsdale), the best investigator in France. But he doesn't even know who the jackal is. He learns the name "Jackal" from an informer in the plotter's ranks and cleverly pieces together the identity of the killer-for-hire.What follows is an intricate and meticulous story with a parallel structure that details the Jackal's preparations for the assassination and Lebel's efforts to stop him. The major asset of the film is that it succeeds in maintaining interest and suspense despite obvious viewer foreknowledge of the outcome. Director Zinnemann faithfully follows the source, presenting a precise, almost discomfiting reconstruction of the story. He directs it with the skill of a master craftsman, creating a riveting cat-and-mouse game between the mysterious lone-wolf hired assassin known only by his code name and the master policeman in charge of the investigation. He does a fine job of presenting the narrative in such a precise way despite offering no psychological analysis or humor, building in tension to the concluding assassination attempt. Playing the titular Jackal, Edward Fox is superb as the coldly impassionate killer. He's boyishly charming, impeccably groomed, possessed of an easy laugh, and casually ruthless. Michael Lonsdale is properly plodding, yet magnificently analytical as the detective tracking him down.The Day of the Jackal is a polished, electrifying thriller, mercifully unburdened with heavy political digressions. The screenplay meticulously assembles an incredible array of material, and then Fred Zinnemann choreographs it so that the story - complicated as it is - unfolds in almost documentary starkness. Telling the story very methodically, by exposing small details that would later be important pieces of great puzzle, he manages to achieve a dignified tone and compelling pace seldom seen in latter-day thrillers.

There are times while watching this movie that you have to suspend disbelief. I could not believe that someone as smart as the Jackal would jeopardize the most important assignment of his career to have a casual affair with a married woman and then go back to her. Another flaw is the seemingly effortless murders of the forger and Madame Montpellier. Hitcock went to great pains to demonstrate how hard it is to take a human life in his film Torn Curtain, Fred Zinneman apparently never watched that movie. Last but not least, even in the stultifying bureacracy of the Elysee Palace, I refuse to believe the French Ministers were ever that incredibly stupid.