Rent The Day of the Jackal (1973)

Bang on Target - The Day of the Jackal review by griggs

Casting Edward Fox as the Jackal sounds like a zoology mix-up, yet he’s superb. He gives the assassin very little personality: polite, controlled, almost blank, right up until someone becomes inconvenient. Those people don’t last.

Michael Lonsdale’s Lebel is the opposite: patient, tired-looking, irritatingly good at joining dots. Fred Zinnemann makes a hotel register as tense as a car chase. In a world without CCTV, every phone call shaves a little off the distance between hunter and hunted.

Everybody knows Charles de Gaulle survives. I was hooked anyway, wondering what on earth could stop someone this prepared. The women the Jackal charms along the way feel thin now, and the whole film is deliberately cold. I liked the chill.

Precise, methodical and frighteningly efficient, just like the man everyone is chasing. Bang on target.

Long, meticulous, superb - The Day of the Jackal review by RP

Superb political "action thriller" from 1973 about events way back in 1962. I've used quotation marks because by today's tastes it's long and slow moving – there's no crash bang wallop here – and for a thriller there's not many thrills. But I can highly recommend it – the tension build slowly as a hired assassin (codename Jackal) carefully plans the assassination of General de Gaulle. The film is based on true events as the OAS, a far right French nationalist group, attempted to prevent independence of the French colony of Algeria. Edward Fox is perfect in the role of the ruthless assassin who meticulously plans every detail and even carries his anonymity to the grave. 4/5 stars – highly recommended.

Political Crime Thriller - Excellent - The Day of the Jackal review by GI

A riveting political crime thriller based on the best selling novel by Frederick Forsyth. Filmed with a documentary style realism this is a tense, almost nail biting drama that has now, rightly, been hailed as one of the best British films of the 1970s. Casting the then unknown Edward Fox as the lead was a risk which affected the initial box office but over the years this has become recognised as a first rate thriller and definitely one of those films everyone should try and see at least once. Set in the early 1960s and just after the French president, Charles DeGaulle, gave the African country Algeria its independence. This led to the formation of a terrorist organisation, the OAS, formed by disaffected members of the French army who felt betrayed after so many French soldiers died in fighting in Algeria. All this is based on facts. The film begins with the OAS attempting to assassinate DeGaulle and having failed they recruit an enigmatic and very clever English hitman to kill him. Codenamed The Jackal (Fox) he plans the assassination in complete secrecy but a leak reveals his existence which starts a manhunt led by top detective Lebel (Michael Lonsdale). The hunt for this man forms the centre of the story and The Jackal seems always to be one step ahead. It's a gripping and interesting story and omits the clichés often found in films of this genre. There's no heroics or big set piece action scenes and Fox as the outwardly pleasant gentlemen is revealed as a very cold blooded killer. A superb film, brilliantly directed and beautifully paced to keep you watching right to the very last, key moment.