The Day of the Jackal
1973 · Movie · 141 min. · United Kingdom
Year 1963. President De Gaulle decides to grant independence to French Algeria, several of the soldiers, who fought in that campaign, feel that De Gaulle is belittling the lives of the men who died there. So they form a group and make attempts at De Gaulle and fail. When several of their key members are killed or caught and eventually executed, the three top members decide to hire a professional assassin to take out De Gaulle. The man that they chose agrees to do it on the condition that he be alllowed complete autonomy. He also advises them to go into hiding until the job is done. And they do. When the French Security force learns that they have shut themselves off from the rest of world are curious what they are doing. So they abduct their errand boy, and once interrogated all he says is the assassin's code name, "The Jackal", they hypothesize that they have hired an assassin to go after DE Gaulle. Once De Gaulle is informed he refuses to alter his plans and will not allow extra security added. So his ministry decides that they should find the Jackal before he makes his move. They appoint the best detective in France, Claude Lebel to find him. Lebel plan is to contact every police department in the world and see if the Jackal comes from their country and if so to provide him with a description and/or a photo. Now Scotland Yard has a small lead but unfortunately they miss him but they have his passport so assuming that he is out of the country, they try and find the passport that he is using. Now when they think that they have him, he discards the identity that he is using and assumes another one. Can they find him before he gets De Gaulle?
Direction Fred Zinnemann
Cast Edward Fox · Michael Lonsdale · Derek Jacobi · Alan Badel · Cyril Cusack · Eric Porter · Donald Sinden · Delphine Seyrig · Timothy West · Ronald Pickup · Maurice Denham · Tony Britton · Olga Georges-Picot · Barrie Ingham · Denis Carey · Jean Sorel · Anton Rodgers · Vernon Dobtcheff · Edward Hardwicke · Howard Vernon · Michel Auclair · Philippe Léotard · Feodor Atkine
Soundtrack Georges Delerue
Screenplay Kenneth Ross · Frederick Forsyth
Cinematography Jean Tournier
Original title The Day of the Jackal
7.5
9K votes (FilmAffinity)
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