Hey everybody, it’s movie time! I’m re-writing the words from the start of a Styx hit song and saying today is “movie time!” For movie time today, let’s watch “The Day of the Jackal.” Today, Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024, is the 61st anniversary of the date of the climax of both the novel and film. I’ve already written about the novel and its importance in my life, so here goes about the film …
The film of the same title, directed by Fred Zinnemann, was released in the U.S. on May 16, 1973. The movie is simply the gold standard in how to translate a detailed novel to the big screen.
In case you haven’t read the novel or seen the movie, “The Day of the Jackal” is the story of a plot to kill the president of France in 1963. It follows the group that hires an assassin for the job and then the assassin at his work. Since you know (or should have known) that President Charles DeGaulle wasn’t killed by any assassin and the story is basically to find out if the “Jackal” will survive to spend the considerable sum of money he’s being paid for the job.
The film condenses the long novel in a nearly perfect fashion, even though it compresses events and changes locations to fit the streamlined version on film. “The Day of the Jackal” doesn’t rely on great special effects (remember, it was made long, long and thankfully before CGI), but on the acting of Edward Fox as the title character and assorted supporting actors and their work.
In the end, with “The Day of the Jackal,” you’ve got a great film from a great novel … I guarantee it!
(CLICK here … to read my review of “The Day of the Jackal”)
(Click here for my timeline of the events of the novel)
(Click here for my praise for Frederick Forsyth’s “The Day of the Jackal”)
(CLICK here … for links to all my movie reviews)
(CLICK here … for a chronological list of my reviews)
(CLICK here … for all my reviews of horror movies)
(CLICK here … for all my reviews of ‘007’ movies)
(CLICK here … for all my reviews of war movies)
CLICK here … for all my reviews of Christmas movies)
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Actors: Charles Bronson | Michael Caine | Chevy Chase | Sean Connery
Jamie Lee Curtis | Robert De Niro | Clint Eastwood | Gene Hackman | Tom Hanks
Steve McQueen | Brad Pitt | Dennis Quaid | Robert Redford | Burt Reynolds
Rene Russo | Donald Sutherland
Directors: Sam Peckinpah | Sydney Pollack | Peter Yates
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