THE DAY OF THE JACKAL - Fact, Fiction & Why it's GREAT - WFP Review 

Edward Fox was superb in this move, as he was charming and ruthless in equal measure. He kills women and old people without a moments hesitation and it was a great shame that he was not nominated for an Oscar. It is an utterly gripping film and I can highly recommend the Frederick Forsyth novel as well. Great stuff.

One of the best lines in movie history was after Lebel exposes the leak with the wiretap recording he is asked how did he know who’s phone to tap and Lebel answers “I tapped them all”

Seen this movie repeatedly, and it never gets old. Shows what can be done with virtually unknown actors and a great story to tell. A professional production in every way.

This is one of the few movies that I can happily repeatedly rewatch. It is so much better than the vast majority of today's big budget blockbusters. Less can frequently be more...

The Day of the Jackel should have been nominated for Best Picture of 1973 ! It should have won several oscars and it was horribly overlooked!!!!!

Edward Fox made this film. Utterly brilliant. He was also in the film "Battle of Britain." Thanks awfully old chap!

This was an understated British style movie like the ‘tinker tailor soldier spy’ or ‘the ipcress file’. Some may think it was a bit slow but these movies stay in the memory mainly due to the brilliant source material.

Lebel’s introduction in the film is a classic example of “show don’t tell” cinema. We cut from a scene of the higher-ups proclaiming him the best man to lead the investigation, to a scene of a quiet, physically unimpressive man fussing with his pigeons. His wife then calls him into the house to answer a phone call. We can immediately see that he is a bit of a homebody and clearly not an action hero or tough guy. As the audience, we are left to draw the conclusion that the only reason he is so highly regarded by his superiors is that he must be extremely smart. We know all this within a few seconds of meeting him and off the basis of hardly any dialogue.

A great film. I hadn’t known just how much help French officialdom gave to the filming which certainly gave that sense of documentary realism you refer to. It’s a film that stands the test of time, no matter how many times you see it you’re never disappointed.

This was a great flick. Also glad you mentioned "Three Days of the Condor", one of my favourites. It was a very tight movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Wonderful film. Charles de Gaulle passed away in 1970, before the making of the film. The actor playing de Gaulle was convincing enough that during filming of his scene a drunk WW2 veteran saw him and immediately snapped to attention and saluted.

Probably the best film of its genre and one of the best of all time. Excellently crafted with one scene moving onto the next in gripping efficiency. There is no padding whatsoever. The viewer is held in a constant state of suspense throughout. The definition of a thriller. The director also captures a 1960s epoch wonderfully with the many different commonplace scenes in France, Italy and London. A terrific time capsule that defines an era.

Great suspense, especially the scene where the Jackal, after learning his cover is blown, stops his car at the crossroads in Italy where he can either proceed to Paris or turn back, and then proceeds. Great film!

French gov't permission & assistance: no wonder it looks so real and massive, otherwise it would have cost a fortune for those big sets w tanks, flying planes, crowds, parading troops. I've wondered about this all these years. Great review, great doc. Thanks mucho!

Oh, this is a great movie. Flawless and very Efficient. Not one wasted scene.

This movie serves as a connection point with my late father and I. I still recall him pointing out his favorite scenes like the phone tap reveal and the amputee reveal. It’s sophisticated, smart, and one of a kind. The lack of soundtrack is bold in its restraint.

The 1973 Jackal has been one of my longtime favorites - great to see mentions of 3 Days of the Condor and Battle for Algiers - all amazing films! Thanks for the interesting background info!

I absolutely LOVE the opening sequence of this film. The car drive through Paris still feels contemporary. And I enjoy seeing Heathrow airport from that time.

This was a truly great film that Hollywood would be incapable of making. In fact, the American version with Bruce Willis was absolute crap.

This is, as you believe, one of the best intrigue/thriller movies I have ever seen, and the score is fantastic, just perfect for this film. I have seen it probably a dozen times since I saw it in a theater when it first came out. I never tire of it either!

The Day of the Jackal was one of the first thrillers i ever read and still one of my favourites (still have 40+ years later) and went on to read and enjoy all of Freddie's novels. The film is an excellent adaptation. Edward Fox is perfectly cold as the assassin and Michael Lonsdale smoothly takes no prisoners on realising he is the best chsnce they have in catching the Jackal. Fantastic movie

Daniel Craig thought he could play "method cool."😎 "Fox's "Jackal " is sub-zero frostbite❤️

Easily my favorite. The attention to detail, locations and the realism are reasons why I watch this enjoyable film every year. Good review.

Saw it in the theater in 1973. I was blown away!

Hans Zimmerman did a fantastic job of taking an exceptional book and turning it into an exceptional film - and all with the outcome/ending already known! Well done on your retrospective 👍

Michael Lonsdale's performance as Claude Lebel was the standout among many great performances in TDOTJ - what an epic cast! For 1973, it was, on a level a bit like a Tarantino movie of the present time - all the actors were chosen because they were perfect for the role not because they were necessarily big box office draws of the day. One very sad thing, not covered in this review, was the beautiful French actress Olga Gorges-Picot, who played Denise in the film. In 1997 she jumped to her death from a the 5th floor of a building in Paris, she had suffered from depression all her life - a great pity.

Outstanding review. One of the best & inspiring films ever.

Loved this movie! Have seen multiple times on TV but the best was when I saw it in the theatre. Remember the sites, the scenes, the back alley meetings. Saw a RU-vid video with Edward Fox being interviewed (made me feel OLD!) I remember screaming at the Gendarme to hurry up those stairs before it was too late. Weapon test was my favorite part.

Thank you so much. You explained many reasons why Day of the Jackal is one of my favorite films. Michael Lonsdale is memorable in this film and also in one of my other top-level favorites, "Smiley's People" as Russian Diplomat/Agent "Anton Grigoriev". "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and "Smiley's People" are also on my top-5 list of favorite productions.

What a gorgeous film. My favourite in many ways.

Cracking good film. Packed with the cream of British acting talent. Fox is superb.

Appreciate your no spoilers policy! What a worthy film this is, in almost every way a movie can be.

I had honestly forgotten how much I enjoyed this gem. Thank you.

As a child, I absolutely loved watching Bruce Willis films. The first three Die Hards, Armageddon, Pulp Fiction, etc. Then I saw The Jackal. I loved it. (Don’t have a go, I also enjoyed the Police Academy films. I was a child!). Then I was told it was a remake. So, 10 years later, I finally watched this version. And, yes, it was much better! The film knew when to be quiet. The film knew when to be loud. The film knew absolutely everything and I’ll always have it on my Top Ten list.

A magnificent book, Forsyth was able to tell us so much that he couldnt say in non fiction. Brilliant writing.

WOW, I've seen this movie more than 10 times , and never had noticed the JFK magazine in the table!!! Many thanks. Is like when Michael Corleone says "If history has told us anything, is that you can kill anybody".

Saw this as a young kid around 10 in 1977. LOVED IT!

One of my all time favorites : top ten. The background of great films often enhances the re-screening of the films. Thanks ,Walt65 , very interesting info.

Great commentary on a classic film. Now I’ll have to seek out your recommendations for others in that genre.

Thanks, nicely done. I did wonder if you were going to mention The Battle of Algiers- stunning movie. Also I watched Condor last week, and you are spot on about that one.

-love, love, love this perfectly cast film, and it’s been pointed out during the ever popular podcast : TrueAnon, with guest podcaster (Death is Just Around the Corner), Michael Judge. I’ll recommend your channel because I definitely appreciated the wealth of information that you packed into it. thanxs!

I saw this movie when I was a kid, broadcasted on "Catholic-University TV Channel" (they use to broadcast masterpieces at midnight..) and still remember the great final,, greetings from Chile.. great review!!

Brilliant video!! I loved it, especially the part of the original film THE DAY OF THE JACAL. Top performers, Fox, Lonsdale, Seyrig, Cusack, Jacobi ... all of them.

Thank you Walt. Absolutely love this picture,it's a masterpiece. Your video is wonderfully produced and your narration is high quality . So glad I subscribed!

Never get tired of this one. Another fine review, Walt.

Thank you. a great take on this amazing film. One of my favourites for all the reasons you so brilliantly explain.

Unknown actors playing villains can be like striking gold, another would be Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, which was his first big movie, and didn't he nail that part.

Damn you! There's my program for tonight, then. I saw it for the first (and so far only) time as a part of a four-movie single-person New Year's celebration some ten years ago. It could have been a pitiful night, if it weren't for this thrilling feature.

Excellent presentation and even after watching it since it first came out in 1973, you edified and informed me with some great details I never knew. It's a shame that Zinnemann with his breathtaking canon of classics is not better known today as Wyler, Ford, Capra, Stevens and Huston, the Five Who Came Back. It's also a pity we don't know more about the De Gaulle doppelgänger nonpareil, Michel Cayla-Legrand. He will remain indelibly memorable for saying nothing but simply looking like the original.

Awesome analysis! This film, and the book upon which it is based, has been a favourite since I was about 10 years old. Both still hold up. Keep up the good work!

The classic that inspired my psychotic mate to Make a mercury tipped bullet. Fired it at a live target too. But, that's probably Not a story for here! (:meloni:) Great review of a brilliant film, Walt. Thanks.

Such a fantastic movie. It's hard to make you actually root for the bad guy at all in any movie, but he's just so fascinating to watch as he methodically plans his mission that you feel like the ultimate voyeur. Every filmmaker tries to turn the viewer into exactly that. Another interesting thing I noticed about the movie is that it has the barest of musical scores. There is some music played at the beginning and at the end (discounting the parade music that is part of the background). It adds to the realism of the mood. I agree that everyone should read the original novel. It's gripping. Knowing how the movie turned out did not subtract from my enjoyment of reading the original text.

Excellent video essay, you have a new subscriber/fan !!

Excellent, informative review of one of my favorite films. Subscribed.

Very good video. I haven't seen the movie and have long been aware of it. Thanks to your coverage of it, I will be watching it this week. Thank you.

Excellent work on this! The back story is very interesting and informative! Perhaps you would consider reviewing John Frankenheimer's film "The Train" with Burt Lancaster and British actor Paul Scofield. Thanks!

Day of The Jackal , a perfect movie and my all time favorite

One of my favorites. Also Eye of the Needle with Donald Sutherland.

There is a third option to viewing "The Day Of The Jackal". Blu-Ray. The option I took. It stands up under repeated viewings. A really great movie.

Cheers for that. A good run-down on one of my favourite films. Subbed. 😊

One of my favorite films. Zinnemann was brilliant as the director. Also a breakout movie for future stars like Edward Fox, Michael Lonsdale, and Derek Jacobi. More than a few showed up later in Bond films, like Vernon Dobtcheff, Fox, and Lonsdale. While fictional, feels like a documentary. One of the great thrillers.

It's one of those movies that's exciting to watch even if you dislike the genre.

I was walking around the theater district in London one afternoon in 1984 and Edward Fox came strolling past holding a brief case and a big cigar in his mouth. Made my day! Also, was fascinated in 1973 when I saw Day of the Jackal at the theater. At the time, a very different film genre. I've always been a firearms nut and the attention to detail in this aspect was very spot on. The exploding tipped bullet was a slight stretch but that made no difference in the overall effect.

Really interesting stuff here! Thanks for putting this together! I gotta see this film. . .maybe even check into the book

Great review! I grew up reading Forsyth and love this movie. Your other recommendations are also spot on; I own all of those DVDs/Blu-ray (except Jackal which doesn't make the mark).

The day of the Jackal has always been one of my all time favorites

I haven't seen Day of The Jackal yet, but The Battle of Algiers is really an amazing film. I can attest

One of my all time favourite films. A superb work.

Wonderful film! I saw it first run (dates me). My wife worked in the building that Fred Zinnemann lived in while growing up.

A college professor recommended Forsyth's early novels as a way to get a feel for the times and places portrayed. Forsyth liked this as the best adaptation of his work.

I first saw this movie as a 11 or 12 year old boy. On a small black & white tv my parents ill-advisedly (and rather briefly) let me keep in my room. If I remember correctly I watched it in the middle of the night. I knew the history (we had lived in an Arab country when I was younger and had travelled in France) and yet I was in suspense all the way to the end. A few years later I read the book and thought it was even better! One difference with my experience of this movie is that by the time I first saw it Edward Fox was already a star so for me he had huge name recognition as I watched it. Thank you for the review.

One of the best movies ever. Great review. Thank You

Brilliant time capsule. You nailed it!

Great work! You even uncovered some material even I was not aware of. It remains one of the greatest political thrillers ever made.

I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of this great film. I was so entranced by it that I felt the need to research the true events that inspired Forsythe to write the book. I became an instantaneous fan of both Fox and Lonsdale. In short, Jolly Good Show Old boy!

Very good, comprehensive review. Forsyth's book is easily my Desert Island choice, and benefits from his work as a journalist. The detail and the knowledge of assassinations and assassins carried into the film helps with the reality and, oddly, the tension. Forsyth used the death of JFK to start The Odessa File, and as you note, this film puts him on the table between the killer and the gunsmith.

Great movie. Haven’t seen it since I was a teenager but thank you for not spoiling it anyway. Would love to see a video about Sorceror.

Thank you. I enjoyed your insights.

Great show and you mentioned some great movies as well thanks for sharing your time

Jackel was the first novel I read multiple times and I couldn’t see anyone cast as perfectly as Fox.

One of my absolute favorites! Brilliantly directed, acted and executed! (No pun intended.)

It truly is a well done film,better than most espionage flicks past or present.

I loved this movie when I first saw it. I got the same sensation when I saw the Fourth Protocol, also a book written by Forsythe (starring Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan in an unusual part).

Edward Fox....is that Edward Fox...yes its Edward Fox ...Hey.. EdwardFox...Several Limies have tried to capture Edward Fox's charter but the Jackal lives on

Thanks for the reminder. I'll be watching it soon. I've OD'd on westerns lately.

The day of the Jackal, the fourth protocol and the Odessa file were 3 of the very best movies I have ever seen and enjoy to watch again from time to time. In my opinion, such diamonds of film history are no longer produced today - at least I do not remember such good movies in the 21st century. Maybe some series of the last 20 years have replaced the storytelling.

Thank you for the informative commentary.

There’s just something about this movie. It isn’t my favourite by a long chalk but I kind of _just need_ to watch it at least once a year. I so miss European coproduction cinema. Fox was only 26 when in it; being a compulsive swimmer gave him his svelte physique. He was initially obsessed with failing at his big break: his first scene was the OAS meeting and he just couldn’t get a handle on his character’s breezy sangfroid, to begin with. Fox later said he was allowed to pinch the Jackal’s razor sharp wardrobe, which he wore for years after the film. The flick is masterful in how you don’t even notice the gaping plot holes, and yet, it pulls you in totally: regardless of how everyone knows the ending, namely, that De Gaulle never was assassinated! It kind of has this _Battle of Algiers_ feel, at times, where you sometimes think you’re genuinely watching a police procedural documentary.

If you're looking for another movie on the French-Algerian conflict in English, there is also The Lost Command with Anthony Quinn as the paratroop colonel.

Great film. Lovely review. Thanks

Thanks for the nudge, will have to check this movie out again, I think my son would enjoy it also. Luckily I have Prime.

Great vid! I loved the '73 version of The Day of the Jackal. What a great film. Odessa file was good, but DotJ was the best!

One of my favorites along with Three Days of the Condor. Great 70's thrillers.

Thank you, I enjoyed this Vid very much, and will be sure to watch DOTJ again, and look for the companion movies too.

One of my top ten favourite movies. I can even overlook all the 1970s fashions, hairstyles and road traffic.

I’m currently reading Frederick Forsyth’s _The Outsider,_ his memoir. He discusses how it was very hard to show his novel around. It was the first book of its kind wherein the outcome was known but the journey to it not. Forsyth also led a charmed life. He was in the RAF at 19, came close to dying in automobile accident, and had a price on his head.

what saved degaulle and why he was grateful to citroen was due to the magnificent ds.oas shot out a front tyre expecting the cars wheel rim to hit the tarmac and crash.then it would be raked by heavy machine gun fire.instead due to the unique suspension the car kept going on three wheels with the punctured tyre not touching the ground! instead of slowing the driver increased speed swerved round the other cars and escaped.in any other car he would have died.

A key to understanding Frederick Forsythe is his preference for the underdog. "The Biafra Story" was his first book. "Dogs of War" echoes somewhat the Katangese Succession with Moise Tshombe and Mike "Mad" Hoare's 5 Commando during the 1960s Congo Wars. (See "Adios Africa/Blood & Guts" 1966 movie.) "Naked City" a 1948 film noir shot on location in New York City has a documentary feel. Thanks for the review. Halfway thru reading the book.

I like your speaking style, Walt. it's like a conversation.

Great video! I've always loved this movie. IIRC its only flaw is the fact that Michel (sic) Lonsdale's character, Lebel, declares, on two distinct occasions, that the investigation has become "...a straight murder hunt." following the collateral dispatching, by Fox's character (ostensibly Calthrop) of two incidental characters. That aside, it should have been a flawless masterpiece.