As a Bond fan, I was thinking about this the entire film. In some ways it felt like a very realistic, down-to-earth 007 film. The Fox character even pulls a "Connery" when he seduces that married lady to serve his purposes... Well, not so much when he picks up a guy at a gay sauna lol
Casting Edward Fox was an inspired idea. He looks like an ordinary man on holiday but when he is operating, assembling the components for the assassination, there is a steely determination in his eyes that makes Fox believable in the role.
Not really ordinary. He doesn't have the swagger of a working class type. You see him on the street you wouldn't assume he is someone who grew up in poverty. He has the swagger of a former officer in the Army now freelance.
Apparently, Roger Moore wanted the role but was turned down, They felt he would be unbelievable in the role. Well, it is very hard to be low-key in a white safari suit! LOL!
@@florinivan6907 His body language wasn't totally unremarkable but I think the average person on the street would never say "that guy looks like an assassin".
The book gives a few moments of internal thought for the Jackal: he wants the rich life; money, women, good meals, a fast car. Beyond that, he is a cipher; an intelligent nobody who can shoot. Even the personality he projects is that of a sociopath; he does what is needed to get what he wants, but is more concerned about living to enjoy his money (which if he fails, the OAS will want back, should he and they live) than the legal problems of killing someone. In the book Rolland of the OAS finds information on three possible assassins and they settle on the Jackal, as the others have obvious flaws. How he does this is never explained. Did he go to Britain? They come to choose the Englishman without knowing what work he has done, except that he is believed to have worked in Africa. The British Police work on a rumour of man who shot the driver of a car in Central America so that rebels could capture and kill a dictator. They connect this with a man selling near-legal weapons there at the time, which is discovered to be a coincidence. Both are wrong: the identity of the Jackal is never discovered. Yet: real history lists an attempt on DeGaulle's life while he was in Britain during WWII. Acid was used to damage control linkages in an aircraft he was due to use; the controls failed just before take-off and the damage was discovered. DeGaulle was furious, but the investigation merely blamed 'enemy action'. It's worth looking up how many high-ranking people died in plane crashes during WWII. DeGaulle remained unpopular with the political establishment in Britain after world war II. Did the author suggest in the book that the Jackal is actually an anti-James Bond? a British agent, deniable, who is there to either kill DeGaulle, or destroy the OAS by revealing them, or both, benefitting the British Government's bargaining power with the French government at a time when they were blocking Britain's entry in to the European Economic Community?
One of the best parts of Fox's performance is how personable he makes The Jackal. He smiles and laughs a lot, is clearly very witty, even kind to people around him at times. It creates a stark, sometimes eerie disconnect between this charming man and how he suddenly switches to being an ice cold killer.
He leaves positive, yet utterly unremarkable impression of himself to casual observer. Just a guy between early 30s and 50s and native speaker would recognize his foreign accent of French. Just a tourist - nothing more.
@@Beppo85 One would rather say that he is a psychopath than a sociopath. A psychopath is patient, calculated, calm, does not lose his temper...he is very often charming and excellent at manipulating others.
If you like this film as I do, you will like Assassination Tango, set in Argentina and stars Robert Duvall. Like this film, it is intricate, intelligent, suspenseful and believable.
Just noticed a detail, near the end (3:29) when they say goodbye, the door has just been opened and Jean Martin's character (who was outside all the time) is now able to hear the man calling him "Jackal"... later it'll play a pivotal role since it's the only detail he'll remember when being tortured by the police. If it wasn't for that slip of tongue, the police would never have gotten that code-name, kind of validates the Jackal's warning about secrecy and shows that from the start, any mistake can be fatal to the plot.
@@dcasey77 yes it did. Discovering the Jackal's code name is what made them make that wild guess about it being Charles Calthrop. Raiding Charles Calthrop's appartment and finding his passport gave them the idea of finding the fake passport of Duggan. The entire process is much better detailed in the book.
@@dcasey77 Yeah I'm not talking about the book either. I just said whatever you saw in the movie was way better shown in the book. My explanation still relates to the movie and not the book. Whether it should be common knowledge that someone would travel on a false passport like that or not is not the issue here. You can clearly see here that it wasn't and they only thought of thinking that way after they found Charles Calthrop's real passport, discovering whom would have been impossible if they didn't know the Jackal's codename. They showed how with word-play you get the French word for Jackal from Charles Calthrop. That might have been a stupid coincidence in reality, but it did give them momentum on their investigation.
A superb political thriller. Based on a Frederick Forsyth story, Zinnemann directed a perfect cast. Despite a 145 minute runtime, the film zips by quickly, the attention to detail is exquisite. Fox was flawless as the Jackal, cool, professional and deadly. Michael Lonsdale as Lebel was the model of efficiency as the hunter. 10 out of 10!
@@RagedContinuum Did you see both movies ? The Edward Fox movie put the other movie to shame. Bruce Willis’ character is brain dead compared to Edward Fox’s character.
There's an mid 60s TV appearance of Edward Fox in some series I can't recall where he does a comic turn as an ineffectual loser in love, a useless Bertie Wooster type, and he's as utterly convincing in that role as he is here as a super efficient contract killer. Wonderful underrated actor.
actually I thought in the book The Jackal is more charming *when he wants to be* than Fox ever is in the movie. Fox does a good job but he seems kind of stuffy even when he’s supposed to be seducing the Baroness or getting the attention of Jules Bernard at the Turkish bathhouse.
@@scottknode898honestly say what u want about how weird and kinda shit that movie is, the performances in it are such fun, Edward Fox is just having so much fun as M, even Rowan Atkinson is in it a small bit, and Barbara Carrera is having a ball. Edward Fox would’ve made a great M with the years after, he has that politely British snide attitude
Best feature film. They wanted an actor who was not much popular and Edward Fox was found suitable and he showed what a classic actor he was. Superb acting. He was seen later in movie Gandhi as Gen.Dyer.
l really like that comment its really somes up what we are faced with today with are own Ruthless Government scum trying their damndest too replace us at every possible opportunity
The book has an interesting take on that: the French Government (DeGaulle himself) had just blocked Britain's entry into the European Economic Community, as this would put France in second position. Later France left the EEC as it wasn't dominating any more. It may be that assassinating DeGaulle with a deniable m killer would benefit Britain greatly... it's only a vague suggestion in the book, but could this mean that the Jackal is James Bond, licenced to kill?
Ah indeed==physically fit, well dressed, impeccable manners, too.Now, all we need is the upright posture and deep voice of Christopher Lee thrown in for good measure==sadly, I will never measure up.
@@louthegiantcookie They think that casting Bruce Willis means an automatic hit. You can't begin to imagine how many movies did not star Bruce Willis, even though they wanted him for the starring role.
Interestingly, in "Never Say Never Again" (regardless of how you "count" that one in the Bond canon), Fox played M, who told Bond to eliminate all free radicals. In other words, he told Bond to clean up his diet. Heh.
One night, I got off the tube at Warwick Avenue and who should get off as well but Fox himself. Later, i regretted not having told him how much i appreciated this role in my childhood.
Tbh, the failure of the mission can't be attributed to the jackal abilities. He took every precaution available and certainly knew his shit. A mixture of fate and dumb luck failed him. Lol
That's why this movie is so good: the villain and the hero are both smart and capable so they don't make any unrealistic mistakes just to move the plot forward. This raises the tension of the plot.
In the book a decision is made by the Jackal on the recommendation of the gunsmith: the Jackal wants a gun that can be dismantled and hidden in aluminium tubes of a certain diameter, as he already had an idea of how he would hide the gun. This ruled out both a semi-auto with fast second-shot ability and a prevented a fast-working bolt system. This is why the Jackal fails to survive the Police discovering him, and why he did not get a second shot at his target. His limiting the gunsmith's options defeated him twice in a few seconds, just before he died.
Why did he waste his time with a super accurate rifle. Why not a bazooka? Would his clients be concerned about the collateral damage? More difficult to secret on his person for sure, but even so.
@@celtspeaksgoth7251 he is a professional killer he wouldn’t draw attention with a law rocket or anything like high powered rifle and wanted something he could take a part quickly and escape after shooting De Galle
The failure was leaving the window open. Surely he could have knocked out a corner of the glass and set himself up to shoot through that. Or else go up on the roof and shoot from a chimney. Ah well its only a story. Great film. Akin to Jaws as in you could watch any number of times....
Bruce Willis went for $70,000,000 in the remake of this movie...not a bad payday either. Actually, thank you for figuring this out in today's money. I love this film and had often wondered about The Jackal's price's worth today.
You're welcome! Btw, I figured out that $70,000,000 back in 1997, when the remake was made, would be about $110,000,000 today. REALLY good payday for one contract! :)
@@kapnerad I love how the jackal put it in the original novel, when he was asked if he could assassinate De Gaulle: "Yes, but it will cost a lot of money...You must understand this is a once-in-a-lifetime job. The man who does it will never work again.The chances of remaining not only uncaught but undiscovered are very small. One must take enough for this job both to be able to live well for the rest of his days and to acquire protection against rage from the Guallists- ...I am the best, and therefore the most expensive...You would get men cheaper, and you would find they took your fity-percent deposit and vanished or made excuses as to why it could not be done. When you employ the best you pay. Half a million dollars is the price. Considering you expect to get France itself, You value your country very cheap." There is some brilliant writing in this book :) .
I watched this movie when I was very young. I've always enjoyed Edward and James Fox. Now i enjoyed Laurence Fox. I notice Laurence resembles his uncle, Edward, more than his father, James.
he goes for his coat on the bed, and then doesnt pick it back up when he goes out of the door. briliant film however , and how the detectives work on catching him. also had they had a period of some weeks before they began robbing the banks to fund the jackals pay, they may never have caught him in time.
"The Battle of Algiers" is an incredible film and gives some background to the story leading up to this. Algiers was a French colony and the Algerians had to fight for years to get their freedom back.
ah, but it's a Swiss bank account, they never reveal names, numbers amounts to anyone. CIA, Mossad, no-one. There is some speculation that former Nazi's had a nice retirement from Swiss bank accounts and nearly every dictator, warlord and major criminal in the world uses Swiss bank accounts.
@@bellerophonchallen8861 Not any longer Swiss Bank regulations have changed completely. Today they always ask where the money comes from.. Otherwise they refuse to accept deposits.
@@ppuh6tfrz646 Nobody can take the risk. In 1962 you only needed an account number to open an account with a Swiss private bank. No name or adress was needed.. Today its impossible...
Before securing the job: "It will be much more difficult than any other job because De Gaulle has the best security service in the world." After securing the job: "One will have the cooperation of De Gaulle...he won't listen to his own security service!"
@@stevetheduck1425 True, but why didn't he pick up his coat from the bed when he was ready to leave the room? Leaving it behind means the intelligence and security services could trace it to him, unless Rodin and the others burned it?
It's also a dig at the US services who failed to protect JFK a few months after this fictional attempt on De Gaulle. That seems emphasised by FF's next book The Odessa File which although set in Germany tellingly opens with their reaction to the JFK assassination that very day.
The new tv series looks good. This scene takes place on a park bench but is almost word for word (with a change of target) the same. Eddie Redmayne is great in the role.
The book was brilliant. And then came Edward Fox and breathed life into the Jackal. Not to mention the French detective too who was nothing short of brilliant.
A brilliant picture, made even more realistic with the reality that several assassination attempts were actually made on De Gaulle's life. Well acted by Edward Fox and expertly directed by Fred Zinneman, in one of his last pictures.
This is one of the greatest films in the history of cinema. There isn’t an ounce of fat on it. The blocking at the end of this scene as the four move to the door is almost balletic.
Never forget that Hollywood remade this using Bruce Willis as the Jackal and a mounted machine gun in the back of a truck for the assassination weapon.
A smart, professionally executed tense thriller. The details are amazing. Acting par excellence by all principles involved. The story is very convincing. And the ending is breathtaking.
Another candidate is a German who they dismiss 'is getting a bit old for this sort of thing'. Sounds like one of the characters who later turned up in FF's The Odessa File. I even wonder if it is based on Nazi super soldier Otto Skorzeny.
Fantastic film! The epitome of the kind of films that they truly don’t make anymore. Roger Ebert described seeing it like watching a precision craftsman assembly a fine watch. Only near the end do all the parts reveal their specific purpose.
About 50 years ago, I saw the movie as a double feature roadshow film at one of the premiere movie theaters at my local town. The other movie in the double feature was "Enter the Dragon".
this part was made for Fox and yes he would have made a brilliant Bond , suave , posh , funny and deadly too Brocolli and Saltzman's loss i guess ......
