The Day of the Jackal (film)

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The far-right Organisation armée secrète ("Secret Army Organisation") plots to assassinate President de Gaulle. The first attempt on 22 August fails, leaving de Gaulle and his entourage unharmed. Within six months, OAS leader Jean Bastien-Thiry and several members are captured, and Bastien-Thiry is executed.

With their initial plot foiled, the remaining OAS leaders, now hiding in Austria, hatch a new plan. They enlist the services of an apolitical British assassin given the code name "Jackal," a figure already credited with the assassinations of Patrice Lumumba and Rafael Trujillo. Aware that targeting de Gaulle is extremely risky and demanding a final retirement in anonymity, the Jackal insists on a fee of $500,000, half to be paid upfront into his Swiss bank account. To raise the money, the OAS uses its extensive network to execute a series of bank robberies.

Preparing for his mission, the Jackal travels to Genoa where he commissions a custom single-shot rifle from a skilled gunsmith and secures fake identity papers from a forger—a man he later kills when the criminal attempts to extort him. In Paris, the Jackal duplicates a key to a sixth-floor flat overlooking a historically significant square, setting the stage for the planned assassination. Meanwhile, the OAS leadership has relocated to Rome, although their activities continue to draw the attention of French security forces.

French intelligence makes a breakthrough when they kidnap the OAS's chief clerk, Viktor Wolenski. Although Wolenski dies during interrogation, he reveals crucial details of the plot, including the term "Jackal". In response, the Interior Minister convenes a secret meeting with top security officials. Police Commissioner Berthier recommends his deputy, Claude Lebel, to lead the investigation under the constraints of secrecy with Lebel being granted special emergency powers despite de Gaulle's insistence on maintaining his public schedule.

Complicating matters further, Colonel St Clair—de Gaulle's personal military aide and a cabinet member—divulges classified details to his new mistress, Denise, an OAS agent. At the same time, Lebel is informed by Special Branch that a British national, Charles Harold Calthrop, might be connected to the assassination plot and travelling under the alias Paul Oliver Duggan.

Despite learning that his plot is compromised, and he can walk away keeping his down payment, the Jackal decides to stay in France and presses forward. While staying in a hotel in Nice, he meets and seduces the aristocratic Colette de Montpellier, but narrowly evades capture as Lebel and his team close in. After surviving a severe vehicular accident, the Jackal flees to Madame de Montpellier's country estate. There, when she reveals that the police have already questioned her and probes for more details from him, he kills her. Dyeing his blonde hair brown and donning spectacles, he assumes the identity of a Danish schoolteacher, Per Lundquist, then boards a train for Paris.

The discovery of Madame de Montpellier's murder allows Lebel to drop all secrecy constraints and launch a public manhunt. The Jackal temporarily hides at the flat of a man he picks up in a Turkish bath, killing him when the man learns of Montpellier's murder. At a subsequent cabinet meeting, Lebel predicts that the Jackal will try to shoot de Gaulle during the upcoming Liberation Day ceremony marking the commemoration of Paris's liberation during World War II. Despite Lebel's efficient and successful leadership of the investigation, he is dismissed from the case as the Minister assumes command directly for the final part, only to be reinstated less than 24 hours later when the Minister draws a blank and Lebel's expertise is recognised as indispensable.

On Liberation Day, the Jackal disguises himself as an elderly French veteran, André Martin, and conceals his rifle within crutches. Using the previously duplicated key, he accesses an upper story room of a building overlooking the ceremony. When de Gaulle unexpectedly leans forward while presenting a medal to a veteran, the Jackal's shot narrowly misses. While the Jackal is reloading for a second attempt, Lebel and a gendarme storm the room. The Jackal kills the policeman before being fatally shot by Lebel. Back in London, the real Charles Calthrop arrives at his flat, interrupting the policemen as they sift through his belongings. Ultimately, the assassin is interred in an unmarked grave, leaving the true identity behind his many disguises an enduring mystery.

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The Day of the Jackal was originally part of a two-picture deal between John Woolf and Fred Zinnemann, the other being an adaptation of the play Abelard and Heloise by Ronald Millar.^[7]

Universal Studios initially wanted to cast a major American actor as the Jackal, with Robert Redford and Jack Nicholson flown to Europe to audition. Although Universal favoured Nicholson, Zinnemann ultimately secured a production agreement stipulating that only European actors would be cast. Afterwards, British actors David McCallum, Ian Richardson and Michael York were considered, before Zinnemann cast Edward Fox. Jacqueline Bisset was offered the role of Denise, but had to decline due to scheduling conflicts.^[8]

The Day of the Jackal was filmed in studios and on location in France, Britain, Italy and Austria.^[9] Zinnemann was able to film in locations usually denied to filmmakers — such as inside the Ministry of the Interior — due in large part to French producer Julien Derode's skill in dealing with authorities.^[9] Nevertheless, the opening sequence was not shot in the Élysée Palace courtyard but at the Hôtel de Soubise, the main office of the French National Archives. The two palaces were both built at the beginning of the 18th century, but the Hôtel de Soubise is more accessible and has less security than the Élysée.

To lend a documentary-like authenticity to the final Liberation Day sequence, the film company obtained permission to use hand-held cameras inside police lines at the annual Fourteenth of July Bastille Day military parade down the Champs-Élysées. Viewers of The Day of the Jackal see extraordinary closeup footage of the massing of troops, tanks, and artillery.^[10] Since the Liberation Day sequence was filmed during a real parade, it led to confusion; the crowd (many of whom were unaware that a film was being shot) mistook the actors portraying police officers for real officers, and many tried to help them arrest the "suspects" they were apprehending in the crowd. Zinnemann wrote that Adrien Cayla-Legrand, the actor who played de Gaulle, was mistaken by several Parisians for the real de Gaulle — though the former French president had been dead for nearly two years prior to film production.^[11]

During the weekend of 15 August 1972, the Paris police cleared a very busy square of all traffic to film additional scenes.^[9][12]

Frederick Forsyth later wrote that for the film company to buy rights for his novel, he was offered two contract options: £20,000 for outright sale of the novel in perpetuity, or £17,500 plus a small percentage of the film's net profits. He took the £20,000, noting that such a payment was already a massive sum to him at the time, but due to his naïveté about finances, he waived rights to considerably more money given the film's enduring success.^[13]

List of locations

More information Location, Sequence ...

Location	Sequence
150 Rue de Rennes, Paris 6, France	Assassination sequence
Archives nationales, Hôtel de Soubise, 60 rue des Francs-Bourgeois, Paris 3	As the Élysée Palace
Boulevard de la Reine, Versailles, France	Bank, as "Banque de Grenoble", in fact, a savings bank
Boulevard Marguerite-de-Rochechouart, Montmartre, Paris, France	Masked robbers flee in getaway car
Boulevard des Batignolles, Paris 17	OAS contacts Denise
Boulogne Studios, avenue Jean-Baptiste Clément, Boulogne-Billancourt, France	Studio
British Museum, Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London, England	The Jackal reads Le Figaro
Champs-Élysées, Paris 8	Military parade
Château du Saussay, Ballancourt-sur-Essonne, Essonne, France	Madame Colette de Montpellier's chateau
Entrevaux, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France	The Jackal drives by toward Paris
French Riviera, Alpes-Maritimes, France
Gare d'Austerlitz, Place Valhubert, Quai d'Austerlitz, Paris 13
Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London
Hôtel de Beauveau, Place Beauvau, Paris 8	Ministry of Interior
Hotel Colombia, Genoa, Liguria, Italy
Hotel Negresco, 37 Promenade des Anglais, Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France	Jackal learns that his cover is blown
Imperia, Liguria, Italy
La Bastide de Tourtour, Tourtour, Var, France	Hotel where the Jackal meets Colette
Limousin, France
Piazza San Silvestro, Rome	Wolenski in the real central Post Office
Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England	Studio
Place Charles Michels, Paris 15	Van attacked
Place du 18 juin 1940, Paris 6	Final assassination sequence
Place Vauban, Paris 7	Biker stops to place phone call
Prater Park, Vienna, Austria	"Pension Kleist", Rendezvous with OAS heads
Quai d'Austerlitz, Paris 13
Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Paris	Outside the Palais de l'Élysée
Rue de Monttessuy, Paris 7	Robbers blow up bank security van
Scotland Yard, Whitehall, London	UK police
Somerset House, Strand, London	The Jackal obtains a birth certificate
St. James's Park, London
St. Mary's Church, Farnham Royal, England	"St Marks, Sambourne Fishley", the Jackal finds Duggan's gravestone
Ventimiglia, Liguria, Italy	Before crossing the border into France
Veynes, Hautes-Alpes, France	Train station, as Tulle station
Via di Panico, Rome	Kidnapping of Wolenski
Via Stefano Dondero, Genoa	Garage under railway line
Victoria Embankment, Westminster, London	UK police

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Critical response

The film holds a 91% score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 35 reviews with an average rating of 8.1/10. The critics consensus reads, "The Day of the Jackal is a meticulously constructed thriller with surprising irreverence and taut direction."^[14] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews^[15]

Critics of the period were generally impressed with the film. Among those was Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, who gave it his highest rating of four stars:

"Fred Zinnemann’s The Day of the Jackal is one hell of an exciting movie. I wasn’t prepared for how good it really is: it’s not just a suspense classic, but a beautifully executed example of filmmaking. It’s put together like a fine watch. The screenplay meticulously assembles an incredible array of material, and then Zinnemann choreographs it so that the story—complicated as it is—unfolds in almost documentary starkness. The Day of the Jackal is two and a half hours long and seems over in about fifteen minutes."^[16]

Ebert concluded: "Zinnemann has mastered every detail ... There are some words you hesitate to use in a review, because they sound so much like advertising copy, but in this case I can truthfully say that the movie is spellbinding."^[17] Ebert included the film at No. 7 on his list of the Top 10 films of the year for 1973.^[18]

The Time film critic applauded the transition from novel to film:

"The Day of the Jackal makes one appreciate anew the wonderful narrative efficiency of the movies. Frederick Forsyth's bestselling novel — essentially what mystery buffs call a police procedural, but blown up to international proportions — kept losing its basically simple storyline in the forest of words. The writer required paragraphs to detail the procedures of an international manhunt, not to mention the procedures of the Jackal himself, a hired gun employed by disaffected French army officers to assassinate Charles de Gaulle. This is the kind of material that a good director can give us in the wink of a panning camera's eye."^[19]

The review continued, that due to the talents of director Fred Zinnemann, "what might have been just another expensive entertainment becomes, on a technical level, a textbook on reels in the near-forgotten subject of concise moviemaking. In short, as so often happens, a second-rate fiction has been transformed into a first-rate screen entertainment."^[19]

A few critics were less effusive. For example, William B. Collins wrote in The Philadelphia Inquirer:

"The picture cuts between The Jackal, carefully making his preparations, to the police taking their counter-measures. It is all detail work and not very exciting. The pace picks up noticeably when the assassin, all preliminaries behind him, motors across the Franco-Italian border and learns that his cover has been blown."^[20]

In a MacLeans Magazine review, John Hofsess wrote:

"The Jackal is not a great film, but it's a damn good one, one of the very few films released this year that is worth all the trouble and expense of going out to the movies. Zinnemann has a self-effacing directorial style; give him a good yarn and he tells it without any personal intrusions and attention-getting tics."^[21]

Hofsess added that it is "an authentically detailed suspense story with ingenious twists."^[21] Other critics used similar language, praising The Day of the Jackal as an intricate and detailed maze, entertaining and never tedious.^[22][23]

Critic Matt Brunson of Film Frenzy appreciated how the film did justice to the novel it was based on:

"Author Frederick Forsyth struck gold right out of the gate with his first fictional work, the 1971 international bestseller The Day of the Jackal, and then had the good fortune to watch it transformed into a motion picture that (unlike too many page-to-screen efforts) steadfastly avoided botching the source material. A largely faithful adaptation of Forsyth’s novel ... Fred Zinnemann, scripter Kenneth Ross, and editor Ralph Kemplen (earning this film’s sole Oscar nomination) all deserve high marks for ratcheting up the tension in a movie whose outcome is never in doubt (after all, de Gaulle died years later at home, at the age of 79)."^[23]

Likewise, the film critic for The Spectator opined:

"All of this the cinema is properly and effectively equipped to handle. Zinnemann, with the help of an excellent script from Kenneth Ross, has transferred the novel lock, stock, barrel and silencer to the screen. Nothing important has been left out. The added visual dimension means that Forsyth's lengthy descriptions of the Jackal's movements and equipment can be quickly expanded, and the extensive location shooting brings out the documentary aspect of the story to the full.... In other words, for those of you who have read the novel, going to The Day of the Jackal will be curiously like the experience of seeing the same film a second time round or seeing the filmed version of a stage play. For anyone who hasn't read Forsyth's book, the film can be recommended wholeheartedly."^[24]

As Empire magazine observed, Forsyth's scrupulously researched "pulp thriller" provided "the perfect template for this exhaustive procedural. In many ways, this outstanding piece of filmmaking marks the apotheosis of a certain style of thriller that has since fallen out of fashion—the mind game. [It is] built with the minutiae of a Swiss watch", without blandishments. The linear plot "is made infinitely complex by the portrayal of this empty vessel of a killer by Fox..." An irresistible force is pitted against an immovable object — a conflict facilitated by the script.^[25] TV Guide noted, "We watch his [the Jackal's] preparations which are so thorough we wonder how he could possibly fail even as we watch the French police attempt to pick up his trail."^[26]

Gannett news service critic Bernard Drew had both compliments and criticisms: "This is not a bad movie, it races by and entertains, after a fashion. It simply is not as good as it should have been. One wonders what Hitchcock or Costa-Gavras would have done with it. They would have cast it differently, cut down on the elaborate detailing, so much of which comes down to nothing, and the huge dramatis personae, and possibly might have made a better movie—more humorous, passionate, and credible—and then again, quite possibly not."^[27]

A list of the 100 favorite movies of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa included The Day of the Jackal.^[28]

Box office

The movie grossed $16,056,255 at the box office,^[4] earning North American rentals of $8,525,000.^[5] Zinnemann was pleasantly surprised by the commercial results, telling an interviewer in 1993: "The idea that excited me was to make a suspense film where everybody knew the end - that de Gaulle was not killed. In spite of knowing the end, would the audience sit still? And it turned out that they did, just as the readers of the book did."^[29]

John Woolf later made another film from a Forsyth novel, The Odessa File.^[30]

The Day of the Jackal and the resultant Academy Award nomination were career milestones for Kenneth Ross, the Scottish-American screenwriter.^[A]

• August 1 (1988) — An Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Sibi Malayil, written by S. N. Swamy, and starring Mammootty, Sukumaran, Captain Raju and Urvashi. This adaptation relocates the story to the Indian state of Kerala.
• The Jackal (1997) — An American film directed by Michael Caton-Jones, written by Chuck Pfarrer, and starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier and Diane Venora. Forsyth, Woolf, Zinnemann and Fox opposed the production and filed an injunction to prevent Universal Pictures from using the name of the original novel and film, and it would be marketed as being "inspired by" rather than directly based on Forsyth's novel.^{[34][35][36][8]} The film does not credit Forsyth's novel as source material, and only credits Kenneth Ross with "earlier screenplay."
• The Day of the Jackal (2024) — A British television drama serial adaptation of the Frederick Forsyth novel of the same name. It stars Eddie Redmayne, is produced by Ronan Bennett and directed by Brian Kirk.

• BFI Top 100 British films