Pretty Good

Admirable film.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Director Zinnemann succeeded in striking exactly the right note : his movie contains enough documentary (or pseudo-documentary) aspects to make a realistic impression, while telling a suspenseful and exciting story about the progress of an unusually competent, unusually deliberate criminal.Edward Fox gives a fine and well-measured lead performance. Every now and then he lets his character's bland and inoffensive mask slip, deliberately, so that one gets a tiny glimpse of the moral abyss inside, but he is wise enough to let his character's actions speak for themselves. This is a good decision, since any attempt at a psychologically profound and searching portrayal would throw the rest of the movie out of kilter. (Both movie and source novel focus on the mechanics of an international man hunt, rather than on individuals and their psyches.)The movie's budget was used wisely and well, and the location scouts knew their stuff. As a result the viewer is swept along in a varied and colourful tour of Europe, ranging from top secret briefings in London and emergency staff meetings in Paris to amorous escapades in countryside châteaux. So this is a pretty good movie. About the only aspect that annoyed me was the profusion of languages and (pseudo-)accents : English, French, Frenglish, Angelench, and so on. It was as confusing as the Tower of Babel disaster, especially since the use of these various tongues did not seem to be ruled by narrative logic. (If my memory serves me well it's a phenomenon similar to that seen and heard in "Where eagles dare", where everybody speaks everything and anything, all the time.)Fun note : watch out for the scene where the Jackal gets his just rewards. His body is thrown against an unfortunate piece of architecture. The said piece of architecture moves and shakes, visibly. Aaah, the tender walls of France, they're so sensitive !

The movies seems to me more intense and captivating when shown can be real. And this is a mandatory condition for action movies, thrillers, science fiction, etc.As we all know, most of Hollywood movies (even non-action) still very much lacking credibility because, among other things, they use exaggerated and unnatural methods to create a more dramatic (but unrealistic) effect in the viewer.A lot of thrillers could have been much better if it were not for this craving of "happening things" every second...thus all the magic is lost.This movie is full of magic. And this magic means that you believe what is happening.There is very little music in the film, and is unobtrusive. Photography is nothing gimmicky, and the actors performance is very natural. Special mention to the two women have a small role in the film: Olga Georges-Picotbut and Delphine Seyrig: their performance are remarkable.Editing is also the opposite of a modern film: the pace is perfect, and takes it's time when needed. Today the shots do not last more than a few seconds, and the action scenes hundredths of a second ... as a video clip or a Coke we drink in a minute and then we throw away. I prefer to drink red wine Petrus 1973 Pomerol and taste it slowly...

There are times while watching this movie that you have to suspend disbelief. I could not believe that someone as smart as the Jackal would jeopardize the most important assignment of his career to have a casual affair with a married woman and then go back to her. Another flaw is the seemingly effortless murders of the forger and Madame Montpellier. Hitcock went to great pains to demonstrate how hard it is to take a human life in his film Torn Curtain, Fred Zinneman apparently never watched that movie. Last but not least, even in the stultifying bureacracy of the Elysee Palace, I refuse to believe the French Ministers were ever that incredibly stupid.

One of the most remarkable men of the last century in my humble opinion was Charles DeGaulle of France. When I was eleven years old he came out of retirement and established the Fifth Republic of France which has survived to the present. I remember as a kid and an adolescent some of the tantrums on the international stage he would throw and be a general pain to Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson.But later on I read a biography of him and clear as a bell I remember what he said about how he saw his role in World War II. "In me you see the honor of France" was the quote. And I thought about it and by God it was true. True for him more than anyone else I could think of. At a time when his country was conquered, when so many more senior military officials either became outright collaborators with their new masters or just played for time to see which way the wind blew, this man would not yield. He was a junior one star brigadier general and when everyone above him yielded, he did not. He and the Free French who served with him carried the honor of their country. Maybe in our history that could only be claimed about George Washington.So only a man of DeGaulle's stature could have gotten France out of the colonial entanglements of her past. Especially Algeria across the Mediterranean who some viewed as part of France. The disgruntled French who had to leave Algeria, mostly army and colonial officials formed an extremist organization called the OAS and made a few attempts to assassinate DeGaulle. The Day Of The Jackal is a novel version of one of those attempts.As we know Charles DeGaulle gave up the Presidency of the Fifth Republic in 1969 and died a year later. Still Fred Zinnemann with no real box office names in his cast of players made one of the best films of the Seventies and one of the best thrillers of all time. Remarkable when you know what the outcome will be.French Intelligence gets a hold of the plot that a lone contract killer called 'The Jackal' has been hired by the OAS who can no longer trust their own network as it has been so compromised to kill DeGaulle. The killer they hire is Edward Fox, an Englishman who is thorough and meticulous in his preparations and as cold as the climate the penguins live in. When the French pick up on him, he manages to elude them a couple of times. He kills three people in his trip to Paris, necessary for him to complete his mission. Among Fox's dead are a woman he picked up during a hotel stay just so he can get her car as his has been spotted. Another is a gay man whom he picked up in a bathhouse in Paris who gave him shelter and then heard the French police were looking for him. The third was a forger who tried to hold him up for more money.Fox even has a weapon especially designed for him to conceal as he goes across the border. I won't say more, but you have to see the weapon he designs for himself. Alan Badel who plays the French Minister of the Interior assigns his own deputy Michael Lonsdale as the man to track down and apprehend the Jackal, dead or alive. Lonsdale who doesn't appear in the film until about a third of the way through is a tireless and dogged adversary who also has to deal with an informant in his own department as the OAS has planted a woman with one of the senior officials to Badel as a mistress/spy. Playing Lonsdale's assistant in an early role is Derek Jacobi.The Day Of The Jackal is at the top of the list in suspense movies. Alfred Hitchcock could not have fashioned suspense and terror any better than Zinnemann does here. Do not miss this film if it ever broadcast.And this review is dedicated to Charles DeGaulle who carried the honor of his country on his very tall frame.