Mad Dogs and Englishmen

(Posted as part of the Close-Up Blog-a-thon hosted at The House Next Door)

Matt Z's "Close-Up" posting for "The Manchurian Candidate" reminded me of another great political thriller, 1973's "The Day of the Jackal" (directed by Fred Zinnemann). The sniper scope shot at the end plays a prominent role in the film's finale.

So as not to play spoiler, the shot I've posted above actually occurs a minute or two before the climax.

VERY faithful to Frederick Forsyth's novel of the same name, the film takes place in 1961 and follows a fictional plot by a French terrorist group, the OAS, to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle. After several failures, which they blame on internal leaks, the OAS hires an outsider from England code named "The Jackal" to do the job.

The "fair haired" assassin meets with his employers to discuss terms:

Colonel Rodin: "And how much do you want?"
The Jackal: "Half a million."
Colonel Rodin: "What?"
The Jackal: "In cash. Half in advance and half on completion."
Colonel Rodin: "Half a million francs!"
The Jackal: "Dollars."
Colonel Rodin: "Are you mad?"
The Jackal: "Considering you expect to get France in return, I'd have thought it a reasonable price."

Still relevant today and perfectly paced, the film juxtaposes the actions of single-minded fanatics against benignly indifferent bureaucrats.

One of the lead bureaucrats, Claude Lebel, laments "It's obvious that The Jackal has been tipped off all along and yet he's decided to go ahead, regardless. He simply challenged the whole lot of us."

Since the real Charles de Gaulle WASN'T killed by terrorists, I'm not divulging anything by saying that the bureaucrats win.

However, the great irony of the film, as demonstrated in the sniper scope shot, is that the Jackal fails, NOT due to the actions of his pursuers, but BECAUSE he is an outsider and not completely familiar with French ceremonial customs (I won't say any more).