Recoil

(posted as part of the the I Can Do It Better blog-a-thon! at gee bobg)

The Day of the Jackal (1973)
Director: Fred Zinnemann



I hate to repeat myself as I've already posted something on this movie last October for the Close-Up Blog-a-thon in The House Next Door (Mad Dogs and Englishmen). But I literally just watched the last thirty minutes of it an hour ago.

The Day of the Jackal is the film version of a Frederick Forsyth novel set in 1961 about a fictional plot by the OAS, a French terrorist group, to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle.

Actually, there's not much that NEEDS changing. I'd say it's 99 percent perfect.

However, someone in 1997 did think they could do it better and the result was lightweight remake The Jackal starring Bruce Willis (in the title role), Sidney Poitier, and Richard Gere.

The original movie followed the novel closely and was a straight-forward, realistic thriller. The remake brought the story into present day and turned it into one long pyrotechnic laden Hollywood action flick.

But I digress.

According to the IMDB trivia for the 1973 version:

Michael Caine lobbied for the role of The Jackal, but director Fred Zinnemann did not want a movie star in the role as he thought that using a recognizable face such as Caine's in the role of a man who essentially is and remains a cipher would reduce the suspense felt by the audience. Thus, Zinneman offered the role to the lesser known Edward Fox...

Zinneman was right. Fox dissolves into the role of "The Jackal." Whereas, in the remake, Bruce Willis is conspicuously PLAYING at being an international assassin.

The other main character of The Day of the Jackal is Claude Lebel, the lead inspector for French Security (Michael Lonsdale). Seeming more like Columbo than Mannix, Lebel doesn't rely on brute force as do many of his fellow officiers. During one scene, he's critical of the severe interrogation methods used on a suspect that make waterboarding seem rather tame.

The Day of the Jackal follows two stories: the assassin's preparations to be in the right place at the right time to take out DeGaulle and the efforts of Lebel methodically and dispassionately following various bureaucratic paper trails to uncover who "The Jackal" is.

Throughout the film, Lebel is conspicuously shown with a pen in his front pocket. It's not even clear if he carries a gun. After all, the pen IS mightier than the sword.

Many viewers have complained that the relative lack of action makes The Day of the Jackal boring (it wasn't a financial success).

While I couldn't disagree more with that assessment, there is ONE thing I would do to make it better.

The film unfolds in a credible and realistic chain of events UNTIL the dramatic climax. While faithful to the novel, it's staged in a typical Hollywood fashion.

Lebel manages to get the drop on "The Jackal" (we never learn his real name) and shoots him with a machine gun before the assassin can carry out his deadly plot.

When shot, "The Jackal" is lifted up and tossed backward in the air. Though you can't see it, the actor is clearly being pulled back by a wire. Even worse, the wall he flies into moves a little when he bangs into it and thus reveals itself to be part of a set.

Anyone who's seen Mythbusters knows that in real life, the law of physics don't work like they do in Hollywood. Had the bullets really exerted enough force to throw "The Jackal" back five feet, Lebel would have been tossed back five feet as well.

Were I filming it, the assassin would simply have slumped back and down to the ground. This would have been in keeping with the no nonsense, almost documentary tone the film had struck from the beginning.

The "action film" staging Finnemann chose for the ending doesn't RUIN The Day of the Jackal for me. I still love the movie.

Like the assassin's plan, it's ALMOST perfectly executed.