Synopsis
An international assassin known as ‘The Jackal’ is employed by disgruntled French generals to kill President Charles de Gaulle, with a dedicated gendarme on the assassin’s trail.
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Cast
- Edward FoxThe Jackal
- Terence AlexanderLloyd
- Michel AuclairColonel Rolland
- Alan Badelthe Minister
- Tony BrittonInspector Thomas
- Denis CareyCasson
- Cyril CusackGunsmith
- Maurice DenhamGeneral Colbert
- Michael LonsdaleDeputy Commissioner Claude Lebel
- Vernon DobtcheffInterrogator
- 100
Chicago Sun-Times
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. - 100
TV Guide Magazine
Fox is superb as the coldly impassionate killer, and Lonsdale is properly plodding yet magnificently analytical as the detective tracking him down. A taut, suspenseful, and fascinating political thriller. - 100
Chicago Reader
Terrific escapist entertainment...It's a polished and exciting thriller, mercifully unburdened with heavy political/philosophical digressions. - 91
The A.V. Club
In one of the movie’s most famous scenes, Fox practices with his specially engineered rifle (which has been built into a pair of crutches), and as he takes his shots at a practice melon, he keeps tweaking the aim. It all looks very cool, until Fox finishes his adjustments, and fires a bullet that makes this stand-in for de Gaulle’s head explode. - 80
Empire
There is true beauty in the realism at the heart of what could come across a fanciful movie plot, with its documentarian coolness of execution, the crisp rhythms of Zinnemann’s direction, we feels we are staring through a window into the shadowy recesses of history. - 70
Variety
The major asset of the film is that it succeeds in maintaining interest and suspense despite obvious viewer foreknowledge of the outcome. - 60
Time Out London
Low on documentary conviction and political context, but an intriguing exercise in concealing the obvious. - 50
The New York Times
The details are minutely observed and, to me, just a bit boring.