The Day of the Jackal
Also known as Day of the Jackal
1973 film by Fred Zinnemann
Film · TMDB
7.5An 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.
Released: 1973-05-16143 minDir: Fred ZinnemannAction, ThrillerBox office: $16.1M
Cast
- Edward Fox as The Jackal
- Terence Alexander as Lloyd
- Michel Auclair as Colonel Rolland
- Alan Badel as the Minister
- Tony Britton as Inspector Thomas
- Denis Carey as Casson
Themes
- assassin
- assassination
- france
- paris, france
- based on novel or book
- police
~20 min read
Article
The Day of the Jackal is a 1973 political thriller film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Edward Fox and Michael Lonsdale. Based on the 1971 novel by Frederick Forsyth, the film is about a professional assassin known only as the "Jackal" who is hired to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle in the summer of 1963. It stars Edward Fox as the title character, with Michael Lonsdale, Derek Jacobi, Terence Alexander, Michel Auclair, Alan Badel, Donald Sinden, Tony Britton, Cyril Cusack, Maurice Denham and Delphine Seyrig. The musical score was composed by Georges Delerue.
A co-production of the United Kingdom and France, The Day of the Jackal received positive reviews and went on to win the BAFTA Award for Best Editing (Ralph Kemplen), five additional nominations (including Best Film and Best Direction), two Golden Globe Award nominations, and one Oscar nomination. The film grossed $16,056,255 at the North American box office, returning $8,525,000 in rentals to the studio. In 1999, the British Film Institute ranked it the 74th greatest British film of the 20th century.