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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Edward Fox is bloody brilliant!!, 25 Nov 2003
Well, up front...I am an Edward Fox fan. Have been since he lumbered around in the 1966 FROZEN DEAD as Nazi Popcicle #3. Hey, he was one super fozen dead!! He had several good roles in next few years, but really stood out as Ian McShane's fellow flyer in THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. They stole the show in a cast of super Brits - Lord Larry, Michael Caine, Ralph Richardson and Robert Shaw, just to name a few - firmly setting their star potential. But Edward really carved his chunk of attention for the role as the Jackal in the 1973 DAY OF THE JACKAL.The film is a tight production, nearly boarding on documentary. Edward portrays the meticulous hitman of many disguises who has been hired to assassinate Charles de Gaulle. Based on the spy novel from Frederick Forsyth, director Fred Zinnermann focuses on the French detectives racing to track down the elusive Jackal before it's too late, and well as the dispassionate, professional preparations by Fox. But you are in two minds, actually. Fox is so winning in the performance, fleshing out the Jackal just not as a coldblooded killer, but as a man, so you oddly almost root for him to succeed, at the same time cheering for him to fail. With the marvellous supporting cast of Derek Jacobi, Alan Badel, Maurice Denham, Cyril Cusack, the faced paced script by Kenneth Ross (Breaker Morant) keeps you absorbed from beginning to end. Thanks awfully, Edward!!
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my Top Ten Films of all Time., 8 April 2006
I have just looked at the Day of the Jackal for the umpententh time and it never fails to impress. Edward Fox plays the lead role expertly as the assasain in this outstanding thriller from the pages of Fredrick Forseyth's novel. I thought the book was outstanding but the film portrays the story brilliantly. An edge of your seat experience and one in which you will not be dissapointed.
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32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply Fantastic, 7 July 2007
Why oh why cant they make films like this anymore!
All this hollywood blockbuster rubbish is like watching the output from a sausage production line. Same stories, same direction, same characters, same ridiculously fast frame rates, same annoying background music, where has the film industry gone wrong? What has happened to individuality? Where has the creativity gone?
Any film producers out there please, please, please watch this film!
The characters are not one dimensional like most characters in todays films, they have depth and realism, the camera men do not have st.vitus dance, the film does not jump from one time zone to the other all the time and there is absolutely NO BACKGROUND MUSIC. Why do all modern films have to have distracting music throughout every second of the film. This film has no music in the background at all and this makes it captivating and gives it tension. Background music does not add anything to a film, it takes it away. All the good films have little or no background music.
This film is a masterpiece, every scene is relevant to the story and it never wanders off into aimless subplots or delves into pointless background psycho-babble on why the hard-working cops marriage is struggling because hes so overworked; piffle! How cares, this garbage is just to pad out the film. "The Day of the Jackal" uses none of these pathetic cliches, it is an individual, unique, non-American, brilliantly acted, believable and gripping thriller. The pace is relentless but not manic as with most lesser thrillers, it flows brilliantly and has a European atmosphere that is such a thrill to absorb and so refreshing after enduring the pitiful, wise-cracking, Yankie drivel that Holywood spews out! If there are any film makers out there watch this film and study it in detail. Please observe what you are doing wrong and get your act together. I am saddened to think that despite new technology, which seems to have destroyed modern film making, film producers are incapable of producing films like this. My motto has always been "Special effects maketh not the film" Notice that this film not only has no background music but no special effects either, am I the only one that can see this?
None of the rubbish that is in modern films is in this film at all and yet it's a classic, why? because most modern films are rubbish by comparison.
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