The Day of the Jackal (1973)

When President De Gaulle decides to grant independence to French Algeria, several of the soldiers, who fought in that campaign, feel that De Gaulle is belittling the lives of the men who died there. So they form a group and make attempts at De Gaulle and fail. When several of their key members are killed or caught and eventually executed, the three top members decide to hire a professional assassin to take out De Gaulle. The man that they chose agrees to do it on the condition that he be alllowed complete autonomy. He also advises them to go into hiding until the job is done. And they do. When the French Security force learns that they have shut themselves off from the rest of world are curious what they are doing. So they abduct their errand boy, and once interrogated all he says is the assassin’s code name, “The Jackal”, they hypothesize that they have hired an assassin to go after DE Gaulle. Once De Gaulle is informed he refuses to alter his plans and will not allow extra security added. So his ministry decides that they should find the Jackal before he makes his move. They appoint the best detective in France, Claude Lebel to find him. Lebel plan is to contact every police department in the world and see if the Jackal comes from their country and if so to provide him with a description and/or a photo. Now Scotland Yard has a small lead but unfortunately they miss him but they have his passport so assuming that he is out of the country, they try and find the passport that he is using. Now when they think that they have him, he discards the identity that he is using and assumes another one. Can they find him before he gets De Gaulle?

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The Day of the Jackal (1973)
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Genre:
Thriller
Director:
Fred Zinnemann 
Writers:
Frederick Forsyth (book)
Kenneth Ross (screenplay)
Cast:
Edward Fox … The Jackal
Terence Alexander … Lloyd
Michel Auclair … Colonel Rolland
Alan Badel … The Minister
Tony Britton … Inspector Thomas
Denis Carey … Casson
Adrien Cayla-Legrand … The President
Cyril Cusack … The Gunsmith
Maurice Denham … General Colbert
Vernon Dobtcheff … The Interrogator
Jacques François … Pascal (as Jacques Francois)
Olga Georges-Picot … Denise
Raymond Gérôme … Flavigny (as Raymond Gerome)
Barrie Ingham … St. Clair
Derek Jacobi … Caron
Michael Lonsdale … Lebel (as Michel Lonsdale)
Jean Martin … Wolenski
Ronald Pickup … The Forger
Eric Porter … Colonel Rodin
Anton Rodgers … Bernard
Delphine Seyrig … Colette
Donald Sinden … Mallinson
Jean Sorel … Bastien-Thiry
David Swift … Montclair
Timothy West … Berthier
Bernard Archard …
Jacques Alric …
Colette Bergé … (as Colette Berge)
Edmond Bernard …
Gérard Buhr … (as Gerard Buhr)
Philippe Léotard … Gendarme (as Philippe Leotard)
Maurice Teynac …
Van Doude …
Nicolas Vogel …
Féodor Atkine … (uncredited)
Jacques Brunet … Bit Part (uncredited)
Jean Champion … (uncredited)
Nicole Desailly … Yvonne De Gaulle (uncredited)
Max Faulkner … Special Branch Detective (uncredited)
Robert Favart … Minister (uncredited)
Andréa Ferréol … (uncredited)
Gilberte Géniat … (uncredited)
Edward Hardwicke … Charles Calthrop (uncredited)
David Kernan … Per Lundquist (uncredited)
Robert Le Béal … (uncredited)
Roger Lumont … Hotel employee (uncredited)
Bernard Musson … (uncredited)
Michel Subor … Spy in the car (uncredited)
Howard Vernon … State Secretary (uncredited)
Nicholas Young … Passport Officer (uncredited)
Also Known As (AKA)
Chacal Belgium (French title) / Canada (French title) / France / Portugal (imdb display title) / Spain (imdb display title)
El día del chacal Argentina / Peru
Schakalen Finland (imdb display title) (Swedish title) / Sweden
Sjakalen Denmark / Norway
Çakalin Günü Turkey (DVD title) (Turkish title)
A sakál napja Hungary
Dani šakala Serbia
De jakhals Belgium (Flemish title)
Der Schakal West Germany
Dzien szakala Poland
Fred Zinnemann’s Film of The Day of the Jackal UK (complete title)
I ora tou tsakaliou Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
Il giorno dello sciacallo Italy
O Dia do Chacal Brazil (imdb display title)
Shakaali Finland