zen Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 (edited) The Day of the Jackal (1973) .... Based on the book by Frederick Forsyth .... Holds up very well even today .... One of the greatest thrillers of all time and among my favorites .... A cat and mouse game b/w an assassin & the police Quote It is the early 60s in France. The remaining survivors of the aborted French Foreign Legion have made repeated attempts to kill DeGaulle. The result is that he is the most closely guarded man in the world. As a desperate act, they hire The Jackal, the code name for a hired killer who agrees to kill French President De Gaulle for half a million dollars. We watch his preparations which are so thorough we wonder how he could possibly fail even as we watch the French police attempt to pick up his trail. The situation is historically accurate. There were many such attempts and the film closely follows the plot of the book. IMDB Is this among your favorites? Which are the similar films that you like? Additionally, the restoration by Universal and Arrow gives it a new life: Edited October 29, 2020 by zen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted October 29, 2020 Author Share Posted October 29, 2020 (edited) My favorite scene is where the jackal may need to abort his mission. He is at a crossroad where one road leads to Paris & the other to Italy. He decides to take the challenge of the French police on .... That reminds me of the scene from Heat where Robert de Niro turns his car back. PS Edited October 29, 2020 by zen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 I enjoyed the book better, there were lotsa of changes made and some errors as well. But a great book turned to a not so great movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted October 29, 2020 Author Share Posted October 29, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, coffee_rules said: I enjoyed the book better, there were lotsa of changes made and some errors as well. But a great book turned to a not so great movie. Why the comparison with the book? As a book even The Godfather could read better than the film to many. More appropriate comparison could be with similar films Edited October 29, 2020 by zen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffee_rules Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 4 minutes ago, zen said: Why the comparison with the book? As a book, even The Godfather could read better than the film to many. It is natural to compare when the Film says it is adapted from a novel/book. Godfather in its two parts was faithful to the book, to the core. I liked them both. Of course, the film toned down the sexual scenes, description to everybody's senses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted October 29, 2020 Author Share Posted October 29, 2020 (edited) 10 minutes ago, coffee_rules said: It is natural to compare when the Film says it is adapted from a novel/book. Godfather in its two parts was faithful to the book, to the core. I liked them both. Of course, the film toned down the sexual scenes, description to everybody's senses. The more appropriate comparison would be with similar films .... Not every film based on a book would use 100% of the material as writers adapt the material to a different medium (and presumably a larger audience). Also not everyone reads the book and/or are watching the film for the book Edited October 29, 2020 by zen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted October 29, 2020 Author Share Posted October 29, 2020 A fan of the film made a copy of the jackal sniper rifle prop: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zen Posted November 9, 2020 Author Share Posted November 9, 2020 Other such intelligent thrillers involving hired "assassins" include Ronin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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