Anniversary showing of the most gripping and intelligent of political thrillers
Incredibly it’s 50 years since this cat and mouse classic came out, but it’s lost nothing of its never-stop tension.
An underground French paramilitary group is intent on eliminating president Charles de Gaulle, but when numerous attempts on his life fail, they hire the infamous hit man known as “The Jackal” (Edward Fox). As the enigmatic assassin builds towards shooting de Gaulle, he coolly takes out any problematic people along the way. Meanwhile, savvy Parisian police detective Lebel (Micharl Lonsdale) is the cat on the mouse’s tail as he tries to solve the mystery of the one-step-ahead killer’s identity.
Based on the equally classic Frederick Forsyth page-turner book, Fox is superbly cast as the loner, the cold, suave, mysterious Jackal, who sets up his plan and goes on to improvise as he nears his target.
Superby directed, this is in modern parlance like Mission Impossible, where you see snippets of his plan forming and how it plays out, and a talented cast ensures the film is wire-taut throughout