It is the early 60s in France. The remaining survivors of the aborted French Foreign Legion have made repeated attempts to kill French president de Gaulle (Adrien Cayla-Legrand). The result is that he is the most closely guarded man in the world. As a desperate act, they hire The Jackal (Edward Fox), the code name for a hired killer who agrees to kill 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.
Also starring Terence Alexander as Lloyd, Michel Auclair as Colonel Rolland, Alan Badel as the minister, Tony Britton as Inspector Thomas, Denis Carey as Casson, Cyril Cusack as the gunsmith, Maurice Denham as General Colbert, Vernon Dobtcheff as the interrogator, Jacques François as Pascal, Olga Georges-Picot as Denise, Raymond Gérôme as Flavigny, Barrie Ingham as St Clair and Derek Jacobi as Caron. Written by Kenneth Ross from the novel by Frederick Forsyth, directed by Fred Zinnemann.
This is the original 1973 version, not the Aidan Quinn one (The assignment) or the Bruce Willis one (The Jackal).
PG (Medium level violence)
137 minutes (2:17 hours)
DVD rental: 14 February 2001