Day of the Jackal

Red wine and a movie review.  This could be a nice tradition.

I noticed that even though both Miller's Crossing and Day of the Jackal have 90% good reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, Vincent Canby of The New York Times gave negative reviews to both.  I'm going to have to start paying more attention to Mr. Canby.

Day of the Jackal is a 1973 movie based on a Frederick Forsyth novel.  I have read at least one Forsyth book.  He is a Robert Ludlum type of writer -- major international intrigue, with lots of detail about how the espionage business works behind the scenes.  This story takes place in France, as a hired killer -- the Jackal -- tries to kill Charles de Gaulle, and French security tries to stop him.

The movie isn't too bad, but I can't really recommend it either.  The first part is slow, as the Jackal makes his preparations and then French intelligence gets wind of the plot and tries to find him.  As the Jackal prepared a new ID, had a special gun made, made plans to change his appearance, etc., it all reminded me of a business project -- very detailed and meticulous, but with no sense of malice.  Meanwhile the efforts by French intelligence feel like a police procedural.  It's probably more realistic than a white-knuckle, Bourne Identity (a Ludlum book) scenario, but it didn't have me engaged until halfway through.

The Jackal never really feels all that threatening, even though he kills a few people and seems very businesslike about it.  I kept thinking about Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men -- particularly after one scene in which the Jackal is injured in an accident but limps away and stays on task --  and how truly evil he felt.  Somehow the Jackal just never rose to that level of menace.

Maybe it was the ascots.  He wore a series of brightly-colored ascots around his neck.  Was that ever a popular thing to do?  It must be difficult to look scary in ascots, but then Bardem managed it even with that bad haircut.

Part way through, the chase gets more tense, and the movie becomes enjoyable enough.  Still, it feels a lot like two men doing their jobs, one with the job of killing de Gaulle, and the other with the job of stopping him, and we get to see in detail how they go about it.  A well-crafted tale, but not one that will keep you on the edge of your seat.