Fox conveyes more with a glance than many actors can do with a trilogy of movies. He's graceful and at the same time menacing. He goes from being a almost a dandy to a dour Dane to an old man - and seems to inhabit all three bodies.

Obviously not true.

Agreed .I have this movie at home and have watched it a number of times .Vastly superior and classier than the remake made later on. Edward Fox was superb as The Jackel. Superb cast entirely.

Weak story... There is no way the agent would have used the phone in the minister's apartment.. She would have known it would be tapped... The agent would have left the apartment.... Used a different public phone box at separate locations....

@@alancassell566 Not really. Given the period, and France, it would have been unthinkable to tap the phone of a high minister in the Elysee palace. And certainly there was the risk of the minister noticing an absence in the middle of the night. Safer to call from the minister’s phone.

Horrible ...

Agree

He was great in Ronin and Munich too; we've only just lost him. What a pity. Fox would have been a very interesting Bond; he'd have been Daniel Craig before Daniel Craig. Lean, Cold, mean and psychopathic.

Michael Lonsdale stole the scene from Alec Guinness in Smiley's People

@@63Baggies Michael Londsdale stole the show as main villain in Moonraker going against Roger Moore’s James Bond in 1979 but his performance in The Day Of The Jackal was better.

We start by realising we are the two most important people in France

Perfect description...not having an ounce of fat! And not an American actor in sight. It sticks so closely to the book which is very unusual.

Hey i do exactly the same with all my young friends, And relay the same quote "There hasn't been less original real art in the past 20years, than in history as a whole.... What dumbing down they have done to our youth?....

The scenes with the forger don't really work for some reason. The actor just isn't convincing. I don't know what 'fat' is, but maybe it's that.

The best thing about this movie is that all this might have happened and we wouldn't know it. Nobody noticed the bullet ricocheting off the cobblestone.

Totally agree. I was riveted from start to finish when I saw it. The movie perfectly captured the book, which was brilliant. I put this and only one other film/book on the same pedestal - The Godfather. Masterpieces of film and writing. Beautifully cast. Mesmerizing stories flawlessly told. With acting performances so good you barely noticed them.

I have a notion to second that emotion ! Edward and his brother James are both gifted actors and classy gents ! Bless 'em both ! :-)

Portraying a nasty villain Killing people!

Nice man - when I wrote my bio on Richard Wattis in 2003 he sent me his memories of Wattis in character role in a film trying to explain cricket to an American, hilarious !!!!!

No actor in history could have played the part as good as Fox

Caine would have been a very different, and interesting choice, and it could be argued that his physicality might have better fit the Congo mercenary background of the character (although this background wasn't really touched on by the script as opposed to the book) - perhaps much more the Caine of Get Carter than that of The Italian Job. The story goes that Fox had some real problems finding the character because there's very little to go on; he's a man shown far more by what he does than what he ever says or what anyone knows about him. As it is, Fox played him very well as a consumate professional whose ruthlessness is just one more impersonal tool used as needed to accomplish the job. It's a top-rate performance, but I still think that Lonsdale steals the show as Lebel.

Gabriel It is all about acting. If a good actor plays a role well it can look like it could only have been him playing that role!

I think you're being a bit unkind to Roger Moore here. He played a similar type of character in Wild Geese. It's only because he played James Bond so comedically that people remember him that way. I also think that Get Carter showed that Caine could have done a good job. That said, yes, Fox was perfect in the role.

@@johnbull1568 Moore would have been good. Our friend is getting confused because he's seen the film and doesn't have the wit to imagine anyone else playing it.

@@johnbull1568 Roger Moore was cheesy in Wild Geese dispensing lots of quips and one liners. Both Caine and Moore are responsible for their bad press. Moore for becoming a self parody almost all his career. Caine as his alcoholism ruined his acting career in the 70s, Richard Harris and Caine fell out because Harris said Caine failed to become as great as he could have been because of the bottle. Interestingly in many ways the Jackal is closer to Flemings amoral psychopathic Bond than the film version and if closeted gay man Roger Moore had played a bisexual cold killer well it would have blown everyone's socks off.. but his schtick and patter were too familiar and I doubt he would have done it. Fox also brought a lithe physicality to the role that I doubt either Caine or Moore could have done.

And you misquoted it...

True I did! “Use your network to rob some banks” is more like it!

@@Biggee111 No worries. My favourite line in the film was when the gunsmith asked the Jackal: 'Will the gentleman be moving?' Such a polite and professional way of discussing an assassination!

one of his disguises. A Russian philosopher?

Until he spoke

I thought he was Terry Waite. 😌

Why was he wearing that bush?

Continuing to perfect his disguise skills from his role as The Jackal.

I ADORED the line: "I wonder if we'll ever know who the HELL he really was?"

watch Galileo directed by Losey

There are certain things that should be left alone. As much as I love the Coen brothers; they made a right horlicks of the Lady Kilers. Tom Hanks is certainly very good , but NOT and Alec Guinness..

I did exactly same thing as you. Fantastic movie.

Yeah, he's really good with props.

With the white beard and added weight and all, I was thinking the SAME thing !! Thanks for your comment !!

How right you are ! The Fox brothers have never failed to give memorable performances. Thanks for your comment !!

🤦‍♂️

😂

It's for the 2nd Remake set at Christmas

Lol

correct! i read the book in the late 1980s to cross reference with the film. clearly zinneman knew exactly what he was doing. fox was clearly the perfect choice at that time. michael caine was considered? not appropriate. just like edward fox would not have been appropriate for the role of jack carter in "get carter" 2 years earlier.

He's too posh to play Bond.

yup. spot on. fox had an extremely cool delivery in this role.

There was a remake?

@@stephenreeds3672 1997 with Bruce Willis, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jackal_(1997_film)

@@stephenreeds3672 yes don’t bother it’s rubbish

The remake wasn't bad, quite good. Both novel and original movie are great.

disgrace is right. bruce willis also did a remake of the charles bronson film "death wish" and that was even worse. i dont know why they bother.

There's something like 37 minutes odd with no music.

One

One scene not much significant to the story, but does bring a smile on your face - the scene where he buys the dyes, the young sales girl is finding his presence so attractive, with his wry smile, she is nervous she is fumbling for the bottles, the charming Fox just smiles engagingly.That is all. The script is so close to the purpose and character, any other director would have added a sensual scene to it. But here it was just that Fox knew his charm, and was just amused at the smitten young girl :-)

Delphine Seyrig.