Director: Fred
Zinnemann
Notable Cast: Edward
Fox, Michel Lonsdale, Terence Alexander, Michel Auclair, Alan Badel, Tony
Britton, Denis Carey, Adrien Cayla-Legrand, Cyril Cusack, Maurice Denham
There are always a variety of ways to approach the focus of
a film. Some films focus on a narrative. Some focus on the characters. Some
focus on the plot. Each approach has its pros and cons and the perfect film
will have a give and take between the various focuses to maintain a balance.
When it comes to The Day of the Jackal,
the famous political thriller based on the popular novel of the same name, the
film takes a relatively intriguing approach to finding that balance. The film
has received generous praise over the decades since its release and this review
will certainly give it plenty of praise for its impeccable execution, but The Day of the Jackal also takes some chancy
approaches to its material that don’t always pay off in the ways expected. The
film is a bona fide classic for a variety of reasons, deserving of the fantastic
new Blu Ray release from Arrow Video (although I’m a bit perplexed that this
film didn’t get a release through Arrow’s arthouse line Arrow Academy, but I
digress) and for that it comes with a hearty recommendation.