It’s one of those movies: if you can’t guess the ending you’ve been living in a Cracker Jack box.
The Day of the Jackal (1973, rated PG, 143 minutes) is an ultimately fully rewarding film: the good guys win.
President de Gaulle is not the most popular president of France: some misguided Frenchmen want him dead.
They hire a professional killer—“Jackal”—to get the job done.
Edward Fox is the Jackal. The Jackal gets all the breaks. He fools everybody. He figures out an unstoppable plan. His plan move forward relentlessly. The Jackal even gets the girl. It looks like the Jackal is going to get the job done.
At last, the dogged French detective finally runs up the stairs in the dumpy rooming house facing de Gaulle’s parade ground, and literally, in the last second, fills the Jackal with lead and bloodies the wall behind him.
That part of the day ends.
Watch The Day of the Jackal on DVD
Read The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth; the basis for this movie
