The Jackal (1997 film)

The Jackal
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Caton-Jones
Screenplay by	Chuck Pfarrer
Story by	Chuck Pfarrer
Based on	The Day of the Jackal by Kenneth Ross
Produced by	James Jacks Sean Daniel Michael Caton-Jones Kevin Jarre
Starring	Bruce Willis Richard Gere Sidney Poitier Diane Venora
Cinematography	Karl Walter Lindenlaub
Edited by	Jim Clark
Music by	Carter Burwell
Production companies	Mutual Film Company Alphaville Films
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	November 14, 1997 (1997-11-14)
Running time	124 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English Russian
Budget	$60 million[1]
Box office	$159.3 million[1]

The Jackal is a 1997 American action thriller film directed by Michael Caton-Jones and starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, and Sidney Poitier. The film involves the hunt for a paid assassin. It is a loose remake of the 1973 film The Day of the Jackal, which starred Edward Fox and was based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Frederick Forsyth. Although the film earned mostly negative reviews from critics, it was a commercial success and grossed $159.3 million worldwide against a $60 million budget.

Plot[]

A joint operation between the FBI and the MVD leads to the killing of an Azerbaijani mobster's younger brother. In retaliation, the mobster hires an international hitman, operating under the codename "the Jackal", to assassinate an unidentified prominent American for $70 million. Meanwhile, the MVD capture and interrogate a mafia henchman who reveals the name Jackal. This discovery, coupled with recovered documents, leads the FBI and MVD to suspect that FBI Director Donald Brown is the intended target.

Using a series of disguises and stolen IDs, the Jackal prepares for the assassination attempt. FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston and Russian Police Major Valentina Koslova turn to imprisoned IRA sniper Declan Mulqueen for help, believing that he can identify the Jackal. Mulqueen agrees to help in exchange for his release. Mulqueen has a personal motive for hunting the Jackal. His former lover, a former ETA militant named Isabella Zancona, was wounded by the Jackal in Libya. As a result, she miscarried their unborn child. Zancona, now married, provides information to help identify the Jackal, including that he is American, that he has combat experience in Special Operations, and that he was stationed in El Salvador. Zancona discreetly slips Mulqueen a key to a drop box containing a clean passport and $10,000 cash to return to Ireland. However, Mulqueen has given Preston his word that he will not run.

Meanwhile, when the Jackal arrives in Montreal to collect a large caliber weapon, a contact notifies him that hijackers are pursuing it. The Jackal kills one hijacker and evades the others. He then hires a small-time hood/gunsmith, Ian Lamont, to build a control mount for the weapon. The Jackal demands that all design specs be turned over to him, and he also demands Lamont's complete confidentiality. When Lamont tries extorting more money from the Jackal, the Jackal kills him while test-firing the weapon. The FBI discovers Lamont's remains and evidence that the Jackal intends to utilize a long-range machine gun for the assassination.

A Russian mole within the FBI tips off the Jackal that Mulqueen, with Zancona's help, is tracking him. He infiltrates Zancona's house, but instead finds Koslova and Agents Witherspoon and McMurphy. He kills the agents and mortally wounds Koslova. The Jackal cryptically tells her that Mulqueen cannot protect his women, a message she relays to Mulqueen before dying.

As the Jackal makes his final preparations, Mulqueen realizes that his target is the First Lady of the United States, who is scheduled to give a public speech. The Jackal, pretending to be gay, dates Douglas, a man he encountered earlier in a bar; unbeknownst to Douglas, he uses Douglas's garage to store his machine gun away. When a news report then exposes the Jackal's identity, he kills Douglas. On the date of the First Lady's speech, the weapon is hidden in a small SUV parked near the speaker podium. The Jackal plans to shoot the First Lady via remote control. However, before the Jackal can act, Mulqueen shoots at the SUV, damaging the weapon. The Jackal then opens fire, and Preston takes a bullet that is fired at the First Lady. Following a chase through subway tunnels, Zancona shoots the Jackal, seriously wounding him; however, the Jackal's gun goes off, and Mulqueen is hit. While Zancona consoles Mulqueen, the Jackal pulls another gun. Seeing this, Mulqueen grabs Zancona's weapon and shoots the Jackal several times, killing him.

A few days later, Preston and Mulqueen witness the Jackal's burial in an unmarked grave. Preston reveals that he is returning to Russia to pursue the mobsters behind the Jackal. He says that Mulqueen's request to be released was denied, but that he will likely be moved to a minimum security prison. Preston's heroics in saving the First Lady have enhanced his clout within the FBI. He turns his back on Mulqueen, allowing him to go free.

Cast[]

Production[]

The film began in production development on August 19 - November 30, 1996, it was filmed in international locations (such as Porvoo, Finland^[2]), including its special effects. The film began production titled The Day of the Jackal, but the author of the original novel Frederick Forsyth and the director and producer of the original film Fred Zinnemann and John Woolf opposed the production. They eventually filed an injunction to prevent Universal Pictures from using the name of the original novel and film, and it would be marketed as being "inspired by" rather than directly based on Forsyth's novel. Edward Fox also refused to make a cameo appearance in the film for similar reasons.^{[3][failed verification]}

An early test-screened version of the film had an innocent man shot by Willis' character hiding out in a gay bar. The audience loudly cheered the killing, which came to the attention of GLAAD. Chaz Bono (the group’s entertainment media director) spoke with Jackal producer Sean Daniel, who arranged to have the scene re-edited.^[4] Bruce Willis successfully fought to keep a same-sex kiss in the movie.^[5]

Reception[]

Critical response[]

The Jackal received a 23% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Jackal is a relatively simple chase thriller incapable of adding thrills or excitement as the plot chugs along."^[6] Metacritic gave the film a score of 36 out of 100 based on 20 reviews.^[7] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.^[8]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called it a "glum, curiously flat thriller";^[9] he also included the film in his "Worst of 1997", comparing it to the 1973 film and calling it a "retread", "cruder", and "dumbed down".^[10] Ruthe Stein of the San Francisco Chronicle called it "more preposterous than thrilling";^[11] and Russell Smith of the Austin Chronicle called it "1997's most tedious movie".^[12]

At the 1997 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, Richard Gere received a nomination for Worst Fake Accent, but he lost to Jon Voight for Anaconda and Most Wanted.^[13]

Box office[]

The Jackal was released on November 14, 1997, with an opening weekend totaling $15,164,595.^[1] It went on to gross $159,330,280 worldwide, against a $60 million budget.

Music[]

The original score for The Jackal was composed by Carter Burwell. It was never officially released on CD, although Burwell uploaded select cues from the film to his website. The project was not a happy experience for Burwell; he disliked the script, and disapproved of producer Danny Saber's remix of his score.^[14]

Home media[]

The Jackal was released on DVD & VHS (includes the Behind the Scenes footage) in 1998. The Collector's Edition on April 28, 1998 and DTS on April 13, 1999 were also released on DVD. It was also released on Blu-ray on April 27, 2010 with Combo Disc (including the DVD and Digital Copy on June 28, 2011) and re-released on October 10, 2017. A Double-Feature with the film and Mercury Rising were released with Multi-Format on Blu-ray on March 22, 2011.

See also[]

• The Assignment (1997 film)

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Jackal (1997 film)

• The Jackal at IMDb
• The Jackal at Box Office Mojo