26/20
The Jackal is a cunning assassin who makes his living by committing murders in high numbers. He soon meets an adversary: a dogged British intelligence officer who pursues him across Europe in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase. Check out our list of renewals and cancellations to see if your favorite show made the cut. Forsyth worked as a freelance journalist covering the Biafran War. When it finished, he returned to the UK unemployed and unsure of what to do next. He said: ‘I came back at Christmas 1969 completely broke. I’m unlikely to get a job, I’ve got no home, I’ve got no car and I’ve got no savings. So I had this crazy idea to write a novel. “Everyone said to be kidding or crazy because the chances of it even being released are hundreds to one, even thousands.” Within weeks of its release, the rights to the film were gone Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars fought to play the Jackal in the 1973 film, but the role went to the then-unknown Edward Fox because director Fred Zinnemann thought he might be invisible in the crowd (Air Mail /Blossoms (2024)). I have to agree with many other critics, this is a great production with a good atmosphere and Eddie Redmayne does a great job in the lead role of the Jackal, but the female lead just ruins it all. It’s a complete miscast, using an actor who is incapable of showing any kind of facial expression regardless of the situation and who almost borders on overacting, possibly in an effort to make up for a lack of understanding or appreciation for the character. The character is obviously supposed to be confident and experienced, but her portrayal is that of an arrogant “I know better” woman who, for example, has no sense of evidence and walks around the office with her suitcase. She is so annoying and unbelievable.