The Day of the Jackal

How do you like your movie thrillers? If you're a fan of more recent thrillers, things just aren't as subtle and underplayed as the ones I appreciate more. As in so many film genres, the current solution to everything seems to be violence and explosions, car chases, beautiful women and sex. It wasn't always that way though, like with 1973's The Day of the Jackal, one of the all-time great thrillers. How good is it? It's so brutally efficient, it's almost hard to explain.

It's 1962 and French president Charles De Gaulle is dealing with some serious civil unrest after he has given Algeria its freedom separate from the rule of France. A splinter group of rebels, the O.A.S., many from the French army, has had enough of  De Gaulle's rule but an assassination attempt fails miserably, doing nothing other than alerting French security to the OAS' plan. Desperate to stop De Gaulle's presidency and power, the OAS command puts together a desperate last plan. They hire an extremely gifted, brutally efficient hired killer, an Englishman (Edward Fox), who agrees to go by the codename 'Jackal.' He's paid handsomely but has his work cut out for him as De Gaulle is protected by one of the world's best security forces. How will he do it? When will he do it? The assassin goes about his planning, his ideas known only to himself. Though the deal was made in extreme secrecy with the OAS officials, French security manages to catch wind of the assassination attempt. Can they find him and stop him in time? Not if the Jackal has anything to say about it.

Wow. Just wow. What a good movie, director Fred Zinnemann doing an admirable job of bringing Frederick Forsyth's equally impressive/entertaining novel to the big screen. How good is it? Knowing that this story didn't in fact....you know, actually happen, you start to believe that it did happen. When it comes to tough as nails, hard-edged stories about no-nonsense tough guys, it's hard to beat Forsyth, who also wrote The Odessa File and The Dogs of War among others. This should serve as a blueprint for how to construct a no frills thriller that will nonetheless have you on the edge of your seat. 'Jackal' clocks in at 145 minutes which may sound long but simply put, it isn't. The running time flies by, absolutely flies. I've probably been saying this too much of late -- I do have my reasoning -- but I'll go out and say this is a perfect movie. I love it. Hopefully you will too.

What's the big appeal? It's so well-written you believe that maybe Fox's Jackal did exist, maybe an assassin was hired to take out De Gaulle. It's just the sort of thing you could believe a government and security covering it up for the sake of national security. 'Jackal' wreaks of realism, of authenticity that all adds up. Zinneman films it in business-like fashion, giving it a quasi-documentary feel to the fast-developing story. Through the entire film, we watch the Jackal hunt (of sorts), the police on an international level (especially France and England) hunting him, and all the while wondering how things will eventually turn out (even knowing the history). The filming locations across Europe add another dimension to the film, especially the on-location shooting in and around Paris in the final act. It just works, every bit of it.

Hopefully if you're a history buff or even just remotely know some history, you know how this story will end -- at least in some fashion. So who to watch for? An underrated actor with quite a few good flicks to his name, Fox delivers a career-best performance as the Jackal. It is sinister and smooth, subtle and underplayed, Fox bringing this character to life in impressive fashion. Why? We literally know nothing about him other than some off-hand comments made about his reputation. He gives the Jackal an air of professionalism, a brutally efficient killer who kills not because he enjoys it, but because he's freakishly efficient at killing. His actions aren't personal. It is simply business. That element adds an interesting element to the story. You're not rooting for the Jackal per se, but you're nonetheless incredibly curious how he proposes to pull off this job. An excellent performance for Mr. Fox.

So while the Jackal is the unquestioned star, the rest of the cast is a very solid ensemble. The best supporting part without a doubt goes to Michael Lonsdale as Lebel, the deputy police commissioner tasked with tracking down an unknown killer with no physical description or any real idea where he's at. It's underplayed and perfect, a stressed detective pushed to his limit, forced to use all the tricks he's learned over the years. Derek Jacobi plays his assistant in a good part. Also look for Alan Badel as the French minister of the Interior, in charge of the manhunt, Thomas (Tony Britton), a British inspector looking into the Jackal's background, Cyril Cusack as the gunsmith who helps the Jackal construct his specialized rifle, and Jean Martin as Wolenski, an OAS clerk/bodyguard, a nice nod to the Battle of Algiers which Martin also starred in.

With a story that's underplayed and subtle, you might not think the story would be a thrill a minute type of thing. But it is, and it works better because none of it is obvious. The Jackal always manages to stay one step ahead of his pursuers in these great moments, the noose closing in. By the time he makes his attempt on De Gaulle, I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens. What an ending, just a crazy, adrenaline-packed finale to wrap things up. As if that wasn't enough, there's a twist in the closing scenes that adds another layer of mystery to the whole story.

Just a phenomenally well-made and well-executed thriller. Can't recommend it enough.

The Day of the Jackal (1973): ****/****

Wild Geese II

Stumbling across the DVD for 1978's The Wild Geese about five years ago, I was one happy movie fan. An all-star cast and wall-to-wall action in a men-on-a-mission movie, it quickly became one of my favorite movies. A sequel was made some seven years later, but it received generally negative reviews and hasn't even approached the cult status of the original. It is one hard to find movie, but I kept on looking just the same and found it, 1985's Wild Geese II.

A former soldier, Lebanese-American John Haddad (Scott Glenn) has become an effective if high-priced mercenary. Working out of London, he is approached with a seemingly suicidal mission. One of the last remaining Nazis, Rudolf Hess (Laurence Olivier), is wasting away at Spandau Prison in West Berlin having lived in almost complete isolation for 40-plus years. This group is willing to pay whatever it takes to get Hess out, basically offering Haddad a blank check for his services. Looking over the layout of the prison while also planning ahead for what he hopes is an easy getaway, Haddad agrees to take the job. He recruits an old friend and fellow mercenary, Alex Faulkner (Edward Fox), to help him with the job, but upon arriving in Berlin, the duo finds out that their mission isn't so secret. Several underworld types and other intelligence representatives are very aware of what they're up to. Can they still pull off the job?

If I love a movie -- maybe even just really like it -- I'm usually psyched to find out there's a sequel out there for my viewing pleasure. Without giving away any major spoilers, I can say that the original didn't seem to leave much room or storylines for a follow-up story. The only real link (other than an oddly pointless prologue showcasing the original) is that Fox's Alex is the brother of Richard Burton's character from the first movie. Other than that? It's just your typical mercenary action movie, this one from director Peter R. Hunt. While it is far from a classic action movie, I did enjoy it for what it is; a somewhat deliberately paced men on a mission movie with a unique location (the Berlin locations especially stand out). Maybe it's better if it was a stand-alone film, but it ain't so here we sit just the same. Don't expect too much and you should get some entertainment out of it.

Besides the differences in story, the biggest gap between the original and sequel is the lack of star power. Where the first movie had Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris and Hardy Kruger among others, the follow-up doesn't have many names that jump off the page. Glenn is solid if unspectacular as Haddad, the chiseled, efficient mercenary who hasn't met a job he won't take on. It's a good anti-hero part, but I never found myself rooting for him. Fox is more of a scene-stealer, hamming it up as the malaria-ridden Alex, a fellow mercenary who always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Robert Webber makes a quick appearance as McCann, the leader of the group who wants Hess with Barbara Carrera as his on-site specialist working with Haddad.

Enlisted to write a follow-up novel to his Wild Geese, author Daniel Carney turned around and wrote The Square Circle, the basis for this sequel. I've yet to read it (currently seeking out the novel), but I'm very curious to see how much the movie differs from it. For starters, the reasoning here for busting Hess out of Spandau seems forced to say the least. Webber's McCann works for a major TV news network who wants to interview Hess about people he worked with, people with higher up positions in other country's governments. Really? A TV network organizing a prison breakout? I don't buy it. There had to be a better choice to reason paying a mercenary to bust a Nazi war criminal out of prison. Second, the ending is brutal. It basically washes away the previous two hours, throwing it in the nearest garbage can. It is a lazy ending, wrapping things up because....well, because. It just ends. Weak stuff.

There is the potential here for a pretty decent movie, and I say that having liked it in spite of its flaws at times. All the intrigue and suspense works well as Haddad must elude hired Russian killers while also dealing with Russian (Robert Freitag) and English (Kenneth Haigh) officials, juggling it with how to manage the breakout and getaway. Even look for future Capt. Picard Patrick Stewart as a Russian general! The mission itself over the last 40 minutes is the high point by far, Haddad's intricate plan coming together detail by detail. Too bad the follow-up is just plain bad.

One other thing, more wasted potential as Haddad puts his team together to pull off the mission. Along with Fox's Faulkner, there's Ali (Stratford Johns), the well-connected underworld member, Hourigan (Derek Thompson), the hateful IRA gunman, Murphy (Paul Antrim), the drill sergeant, Michael (John Terry), the TV network rep, Pierre (Malcolm Jamieson), the driver, and Joseph (David Lumsden) and Jamil (Frederick Warder), two Middle Eastern men. Little background is given to any of these characters unfortunately, leaving more untapped potential.    

Wild Geese II (1985): ** 1/2 /****

Force 10 from Navarone

Certain war movies rise above the genre, establishing themselves as classics that are more action and adventure romps than hard-hitting war movies. Released in 1961, The Guns of Navarone is definitely one of those, a WWII commando story that is considered to be one of the best WWII movies ever and one that helped liven up the genre heading into the 1960s. Based on a novel by Alistair MacLean, 'Navarone' was very popular, and while it wasn't exactly timely, some 17 years later, a sequel was released, 1978's Force 10 from Navarone.

Sequels are almost always a mixed bag when it comes to any sort of quality or appreciation from the fans. This is the oddest sort of sequel, one released long after the original with no returning cast members.  An aging Gregory Peck and David Niven would have looked quite ridiculous as WWII commandos, wouldn't they? Instead, a whole new cast steps in, taking over parts made famous by other actors.  Is that a bad thing? I never thought so. I read MacLean's Force 10 (the novel) as a kid, pursued the movie, and loved it. It was a favorite of AMC among other channels, and I've lost track of how many times I've watched it. Not as good as the original, but still an underrated WWII flick that doesn't deserve some of the hate it's gotten over the years.

Several months removed from their successful mission in Navarone, Capt. Keith Mallory (Robert Shaw) and Cpl. Dusty Miller (Edward Fox) are called back in to perform another mission. They are to be sent into Yugoslavia to kill an enemy agent, the man who blew their cover in Navarone and is now hiding out as a member of the partisans fighting the Germans. It's believed the man's name is Lescovar (Franco Nero), but Mallory and Miller must make sure. They'll travel with an American commando unit, Force 10, commanded by Lt. Colonel Barnsby (Harrison Ford) who resents having two more men traveling with his own. Almost from the start though, the mission seems doomed to failure, and Barnsby must turn to Mallory and Miller for help. Against impossible odds, they team together to pull off their mission, but also Barnsby's, one that could turn the tide of war in Yugoslavia.

Before the credits even roll, this movie is fighting an uphill battle with any viewer who knows and loves the original Guns of Navarone.  That movie is a classic, and no matter what this one does, it isn't going to live up to expectations. And just to be clear, Force 10 isn't as good as 'Guns.' It's not even close. Viewed as a stand-alone film, I'd like to think this movie would be held in higher regard by viewers and critics alike. It does nothing particularly new for the WWII commando genre, the script is limiting, bouncing around too much, and the production feels like a small budget was used. Call it sentimentality, but I like this movie a lot in spite of its flaws. And like any movie, there are flaws. It is being able to look past them and just enjoy yourself.

The men-on-a-mission movie, where ensemble casts go to thrive. Without the Hollywood legend name recognition of 'Guns,' director Guy Hamilton (of James Bond fame) does not disappoint assembling his cast. One of my all-time favorite actors, Robert Shaw steps in for Gregory Peck as Capt. Mallory, commando extraordinaire, if a little aged. A year removed from the giant success that was the original Star Wars, Harrison Ford looks ridiculously young as Lt. Colonel Barnsby, the commander placed in an impossible situation. Fox is a scene-stealer as Miller, putting his own personal spin on the part Niven played. Joining the team is Carl Weathers as Sgt. Weaver, an accidental tag-along on the mission. Also, watch for Bond alums Richard Kiel as Drazak, an immense Chetnik fighter hunting Mallory and Barnsby's team, and Barbara Bach as Maritza, a tough partisan playing both sides seemingly.

Complain about anything you want, but that assembling of talent is impressive no matter how you cut it. The tone here -- thanks to the cast changes -- is lighter, especially between Shaw's Mallory and Fox's Miller. They bicker like an old married couple, but never pushing the humor too much. It's subtle, some great one-liners thrown about if you're paying attention. This was also Shaw's last completed movie before his death later in 1978. With so many characters, it can't be helped that not everyone is given much to do. Characters drift in and out as needed. It barely resembles MacLean's novel to begin with. Here's what it comes down to though. We've got Quint (Shaw), Han Solo/Indiana Jones (Ford), Django (Nero), Apollo Creed (Weathers), a Bond villain in Jaws (Kiel), the Jackal (Fox), and a Bond girl (Bach). Talk about a great group. Can you name a more eclectic cast than that one?

Different versions of the movie exists (odd for a movie from the late 1970s), but they all clock in at around two hours. The widescreen version on the DVD is the longest at 126 minutes. The story certainly takes its time moving along, an almost episodic pacing keeping things going. There really isn't a pointed, one-way plot, just a series of adventures and misadventures. Some parts just work better than others, but once the missions are established, the movie picks up steam. The ending especially is impressive, Mallory, Barnsby and Co. working together to prevent three divisions of German armor and infantry from wiping out the last remaining partisan brigade. It's typical men on a mission fare, an impossible mission against impossible odds. There's no way they get the job done....unless...oh, wait. This is a movie. Of course they get the job done.

Force 10 from Navarone is a solid if unspectacular (and highly entertaining) WWII commando movie. I've always thought it would be more popular if it wasn't attached in anyway to the original Guns of Navarone, but it is what it is.  Great cast, fun story, whistle-worthy score from Ron Goodwin (listen to a sample HERE), good action, a gratuitous nude scene of Barbara Bach, and a few laughs here and there. Can you ask for much more? It's fun from start to finish.  

Force 10 from Navarone <---trailer (1978): ***/****

Battle of Britain

Heading into May, I had this plan to watch and review a bunch of WWII movies in honor of Memorial Day. Well, Memorial Day is tomorrow so that's not going to happen, but I can still get a couple reviews in at least.

Battle of Britain (1969), directed by Guy Hamilton of James Bond fame, is everything that was good and bad about the epic war movies to come out of the 60s, and really epic movies in general. Growing up in the good old USA, the early parts of WWII were never taught as much as the post-Pearl Harbor years once America got involved in the war so this movie serves as a good introduction to the earlier years of the war. Immediately following the Dunkirk disaster, it appears that Hitler and the Third Reich are one good push away from winning the war. All that's needed for that final push is the invasion of England.

But before a cross-channel invasion can take place, Herman Goring and his illustrious Luftwaffe must knock out the Royal Air Force so an invasion force can go across the channel relatively unmolested. For the RAF though, they're heading into a battle with the odds heavily stacked against them with just 600 pilots to Germany's 2,500. As Laurence Olivier's Air Chief Marshal Dowding so eloquently but effectively states, "Our boys are going to have shoot down their boys at a rate of 4 to 1." So begins the battle of Britain, here's the film's opening, a good sum-up of what's happened and what's to come.

With a movie that focuses exclusively on a key moment in Britain's history, the benefits are obvious. Director Hamilton collects a who's who of British actors to fill out his cast. Olivier and Trevor Howard star as Dowding and Air Vice Marshal Park, the higher-ups in the RAF who oversee the desperate fight in the air. As the pilots, Micheal Caine, Robert Shaw and Christopher Plummer lead the fight with Ian McShane and Edward Fox as two pilots in Shaw's squadron. And then making short appearances are Curd Jurgens, Harry Andrews, Patrick Wymark, Michael Redgrave, Kenneth More, and Ralph Richardson. If that cast doesn't impress you at least a little bit, this might not be your movie.

As I've covered before though, the flaw with such a huge cast is the characterization which suffers. These characters are more outlines of historical figures than flesh and blood people. Plummer stands out mostly because he's given a love interest, the beautiful Susannah York, so we find out something about his squadron leader. You're not hoping Caine's Squadron Leader Canfield makes it, you're hoping Michael Caine makes it. The same with Shaw and Plummer. But that's a minor flaw for me, not something that should stop you from seeing the movie.

And surprise, surprise, what's the actual reason for seeing a movie built around WWII in the air? If you answered 'dogfights' and lots of aerial footage, pat yourself on the back. It's a pre-CGI movie that relies on actual footage being shot of these pilots in action, the British Spitfires tangling with the German Stukas, here's one great scene with Goring asking his officers what they need to win. The film will sink or swim for most viewers on the dogfights, which do eat up most of the movie's 132-minute running time. The best is saved for last appropriately enough as the British throw all their reserves into the battle in one last, desperate ploy to stop the Luftwaffe. It's a 4-minute scene with no dialogue, no sound at all other than Ron Goodwin's score, sampled here, a very British score indeed.

Hamilton's movie then is not so much about the characters as the battle itself. Obviously, without the pilots, WAFs and coast watchers, the battle for Britain could not have happened. But Hamilton goes for the spirit of these people. Maybe we don't know much about them, their personal backgrounds, but they're fighting for what they believe in to stop a power-hungry Adolf Hitler as he swept across Europe. If these pilots hadn't held off the Luftwaffe and ultimately won the battle, who knows how different the world would be right now? It's a frightening thought. And that's why Battle for Britain works, even with its flaws.

Still wavering? Here's a trailer, a long one at that, and a longer preview of the movie as a whole. A WWII movie not as well known as many war movies of the time, but one definitely worth checking out if you've missed it up to now.

Netflix review #19: Never Say Never Again

It's the red-headed stepchild of the Bond series that no one's quite sure what to make of. But it's got Sean Connery back in the role that he made famous so it's got to be worth mentioning, right? That movie is 1983's Never Say Never Again, an unofficial entry into the James Bond series released the same year as Octopussy.

Making his 7th appearance as OO7, Connery is back after a 12-year absence since Diamonds Are Forever. Roger Moore had capably filled in his shoes for six movies already, but for whatever reason, Connery returned to the role. If you're thinking you've let some new, original Bond story slip by you, don't get excited. 'Never' follows the same storyline as Thunderball, one of my personal top 5 Bond movies. There's differences from the original, it's not a scene-for-scene remake, but I wouldn't recommend watching them back to back.

That was one of my issues with the remake. If Connery's coming back as James Bond, why would you remake one of his movies? And one that didn't need to be remade at that. Maybe the creators and producers were going for the comfort food factor, audiences liked the original and they'll like this one because we tell them to. If it was a stand alone movie with no original to compare it to, it would get higher marks, but unfortunately it isn't nearly as good as Thunderball.

The movie starts with a good opening sequence (with Bond theme inserted) as Bond tries to rescue a kidnapped princess from a heavily-guarded South American compound. The OO's have been deactivated, but now M (Edward Fox) is forced to bring them back into action. Two nuclear warheads have been stolen by SPECTRE, and NATO is given one week to pay up or have two key locations wiped off the face of the Earth. Clues lead Bond to a man named Largo (Klaus Maria Brandauer) where he begins his globe-trotting adventures that take him to the Bahamas, the French Riviera, and North Africa.

Connery slides back into the part nicely although he does look a little too old for the part, much like Moore did in his later efforts. But even then, I'm nitpicking, it's always fun to see the best Bond around back in action. As good as the others are, Moore, Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby, Connery will always be the best. In the rivals department, Barbara Carrera plays Latima Flush, a SPECTRE killer who revels in her job. Maybe a little crazy, she loves nothing more than finishing off her kill.

Brandauer as Largo is more back to the villains of the Connery movies. No supervillains here, just some royally bad dudes working for SPECTRE looking to cause mayhem and chaos around the world. Max von Sydow even has a small part as Ernest Blofeld, but it's only a scene or two. Depending on whether you count 'Never' as an official Bond movie, Kim Basinger is right at the top as one of the hottest Bond girls. Made in 1983, this movie gets away with more in the way of nudity than the 60s movies did. We're not talking gratuitous nude shots every scene, but Basinger spends most of the movie in short/sheer/see-through outfits. No complaints of course, just pointing it out.

I could stop there with the cast, but there's some other parts worth mentioning. Q is played by Alec McCowen and puts a different spin on Bond's gadget master, and Fox breathes some life into M. For a trivia question, it's Bernie Casey and not Geofrey Wright that played the first black Felix Leiter. And in one odd choice of casting, Rowan Atkinson, later Mr. Bean, plays an embassy officer working with Bond.

Where Thunderball is remembered for some great action scenes, especially the underwater finale with spear guns, the remake falls short. One no-holds barred fistfight is a good one, seen here, as a recuperating Bond takes on a much bigger, stronger SPECTRE killer. A chase late in the movie as Bond runs from Latima and her henchmen has some cool stunts s well including a fiery end. But overall, something's missing. Parts are too tongue in cheek while others just fall flat. And it does hurt when the James Bond theme can't be used. It's easily one of the most recognizable things about the series.

The DVD is somewhat overpriced at almost $15, but it's a good package. Widescreen presentation looks clean all the way through, but the only special feature is a short trailer. An average and unofficial Bond movie worth seeing for Connery's return and Kim Basinger, I'd say rent Never Say Never Again before buying it.

Never Say Never Again (1983): ** 1/2 /****