Introduction

The Jackal is a 1997 American action thriller film directed by Michael Caton-Jones. It is a loose take on the 1973 film The Day of the Jackal, which was based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Frederick Forsyth. The film stars Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, and Sidney Poitier in his final theatrically released film role.

The Jackal was released in the United States by Universal Pictures on 14 November 1997. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics but was a commercial success, grossing $159.3 million worldwide against a $60 million budget.

Outline

A joint operation between the FBI and the MVD in Moscow leads to the killing of the younger brother of Azerbaijani mafia boss Terek Murad. In retaliation, Murad hires an ex-KGB asset, an international hitman operating under the codename “the Jackal”, to assassinate an unidentified prominent American for $70 million. Two weeks later, the MVD capture and interrogate one of Murad’s henchmen, Viktor Politovsky, and discover the assassination plot. The interrogation, 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 or forged 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. They believe that his former lover, a former ETA militant and fugitive named Isabella Zancona, can identify the Jackal. Mulqueen reveals that he knows the Jackal and agrees to help in exchange for his release as well as U.S. citizenship and safe haven for Zancona. Mulqueen and Zancona want revenge on the Jackal after he wounded her in Libya and caused her to miscarry their unborn child. Zancona, now married, provides information to help identify the Jackal, including that he is a United States Army Special Forces veteran with combat experience from his stationing in El Salvador and describes him as sociopathic with no emotions. Zancona discreetly slips Mulqueen a key to a dropbox containing a clean passport and $10,000 cash to return to Ireland. However, Preston had earlier warned Mulqueen that if he ever escaped, refused to cooperate, or if an IRA squad tries to rescue him, he would be shot.

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 with an extremely poisonous chemical and evades the others. He then hires Ian Lamont, a mechanic and small-time hoodlum, to build a control mount for the weapon. The Jackal demands that all design specs be turned over to him, and he also requires Lamont’s complete confidentiality. When Lamont tries extorting more money, the Jackal kills him during a live-fire test of the weapon. The FBI discovers Lamont’s remains and evidence that the Jackal intends to utilize a long-range heavy machine gun for the assassination. The Jackal sails across the Great Lakes to Chicago, where he escapes the FBI and almost kills Mulqueen, leading Mulqueen to deduce there is a mole tipping off the Jackal. They discover that the director of the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC, gave the Jackal a direct access code to FBI records, allowing him to track down and kill Koslova and two FBI agents. Before dying, Koslova – passing on a taunt from the Jackal – tells Mulqueen that ‘[Declan] cannot protect his women’.

As the Jackal drives to Washington, D.C., Mulqueen deduces from the Jackal’s mocking statement that his target is not Director Brown, but in fact the First Lady of the United States, who is scheduled to give a public speech. The Jackal, masquerading as a gay man, dates Douglas, a man he encountered earlier in a bar; unbeknownst to Douglas, he uses his garage to store his machine gun. When a news report exposes the Jackal’s identity, he kills Douglas. On the date of the First Lady’s speech, the weapon is hidden in a minivan parked near the speaker podium, with the Jackal planning to shoot the First Lady via remote control. However, before the Jackal can take his shot, Mulqueen uses a sniper rifle to destroy the weapon’s scope and takes off in pursuit of the Jackal, while another marksman blows up the van’s fuel tank. The Jackal blindly opens fire before his vehicle is destroyed, and Preston is shot and wounded while tackling the First Lady to safety. Following a chase through the Washington Metro tunnels, Mulqueen confronts the Jackal, who is then shot from behind by Zancona; however, the Jackal’s gun discharges a shot, and Mulqueen is also wounded. While Zancona tends to Mulqueen, the severely wounded Jackal retrieves a spare handgun: seeing this, Mulqueen grabs Zancona’s pistol and shoots the assassin several times, finally 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 Terek Murad and his gang, and that Mulqueen’s request to be released was denied but he will likely be moved to a minimum security prison. Preston also remarks that his heroics in saving the First Lady have made him “untouchable” within the FBI: knowing his current clout will prevent any backlash against him, he turns his back on Mulqueen, allowing him to go free.

Cast

• Bruce Willis as The Jackal
• Richard Gere as Declan Joseph Mulqueen
• Sidney Poitier as FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston
• Diane Venora as Major Valentina Koslova, MVD
• Mathilda May as Isabella Celia Zancona
• J. K. Simmons as FBI Agent Timothy I. Witherspoon
• Richard Lineback as FBI Agent McMurphy
• John Cunningham as FBI Director Donald Brown
• Jack Black as Ian Lamont
• Tess Harper as First Lady Emily Cowan
• Leslie Phillips as Woolburton
• Stephen Spinella as Douglas
• Sophie Okonedo as Jamaican Girl
• David Hayman as Terek Murad
• Steve Bassett as George Decker
• Yuri Stepanov as Viktor Politovsky
• Ravil Isyanov as Ghazzi Murad
• Walt MacPherson as Dennehey
• Maggie Castle as Maggie the 13 year old hostage
• Daniel Dae Kim as Akashi
• Michael Caton-Jones as man in Video
• Peter Sullivan as Vasilov
• Richard Cubison as General Belinko
• Serge Houde as Beaufres
• Ewan Bailey as Prison Guard
• Jonathan Aris as Alexander Radzinski
• Edward Fine as Bill Smith
• Larry King as himself
• Murphy Guyer as NSC representative

Production

The film was in production development from 19 August to 30 November 1996. It was filmed in international locations such as Porvoo, Finland, 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 reportedly turned down a cameo appearance in the film.

Chuck Pfarrer had written the first script, he was finishing up a three-year deal at Universal when he was offered the project, Pfarrer initially said no, but he agreed to write the script to fulfil contractual obligations to the studio, then Kevin Jarre did a rewrite to Pfarrer’s script, contributing the Richard Gere character, Declan Mulqueen, an imprisoned IRA terrorist who strikes up a bargain to assist the FBI. Caton-Jones later said in an interview with The Washington Post that he regretted not being there to supervise and contribute more to the screenplay:

“I never really liked the script. It was always too long, So I was trying to trim it as I went along and I really made the film in the editing room, stripping a lot of excess away”.

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. Bruce Willis successfully fought to keep a same-sex kiss in the film.

Soundtrack

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.

Release

Box Office

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

Home Media

The Jackal was released on VHS, DVD and LaserDisc on 28 April 1998.

Remakes

• The Day of the Jackal (1973): A political thriller film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Edward Fox and Michael Lonsdale.
  • Based on the 1971 novel of the same name by Frederick Forsyth, the film is about a professional assassin known only as the “Jackal” who is hired to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle in the summer of 1963.
• August 1 (1988): An Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Sibi Malayil, written by S.N. Swamy, and starring Mammootty, Sukumaran, Captain Raju and Urvashi.
  • This adaptation relocates the story to the Indian state of Kerala.
• The Day of the Jackal (2024): A British television drama serial adaptation of the Frederick Forsyth novel of the same name.
  • It stars Eddie Redmayne, is produced by Ronan Bennett and directed by Brian Kirk.

Trivia

• Because Richard Gere and Bruce Willis filmed many of their scenes separately, they would often ask each other “How’s your movie going?” when they’d meet.
• This isn’t the first time Richard Gere was considered for a role that Bruce Willis got.
  • The first was the role of John McClane in Die Hard (1988), which Gere turned down.
• When Bruce Willis is dressed as the police officer, the name on his badge is: B. ANDERSON SHARPSHOOTER.
• In an early scene involving Richard Gere, an episode of Birthday Party (1976) is showing in the background.
  • Gere was in this episode.
• The large, remote-controlled machine gun is a mock-up of the Soviet-designed KPV (Krupnokaliberniy Pulemyot Vladimirova) Heavy Machine Gun.
  • The weapon used for the mock-up is actually an American M2HB .50BMG Heavy Machine Gun with a lot of parts added to it to make it look like a KPV.
  • The name “Polish ZSU-33” is fictional.
• A subplot deleted from the film showed The Jackal getting involved with a woman, played by Lisa Banes, the footage appears on the DVD.
• The loyalty of the arms manufacturer and document forger were swapped around from the book and earlier film.
  • In the book and earlier film the arms manufacturer maintains confidentiality of his customer whereas the forger seeks to blackmail the Jackal.
  • This reversed in this film.

Production & Filming Details

• Director(s):
  • Michael Caton-Jones
• Producer(s):
  • Michael Caton-Jones … producer
  • Terence A. Clegg … executive producer (as Terence Clegg)
  • Sean Daniel … producer
  • Mark Gordon … executive producer
  • James Jacks … producer
  • Kevin Jarre … producer
  • Gary Levinsohn … executive producer
  • Hal Lieberman … executive producer
  • Sean T. Stratton … associate producer (as Sean Stratton)
• Writer(s):
  • Kenneth Ross … (earlier screenplay Day of the Jackal)
  • Chuck Pfarrer … (screen story)
  • Chuck Pfarrer … (screenplay)
• Music:
  • Carter Burwell
• Cinematography:
  • Karl Walter Lindenlaub … director of photography
• Editor(s):
  • Jim Clark
• Production:
  • Universal Pictures (presents)
  • Mutual Film Company (presents)
  • Alphaville Films (An Alphavil Production)
  • Tele München Fernseh Produktionsgesellschaft (TMG) (Tele-München, produced in association with)
  • UGC PH (produced in association with)
  • British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (produced in association with)
  • Marubeni (Marubeni/Toho-Towa, produced in association with)
  • Toho-Towa (Marubeni/Toho-Towa, produced in association with)
  • H2L Media Group
• Distributor(s):
  • Universal Pictures (United States, 1997)(theatrical)
• Release Date: 10 November 1997 (Premiere, Beverly Hills, US).
• Running Time: 124 minutes.
• Rating: 18.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

Video Link(s)