The Scene of your life:The Day of the Jackal

Fox would have a made a brilliant James Bond: cool, charming, yet utterly ruthless...

"Considering you'd expect to get France in return, I'd have thought it a reasonable price"

Casting Edward Fox was an inspired idea. He looks like an ordinary man on holiday but when he is operating, assembling the components for the assassination, there is a steely determination in his eyes that makes Fox believable in the role.

Edward Fox was awesome in this role.

Not too often the film is as good as the book, but this is, truly great on both counts

One of the best parts of Fox's performance is how personable he makes The Jackal. He smiles and laughs a lot, is clearly very witty, even kind to people around him at times. It creates a stark, sometimes eerie disconnect between this charming man and how he suddenly switches to being an ice cold killer.

It's an incredible film. One of the best.

A superb political thriller. Based on a Frederick Forsyth story, Zinnemann directed a perfect cast. Despite a 145 minute runtime, the film zips by quickly, the attention to detail is exquisite. Fox was flawless as the Jackal, cool, professional and deadly. Michael Lonsdale as Lebel was the model of efficiency as the hunter. 10 out of 10!

Edward Fox as the Jackal is fantastic. Just as I imagined him in the book.

“It’s possible. The problem is getting away with it. And speaking as a professional, that’s a very important consideration.”

Edward Fox. Brilliant. Perfect.

Just noticed a detail, near the end (3:29) when they say goodbye, the door has just been opened and Jean Martin's character (who was outside all the time) is now able to hear the man calling him "Jackal"... later it'll play a pivotal role since it's the only detail he'll remember when being tortured by the police. If it wasn't for that slip of tongue, the police would never have gotten that code-name, kind of validates the Jackal's warning about secrecy and shows that from the start, any mistake can be fatal to the plot.

This is how to win a job interview

Truly great film. A thriller that oozes style and class.

Edward Fox has an intelligence and nerve that can’t be matched by Bruce Willis.

I never saw anyone completely, intimidate a room before. Characters or actors. Their jaws hit the floor the moment the Jackal walks in.💓😎

Best feature film. They wanted an actor who was not much popular and Edward Fox was found suitable and he showed what a classic actor he was. Superb acting. He was seen later in movie Gandhi as Gen.Dyer.

One of the best thrillers of all time...gripping from start to finish.

Should have shut the door on Kowalski and made a change. 'Forget Jackal, my new alias will be the Hamster'.

There's an mid 60s TV appearance of Edward Fox in some series I can't recall where he does a comic turn as an ineffectual loser in love, a useless Bertie Wooster type, and he's as utterly convincing in that role as he is here as a super efficient contract killer. Wonderful underrated actor.