The Day of the Jackal

The Day of the Jackal (1973) is Fred Zinnemann's procedural thriller you can watch online on iFILM. In early-1960s France, a militant faction hires a nameless English assassin to kill President Charles de Gaulle. His fee: half a million dollars. His code name: the Jackal.

The film runs on two tracks at once. Edward Fox plays the killer as a cold technician — forged passports, a custom rifle hidden in a crutch, disguises, escape routes mapped to the minute. Closing in from the other side is Inspector Lebel, a tired, methodical cop handed almost nothing to work with. Nobody knows the assassin's name. Everybody knows the date he plans to strike. Zinnemann shoots it dry and clipped, with barely any score to lean on.

Adapted from Frederick Forsyth's novel, the picture doesn't bother with whether de Gaulle survives — history already settled that. The tension is pure mechanics: how a manhunt closes a gap between two professionals. A treat if you like patient, detail-obsessed thrillers over loud ones. Stream The Day of the Jackal (1973) online on iFILM.