Would hate to see a modern re-film

Thanks, Grendel, for your response. I guess I could look up this remake on netflix but it would be a waste of my time!

[deleted]

@YaSvoboden

"The American" actually was an adaptation of a novel.

Nothing to do with The Jackal, and it was a good film, to boot. Maybe not perfect, but a good watch, and well acted by Clooney.

I said I never had much use for one....never said I didn't know how to use it.

YaSvoboden,
The American is actually a better film than that. I am of the opinion that it is Clooney's best film (watch his expressions). Give it another chance. Some films are better the second time around.

- JKHolman

actually there was a remake of the day of the jackal, but it was the jackal, not the american. it starred bruce willis in a role as a guy trying to assassinate the president of the us even had him killing the guntech who had built him a remote control gun for the accuracy being off as a reference to the original with the accuracy of the specialist rifle being off and needing adjustment and the scene which was shortened in this movie, originally the jackal after asking for one of the bullets then shoots the gunsmith, but it was cut to leave it that maybe the forger would have lived if he hadnt of broken the deal. the scene in the terminator where arnie kills the gunshop owner with one of his own weapons is also meant to be an homage to the lost scene. they also offered edward fox a cameo in the jackal which he refused and the poor old director fred zinneman, in his 90s shortly before his death, fought the company to change the name and not connect it with his movie which he felt stood as a great movie and would be diminished by a remake. oh and the books author, frederick forsyth, made them remove his name from the 90s the jackal so it says based on a screenplay the day of the jackal rather than saying based on the novel by, i just checked, if you put his name into imdb it doesnt even register 'the jackal' on his page even though it was made from his book.

the american was pretty similar though, especially in style and how it is shot and certainly the makers must have affection for day of the jackal, but it was more about the guy having to be totally alone, have nothing, no one etc and was more like leon, the whole falling in love and wanting to get out type thing, just swap the underage girl for a prostitute as the object of affection, and new york for rural italy and it is basically leon (or 'the proffessional', for the purists). but yeh the american has nothing about the struggle to prevent an assassin carrying out a hit, it is purely the sad lonely assassin wanting to live long enough to get out of the business and not even wanting to go through with the hit. the jackal will snap your neck if you sneeze on him, the american was more looking for a hug, very different character.

the jackal is less similar in style but closer in story to day of the jackal, its about a cold hearted killer who will happily kill any innocent person who might be the slightest problem without even blinking, the attempt to stop him finishing the hit, and his attempts to carry on with it, an absolute remorseless killer out for a big score. although overall the story is the same the details are very different, rather than the police carrying out an intensive investigation, they release an ira hitman from jail and set him on the other assassin, its more like assassins, the 2 hitmen going mano a mano, which turned it more into a 90s patriot games type lite action movie.

funny thing is in all the movies i can think of showing the worlds greatest assassin, of which there are a few, they all have a conscience and just want to get out and go live happily ever after with their girlfriend, except the jackal. the jackal is the only sociopath protaganist i can think of in an assassin film, who is only going to retire as a practicality, that after such a big job he will be hunted more vigorously. if you think of all the others, the stallone character in 'assassins' wants to walk into the sunset, 'leon' is melancholy and lonely learning to live again when he meets a young girl, 'the matador' is having a break down picturing himself as a child everytime he approaches a target, 'hitman'
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he only keeps killing those who used to exploit him to keep the girl he saved safe, 'the american' is lonely and isolated and wants out, 'killer elite' (modern, havent seen original) the top killer has retired to the outback and gets back in only to save a friend, 'the mechanic' (this time original, havent seen remake)
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is maybe the closest to a sociopath but is tired of life and allows himself to be taken out by his protege, either as a kind of suicide or because he doesnt have the heart to kill him in case the kid wouldnt have gone through with it and leaves the car bomb as revenge from beyond the grave just in case.

so only the jackal is portrated as a protaganist who is totally unphased by killing any innocent he has to (and sometimes doesnt have to) and shown with no redeeming features to endear him to the audience, just simply as a ruthless killer with all the emotions, mercy and remorse of the terminator, while everyone else feels the need in their movies to win over the audience at least a little and soften their character in some way.

You're bashing the wrong movie. The American isn't s remake of this movie, The Jackal with Bruce Willis is. It sucked. The American on the other hand is not bad at all.

Why would anyone think 'The American' was the remake of 'Day of the Jackal' when the Jackal is an Englishman and his quarry is a Frenchman. There's not a single american mentioned in the book or 1973 film! Come up is everyone braindead on here?

Don't really ever understand the need for re-makes. This is a terrific movie - they got it right on the first go. Just shows that filmmakers are running out of good ideas.

When they did the remake, keeping it true to it's English origins and casting Paul Bettany would have been a master stroke. But as always with remakes it had to be "Americanised" for the box office. You don't se people remaking American movies in general. Maybe that's because other nations can come up with their own ideas and not feel the need to rehash something purely for financial gain.

I happened to see The Jackal first, not long after it was released in the 90s. I thought it was pretty good, not being "ruined for me" by seeing the original first. Bruce Willis really played the scary cold-blooded sociopath chillingly well.

Just saw Day of the Jackal yesterday. Very well-executed, and the story was a bit more plausible than the FBI using another terrorist/assassin to hunt him down--I'd say it rates better overall. But even so, I think Willis' portrayal of the character was more memorable--made a bigger impression on me anyway. I wouldn't say the remake "sucked", it was just different.


Understanding is a three-edged sword.