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Date: 9/5/2018
What I’m watching: two interesting films that were both released in 1973.
On Blu-ray: The Day of the Jackal
Director Fred Zinnemann made some outstanding films, such as “High Noon” “From Here to Eternity,” and even the widescreen musical “Oklahoma.”
“Day of the Jackal,” brought to Blu-ray by Arrow Video, is one of his best. It’s a procedural crime thriller shot in a documentary style that makes viewers wonder if it is actually a true story.
The film is based on Frederick Forsyth’s novel of the same title. Forsyth spun his story over a real event: disgruntled French Army officers who attempted to assassinate Charles de Gaulle after he liberated Algeria from French rule. The book was a bestseller and Zinnemann was reportedly very eager to bring it to the screen.
The novel’s plot involved the rogue officer hiring an outside professional killer whose codename is Jackal and the film dispassionately shows his preparations as well as the reaction of French authorities when they realize an assassin has been hired.
The somewhat flat documentary style serves the film very well in 2018 giving it a very contemporary feel. There is no obtrusive musical scores telegraphing emotional cues and the editing doesn’t heighten the suspense through artificial means.
There is plenty of suspense as Edward Fox’s Jackal is a cool psychopath who can be the classic English gentlemen at one moment and a man dedicated to survival the next, doing whatever is necessary. This is a guy who will repaint his car once he has learned the police know what he is driving and will sleep with either a man or a woman to avoid capture.
Opposing him is the unflappable Deputy Police Commissioner Claude Lebel played by Michel Lonsdale. His character sets up his office to live there until he has stopped the killer. Both Fox and Lonsdale underplay their roles, which adds to the documentary tone to the film.
In an interview with Zinnemann that is part of the extras he explained he didn’t want to cast a star in the role of the assassin even though performer such as Michael Caine and Albert Finney were very interested. He thought a star actor would shift the audience’s focus.
Shooting the film throughout Europe gives the film a very authentic feel as well, as Zinnemann staging sequences in actual locations and amidst actual events.
I really liked this film very much and would watch it again even though I know what happens.
Schlock
In 1971 high school drop-out and rabid movie lover John Landis achieved something at the tender age of 21 that many people never reach: he made a feature-length movie that was released two years later and made money.
Landis went on to helm “The Kentucky Fried Movie,” “Animal House,” The Blues Brothers,” “Trading Places, “ “An American Werewolf in London” and “Coming to America,” among many other films.
In his commentary track of this new restored Blu-ray release, Landis admits “Schlock” isn’t a very good movie, but he also thinks there are some funny bits.
Made for $60,000, “Schlock” is a parody of monster movies, especially “Trog,” a rather silly movie in which a prehistoric link between man and ape is living in a cave in Great Britain.
In this film, Schlock is killing the residents of a small California town leaving banana peels behind. The police are baffled, naturally.
Schlock tempers his inexplicable rage when he meets a young woman in a sequence that harkens back to a horror film trope of the monster being tamed by a beauty.
What is interesting about “Schlock” is seeing a genuine filmmaking talent taking his first steps. Landis explained his real learning process came about when he was in the editing room and he realized what he should have shot to tell his story.
The other start of a career is for Oscar-winning makeup artist Rick Baker who was as young as Landis when he created the ape suit Landis wore – yes, he played Schlock. Baker who was living with his parents cooked the latex pieces of the makeup in hos mom’s kitchen oven.
“Schlock” is not a great film, but from an academic sense it’s interesting as it’s the start of a very successful career.