Even though we know from the beginning that the assassin won't succeed, that doesn't matter at all. The plot is all about how he tries to carry out his plan, and how the dogged police detective gradually puts together the pieces of the puzzle of the would-be assassin's identity and pursues him. Edward Fox is excellent as the hired assassin, and Michel Lonsdale is absolutely outstanding as the understated police inspector.
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Reply by Fergoose
on August 3, 2020 at 5:50 PM
I agree with all that, although I never assumed that de Gaulle would survive (it is fiction after all). The way they film the detective scouring Paris towards the end without showing the Jackal for a long time, with only real world sounds really built the suspense. I don't even know if I was watching archive footage blended in or if everything around the parade was filmed at the time.