It was recently remade into a TV series starring Eddie Redmayne.
Our TV movie pick for tonight (Sunday, 16 February) is The Day of the Jackal, a political thriller film from 1973.
Directed by Fred Zinnemann, it stars Edward Fox as a professional assassin hired by a group of resentful military veterans to kill French President Charles de Gaulle.
The entire film is something of a cat and mouse game between the police and the Jackal (the assassin’s codename), who manages to remain two steps ahead throughout.
As he executes his intricate plan, the Jackal moves from England to Italy to France, swapping out vehicles and passports as needed.
It’s a tense and nail-biting watch, with brilliant performances and some beautiful cinematography.
Last year, the film was remade into a ten-part series starring Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne as the Jackal and Lashana Lynch as Bianca Pullman – an MI6 arms specialist.
The series was released last November and is available to stream on Sky and Now.
If you want to watch the original before getting stuck into it’s modern remake, 1973’s The Day of the Jackal airs at 9pm tonight on Legend.
Here are the other movies airing on TV tonight:
The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) – Sky Arts – 8pm
Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) – ITV2 – 8:15pm
The Blues Brothers (1980) – ITV4 – 9pm
Little Fockers (2010) – E4 – 9pm
Independence Day (1996) – Film4 – 9pm
Bridget Jones’ Baby (2016) – Channel 5 – 10pm
The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018) – Channel 4 – 11pm
The Great Dictator (1940) – Sky Arts – 11:30pm
Bad Boys II (2003) – Film 4 – 11:50pm
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