Category Archives: Cyril Cusack

1973 Films, British, Cyril Cusack, Fred Zinnemann, Political Thriller, Thriller

The Day of the Jackal-1973

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The Day of the Jackal-1973

Director Fred Zinnemann

Starring Edward Fox, Michael Lonsdale

Scott’s Review #1,155

Reviewed June 22, 2021

Grade: A

Political thrillers can run the gamut of taut plots involving espionage assassinations, and car chases all woven into the political landscape. They often run the risk of being overly complicated and losing their audience with too much wordiness and not enough meat and potatoes.

The Day of the Jackal (1973), telling the story of an assassination attempt on a world leader is perfectly paced and intriguing offering some titillating elements and nothing run of the mill. It’s not lazy and can be classified as a thinking man’s film.

I loved it.

Certain complexities and trysts experienced by the deadly title character add extra pizazz and spiciness to the already compelling plot.

And the sequences of Paris and its lovely metropolis can aid any film.

A cagey and intelligent underground French paramilitary group is determined to execute President Charles de Gaulle (Adrien Cayla-Legrand), but when numerous attempts on his life fail, they resort to hiring the infamous hitman known as “The Jackal” (Edward Fox).

As he plots to assassinate de Gaulle, he takes out others who stand in his way. Meanwhile, Lebel (Michel Lonsdale), a Parisian police detective, begins to solve the mystery of the killer’s identity.

The film is not in French but in English.

Fox is the major draw. Charismatic, handsome, and athletic, he hardly looks like a fiend.  But that’s just the point. A lesser film would have cast an actor who looks like a killer. With Fox, we get many more intricacies. He beds women…..and men.

Think- a bisexual James Bond.

This is enchanting to see in 1973, though the film is British, and sometimes the Brits were well ahead of American filmmakers in this regard.

The director, Fred Zinneman, is Austrian and boy can he direct.

I wasn’t sure how engaged I would be. After all, the history books can tell us how the assassination attempt ended. It failed. What was the motivation for watching a film, especially one destined to be complicated? I quickly realized that The Day of the Jackal had that special sauce. It’s more than engaging, it’s enthralling.

The audience is meant to root for Lebel to best Fox but there is so much more bubbling under the circumstance. The villain is mysterious and we know almost nothing about him. The ambiguity continues after the film ends. This is a positive to the character and subsequently to the film.

Meanwhile, the hero of the film, the guy after the “Jackal”, is your average, everyday, Joe. He is unexciting but very smart and determined to capture Fox.

Lebel is quite likable for his savviness alone but I still argue many will root for Fox to escape the clutches of Lebel. I know I did.

Great scenes occur in a swanky hotel when Fox becomes intrigued by Madame de Montpellier, played by Delphine Seyrig. He picks up the rich and mysterious woman as they chat in the dining room. He later sneaks into her room and gets the girl.

Whoever cast this woman must have seen the Hitchcock classic Frenzy (1972) because she’s a dead ringer for Brenda Blaney (Barbara Leigh-Hunt).

Is it an accident that both meet grisly ends?

Not to be satisfied with merely bedding rich women he goes to a Turkish bath to avoid the police and picks up a French gentleman. It is implied they have a romantic date before the gentleman catches onto Fox’s identity (he is now on the run from the police) and meets his maker in his kitchen.

The Day of the Jackal (1973) is a meticulously crafted film that should be the blueprint for anyone intent on creating a political thriller. It avoids hokey stereotypes or predictability instead offering an edge-of-your-seat experience with nuances for miles.

It’s exceptional on all levels.

Oscar Nominations: Best Film Editing

1966 Films, Cyril Cusack, Drama, Francois Truffaut, Julie Christie, Oskar Werner, Science Fiction

Fahrenheit 451-1966

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Fahrenheit 451-1966

Director Francois Truffaut

Starring Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, Cyril Cusack

Scott’s Review #728

Reviewed February 26, 2018

Grade: B+

Based upon the famous and fantastic classic 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, the film adaptation is futuristic and dystopian.

Directed by French filmmaker Francois Truffaut and starring Julie Christie, the “it” girl of the late 1960s, the film succeeds as an incredible, new wave, edgy, progressive hybrid. Various elements aid in making the film seem set in the future, all with hints of the great director Alfred Hitchcock sprinkled in the mix.

Indeed, the novel is superior, but Fahrenheit 451 is a worthy watch if only for Christie alone.

Christie tackles a dual role, as both Clarisse, a young schoolteacher with progressive and forbidden views, and Linda, the vastly different spoiled wife of the central character, Guy Montag, played by German actor Oskar Werner.

The trio exists in a futuristic world where a totalitarian government has banned all literature, deeming it insufficient for society. A force called Firemen, where Guy works, can search anyone anytime and burn all books as needed.

Clarisse and Guy begin questioning the government’s motivations as Guy stashes a copy of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield, which causes the pair danger and peril.

What I like most about the film is its mysterious and foreboding concept, which is downright scary. What if books were suddenly non-existent and forbidden?

Like the novel, the film provides references to luscious and brilliant literary works of art, so much so that the viewer will undoubtedly feel how this reality would be devastating.

As with similar titles such as “1984” and “Brave New World,” the futuristic world and the “Big Brother is watching” theme is critical to its success.

Director Truffaut, an ardent fan of the master Hitchcock, seamlessly incorporates elements of suspense and key “Hitchcockian” moments, specifically with the musical score.

Truffaut used Bernard Hermann, the same composer Hitchcock used in 1966’s Torn Curtain, but more importantly, the prevalence of strings is reminiscent of classics like Psycho and Vertigo.

A fight scene behind frosted glass so that only shadows can be seen is a direct homage to Hitchcock’s famous style.

To accompany the Hitchcock comparisons, an exciting film anecdote is that legendary Hitchcock superstar Tippi Hedren was desired for the central dual role. Still, he would not allow it since she and Hitchcock were embroiled in a feud then, and she was under contract.

The mind wanders with the possibilities this would have presented. But alas, Christie is no slouch as the film’s female star.

Christie deserves significant kudos. She plays both of her characters to the hilt, and she is one of the film’s best aspects.

Anyone who has read Bradbury’s novel will understand how the character of Clarisse is expanded in the film, and one wonders if this was decided to showcase more of Christie.

Regardless, Clarisse and Linda’s characters are entirely different from each other, and the actress is superb. Unfortunately, this film is not among Christie’s most remembered films.

My main detraction of Fahrenheit 451, the film, is that having recently read the novel, there is no comparison, as the book is far superior. However, the film is perfect and contains some beautiful visuals and imagery.

So few times can a film usurp the beauties of the written word, and how ironic given the subject matter of the destruction of books.

Fahrenheit 451 (1966) is a stylistic, artistic film with a relaxed vibe. It features a tremendous performance from one of the ’60’s most considerable talents.

The film initially received fair to middling reviews and is now largely forgotten, but it’s nice to take down from the dusty old shelves of the Hollywood obscure now and then.

1971 Films, Bud Cort, Comedy, Cyril Cusack, Dark Comedy, Hal Ashby, Ruth Gordon, Scott's Top 100 Films

Harold and Maude-1971

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Harold and Maude-1971

Director Hal Ashby

Starring Bud Cort, Ruth Gordon

Top 100 Films #59

Scott’s Review #208

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Reviewed December 30, 2014

Grade: A

Harold and Maude (1971) is the bravest and most left-of-center film that I have ever had the pleasure of viewing. A subject matter so taboo that it had never before been explored in cinema and, to my knowledge, has not since.

The film challenges so many mainstream views of aging, sex, and relationships.

Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort give performances of a lifetime.

The film tells the story of an unhappy, wealthy teenager named Harold (Cort) whose mother- hilariously played by Vivian Pickles- is a cold socialite attempting to reform Harold of his rebellious adolescent behavior.

Harold frequently plays suicide pranks on her and the numerous females she tries to set him up with, reducing them to tearful exits from the family mansion in frightened hysterics.

Obsessed with attending funerals for fun, one day Harold meets Maude (Gordon), an elderly woman, at a funeral, and it turns out that both share the same fascination, but for vastly different reasons as the story shows.

They embark on a tender romance despite their age difference of over sixty years.

In many ways, Maude is the real adolescent of the film, which I love. It is a role reversal of sorts. On the cusp of age eighty, she has a pure zest for life, living each minute as if it was her last, unconcerned with the consequences of her actions- she is a true free spirit.

She gleefully steals cars that happen to be parked on the street and her erratic driving is comically brilliant.

Harold becomes the more responsible one despite being the tender age of only nineteen. He cares for Maude and her shocking revelation towards the end of the film floors Harold.

It will also shock the audience.

Harold and Maude deal with death but the film is not a downer. It is hilarious at times, brilliantly written, and Maude, a Nazi prison camp survivor, does not fear death- she has seen her share of it and almost embraces it.

Harold is just beginning his life and the contrast of the characters and their growing bond is what works best in this film.

The aforementioned Vivian Pickles knocks it out of the park with her portrayal of Harold’s mother- her comic wit and timing are excellent- she callously hosts a dinner party and boasts of her travels to France to the guests while Harold sits ignored, bored, and depressed, staring at his mother in disbelief.

He wants nothing to do with her or her trivial lifestyle. She makes an unimportant phone call while Harold dangles from the ceiling in a faux suicide attempt- clearly a cry for attention from his mother.

This is a total black comedy.

The implied intimacy between Harold and Maude was too much for many viewers in 1971. I find it sweet and quite tastefully done. They simply fall in love and it feels wonderful for both of them.

I would be remiss for not mentioning the wonderful, lively soundtrack by Cat Stevens.

Edgy, laugh out loud, unusual, and witty are words to describe Harold and Maude (1971)- one of the most intelligent comedies in film history.