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1971 Films, Best International Picture-Golden Globe Winners, Drama, LGBTQ+ Drama, LGBTQ+ Films, Top 250 Films

Sunday Bloody Sunday-1971

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Sunday Bloody Sunday-1971

Director John Schlesinger

Starring Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch, Murray Head

Top 250 Films #182

Scott’s Review #1,062

Reviewed September 15, 2020

Grade: A

Whether it’s the late-1960s style with British sophistication or the ahead-of-its-time subject matter, John Schlesinger’s Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) is a brazen, mature film.

With fantastic acting mostly from Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch, the film is subdued enough to contain the drama while letting the underlying plot marinate and flourish rather than being forced or overdone.

That’s not to say Sunday Bloody Sunday is an easy watch.

The main characters stew and simmer rather than explode as the audience comes to grips with their feelings, emotions, and motivations, as painful as they can be.

Schlesinger offers the characters’ complexities as we get inside their heads across multiple scenes, with the camera carefully panning in on their facial expressions.

The intention is to read their minds, or at least make us think we know what they are thinking.

The three characters are Alex (Glenda Jackson), a divorced, restless recruitment worker; Bob (Murray Head), a young, free-spirited artist; and Daniel (Peter Finch), a gay, Jewish doctor.

Bob openly dates both Alex and Daniel, who know each other and even share friends. Instead of scheming against the other in hopes of poisoning their character with Bob, they deal with acceptance and a host of different emotions.

A triangle ensues, though not one with a clear couple to root for, and it’s unclear who we should root for. Sunday Bloody Sunday isn’t that trite or simplistic, and that is the beauty of the film.

Each character can be analyzed for individual motivations, peculiarities, and desires that sometimes overlap.

The added perk of one character being straight, one character being bisexual, and one character being gay only adds flavor and lustful desire.

Sunday Bloody Sunday is a character study if ever there was one.

Screenwriter Penelope Gilliatt writes a piece so bristling with unpredictability that the characters and situations are deep and troubling.

My favorite character is Daniel, the most adjusted of the three, but a character who would typically be written as the most maladjusted.

Schlesinger had directed the brilliant Midnight Cowboy (1969) two mere years earlier, a film that depicted gay characters as troubled and self-hating.

Gilliatt crafts Daniel as confident, booming, and masculine, avoiding all stereotypes.

I immediately thought of Ken Russell’s masterpiece, Women in Love, made only a year earlier in 1970 and starring Jackson.

Both films, featuring four characters rather than only three, are British and explore the complexities of sexual orientation, jealousy, and loneliness.

Women in Love is a slightly better film, but only by a small margin, probably because it adds one additional character. Both explore and barely touch on territory when it was still taboo to explore homosexuality in film.

Adorable is a scene at a Bar Mitzvah given to Daniel’s nephew. As the merriment begins, several women are bound to be interested in Daniel, given that he’s a successful doctor.

He naturally has no interest, but he politely makes small talk with one woman.

The scene is so natural and at ease that it is terrific and reaffirming to see a gay character treated with such dignity and richness, his problems not being a result of being gay but of being a human being.

Daniel and Alex compete for Bob’s affection, but in a polite way. Instead of hating each other, they hate the situation. Bob isn’t the nicest guy in the world, so the question is why they both feel the way they do about him.

But this hardly matters when the heart wants what it wants.

The most interesting, realistic scenes happen when each couple lies in bed together or makes small talk over a meal. This offers a glimpse of the day-to-day treasures they could each enjoy.

If you’re in the mood for a film rife with emotion and psychologically complex feelings, wrapped in a good drama, Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) is a pure treat. Trimmings like glimpses of the gorgeous city of London lend added nuance.

Each time you watch this film, you could easily see it from the perspective of Alex, Bob, or Daniel.

Oscar Nominations: Best Director-John Schlesinger, Best Actor-Peter Finch, Best Actress-Glenda Jackson, Best Original Screenplay

Golden Globe Nominations: 1 win-Best Actor- Drama- Peter Finch, Best Foreign Film (English Language) (won)

1973 Films, British, 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 from taut plots involving espionage, assassinations, and car chases to the political landscape.

They often risk being overly complicated and losing their audience through too much wordiness and not enough meat and potatoes.

The Day of the Jackal (1973), which tells the story of an assassination attempt on a world leader, is perfectly paced and intriguing, offering 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.

The complexities and trysts the deadly title character experiences add extra pizazz and spice to the already compelling plot.

And the sequences in Paris and its lovely streets can elevate any film.

A cagey and intelligent underground French paramilitary group is determined to execute President Charles de Gaulle (Adrien Cayla-Legrand). Still, 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 in English, not French.

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 Zinnemann, 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 beat Fox, but so much more is bubbling under the surface. The villain is mysterious, and we know almost nothing about him. The ambiguity continues after the film ends.

This is a positive for the character and, by extension, for 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 likable for his savviness alone, but I still argue many will root for Fox to escape Lebel’s clutches. 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 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 on to 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

Golden Globe Nominations: Best Picture- Drama, Best Director-Fred Zinnemann, Best Screenplay