The Jackal

On this week’s episode of Unclear and Present Danger, Jamelle and John watched the (rightfully) forgotten thriller The Jackal, a loose adaptation of The Day of the Jackal directed by Michael Caton-Jones and starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier and Diane Venora.

In The Jackal, Willis plays the titular assassin, a feared hitman who has been hired by Russian mobsters to assassinate the director of the FBI, in retaliation for American activity in Russia. As the Jackal makes his arrangements, FBI Deputy Director Carter Preston (Poitier) and Russian Police Major Valentina Koslova (Venora) scour their sources for leads in a search that leads to imprisoned IRA sniper Declan Mulqueen (Gere). Mulqueen knows the Jackal and will help the FBI find him — if he gets his freedom in return. What follows is a chase across the world, as Carter, Koslova and Mulqueen race to stop the Jackal, whose ultimate target is the First Lady of the United States.

The tagline for The Jackal was “How do you stop an assassin who has no identity?”

You can find The Jackal to rent or purchase on Apple TV or Amazon Prime.

Episodes come out roughly every two weeks, so we’ll see you then with an episode on Tomorrow Never Dies, the second entry in Pierce Brosnan’s run as James Bond.

Over on Patreon, we have an episode on the first Mobile Suit Gundam compliation film. We’re also doing a weekly politics show on the news of the day. Joining us by heading over to patreon.com/unclearpod. 

Our producer is Connor Lynch and our artwork is by Rachel Eck.