The Day of the Jackal (1973) Soundtrack [CD]

“Quartet Records and Universal Pictures Film Music Classics Collection present the premiere release of THE DAY OF THE JACKAL (1973), celebrating the centenary of the renowned and much-missed composer Georges Delerue, born in 1925 in Roubaix (France) and who died suddenly in Los Angeles in 1992.

THE DAY OF THE JACKAL was a brilliant, dynamic suspense thriller, masterfully directed by Fred Zinnemann, based on Frederick Forsyth’s bestseller. In the aftermath of France granting Algeria independence, a group of resentful military veterans hires a professional assassin, codenamed “Jackal,” to kill President Charles de Gaulle. Starring Edward Fox as the “Jackal,” along with Michael Lonsdale, Derek Jacobi, Alan Badel and Cyril Cusack, the film was a huge commercial and critical success.

Georges Delerue had previously worked with Zinnemann on the historical drama A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (1966), and they reunited again on JULIA (1977). For THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, the composer wrote a brief but energetic score with fatalistic overtones and dark textures. The score features suspense writing for strings in Delerue’s own style, with a hint of Bernard Herrmann in some of the repeating, minimalist suspense material.

Delerue recorded about 30 minutes of music, about a third of which are source tunes, including pop music, Muzak-style pieces, accordion street music and a waltz. However, only about five minutes of dramatic underscore remain in the film, with no music in the second half. For this release, we have assembled Delerue’s score to include unused material and present what might have been and how the composer may have intended his score to play in the movie.

For this premiere edition, painstakingly restored and mastered by Mike Matessino, we have used the surviving tapes courtesy of Universal Pictures and the Georges Delerue estate. The package includes an in-depth essay by film music writer Jeff Bond, discussing the film and the score.”

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