The Assignment (1997)

Director:

Christian Duguay

Writers (WGA):

Dan Gordon (written by) &
Sabi H. Shabtai (written by)

Release Date:

26 September 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Plot:

An American naval officer is recruited for an operation to eliminate his lookalike, the infamous terrorist Carlos The Jackal.

Plot Keywords:

Terrorist | Naval Officer | Little League Baseball | KGB | Intelligence Agent

Cast

Aidan Quinn	...	Lt. Cmdr. Annibal Ramirez / Carlos
Donald Sutherland	...	Jack Shaw / Henry Fields
Ben Kingsley	...	Amos
Claudia Ferri	...	Maura Ramirez
Céline Bonnier	...	Carla
Vlasta Vrana	...	KGB Head Officer
Liliana Komorowska	...	Agnieska
Von Flores	...	Koj
Al Waxman	...	Carl Mickens - CIA
Mitchell David Rothpan	...	Joey Ramirez
Gregory Hlady	...	KGB Aide
Gabriel Marian Oseciuc	...	KGB Agent
Frédéric Desager	...	KGB Agent
Kliment Denchev	...	KGB Technician
Yonathan Gordon	...	Yoni

Also Known As:

Jackal (USA) (working title)
Le mandat (Canada: French title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, sexuality and language.

Runtime:

Spain:111 min | USA:115 min | Canada:119 min (Ontario)

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | UK:18 | South Korea:15 (video rating) (cut) | South Korea:18 (original rating) | Philippines:R-18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Acre, Israel

Company:

Allegro Films

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Annibal Ramirez is going around in the Jerusalem market (about 15 minutes into the movie) we see him reach into his bag for film (to supposedly reload his camera), but the subsequent shot clearly shows there is no film in the open camera that he closes before he takes the picture of the two guards.

Quotes:

Carlos the Jackal: That woman was so much in love with me that if I asked her to suck my uncle's dick she would do it! Smiling!

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Soundtrack:

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

kept my butt up

Very late one night, I happened to click to some cable station that had a movie starting called "The Assignment". I had heard that it was a well made movie from my mother, but who listens to their mother's opinion about movies? Especially about some espionage thriller. Well --- who likes to admit when their mother is right...about anything? Well --- my mother was right. I was up all night, until 4 in the morning, alone, watching this movie, getting paranoid and sucked into its classically told story. The acting was superlative, the direction was on target - which could also be said for the aim of the actors (a lot of gun play), and best of all, it didn't telegraph where the plot was heading. It's a perfect set-up for a franchise, (sorry to sound like an executive at some lumbering movie studio) because I'd be completely interested to see the next adventures of these well rounded characters - and the actors that play them. To the film makers: Do more of these! To the movie watching audience: watch it! watch it with someone you love, as the old saying goes...not because it's romantic, but rather, it's a movie that you need to grab hold of someone during those extra exciting parts. No joke. (the sex scenes teach you a thing or too, as well. A movie that's entertaining, as well as informative! Hey! Now that's a novelty.)