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

Color:

Color

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: According to the subtitles, the Russian officer at the KGB headquarters reports to his superior that "the C.I.A. has deposited in Zurich fifty million dollars into the account of a Mister Paulo Ortega". However, actually he says is: "We have just obtained information from our representative in Zurich that the head of the C.I.A. has opened an account in the amount exceeding fifty thousand dollars in the name of Paulo Ortega"

Quotes:

Maura Ramirez: You started smoking again?
Annibal Ramirez: Yeah. I'll be doing heroin soon.

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Swing Dixie

This movie never lets up.

I don't usually like these kind of espionage movies due to their being dull and predictable. Well, I have changed my mind with this one. This was a real sleeper with a real intelligent story line that keeps you guessing and surprised throughout. Also the surround sound and the great camera work really adds to it. On a scale of 1-10, I would give it a 10 as I don't know how you could make a better film on this subject.