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The Assignment
Jack Shaw has experienced the terror first-hand. He's a top CIA agent who's tracked international killer-for-hire Carlos "The Jackal" Sanchez for over twenty years and barely survived Carlos' devastating bombing of a Parisian cafe. Now, he finally gets a break when he discovers Carlos' dead ringer: American naval officer and dedicated family man Annibal Ramirez.
1997 · Directed by Christian Duguay · 119 min · Thriller · Action · Crime · Screenplay in the scene database · 5 frames
Plot
In 1974, Carlos the Jackal has sex and kills a spider with his cigarette then evicts the woman from his room. He dons a disguise and walks to a cafe where CIA agent Henry Fields is sitting at a table. Recognizing Fields, Carlos asks for a light. Fields does not recognize Carlos, because of his disguise. Carlos then detonates a grenade, killing dozens of people.
The next year, Carlos attacks an OPEC meeting in Austria to earn a ransom. To identify Carlos, the CIA sends Fields, who secretly plans to assassinate him with a concealed pistol. The plan is foiled when his CIA superior stops him from reaching out to shake Carlos' hand because he might be photographed doing so by nearby journalists.
In 1986, Carlos is apparently apprehended in an open-air market in Jerusalem and brutally interrogated by Mossad commander Amos. The man claims to actually be a US naval officer named Annibal Ramirez whose identification was lost in the chaos of his arrest. Amos confirms his identity and lets him go, stunned that Ramirez looks exactly like Carlos. Back at home, Ramirez is visited by Fields (now using the name Jack Shaw) who tries to recruit him to impersonate the terrorist leader. Ramirez refuses.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Dan Gordon, Sabi H. Shabtai
- Cinematography: David Franco, Christian Duguay
- Edited by: Yves Langlois
- Music: Normand Corbeil
- Production design: Michael Joy
- Produced by: Franco Battista
Cast
- Aidan Quinn as Annibal Ramirez / Carlos
- Donald Sutherland as Jack Shaw / Henry Fields
- Ben Kingsley as Amos
- Claudia Ferri as Maura Ramirez
- Céline Bonnier as Carla
- Vlasta Vrana as KGB Head Officer
- Liliana Komorowska as Agnieska
- Von Flores as Koj
- Gregory Hlady as KGB Aide
- Gabriel Marian Oseciuc as KGB Agent
Production
- Country: Canada
- Language: English
- Studios: Triumph Films, Program de Credits of Impuc, Super Écran, Satch-Mo
- Themes: hitman, espionage, spy, embassy, kgb, mistaken identity, training, naval officer, murder, terrorism
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