History Literature / TheDayOfTheJackal

The year is 1963. Following a bloody and costly colonial war, French President UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle has granted independence to Algeria. His decision is seen as a betrayal by many of his former supporters. A disenchanted paramilitary group, the OAS, has vowed to kill de Gaulle in revenge but each plot has failed. In desperation, the OAS turn to a mysterious foreign assassin, known only as ''The Jackal'', to carry out the job. The government learns of the plot, but know nothing of the would-be assassin besides his code name. So they call upon the best detective in France: Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel, who is given unlimited authority to capture or kill The Jackal, with only two requirements: no publicity, and do not fail.

The year is 1963. Following a bloody and costly colonial war, French President CharlesDeGaulle has granted independence to Algeria. His decision is seen as a betrayal by many of his former supporters. A disenchanted paramilitary group, the OAS, has vowed to kill de Gaulle in revenge but each plot has failed. In desperation, the OAS turn to a mysterious foreign assassin, known only as ''The Jackal'', to carry out the job. The government learns of the plot, but know nothing of the would-be assassin besides his code name. So they call upon the best detective in France: Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel, who is given unlimited authority to capture or kill The Jackal, with only two requirements: no publicity, and do not fail.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: CharlesDeGaulle obviously; he's a constant presence, and has a scene where he's briefed about the Jackal's plot against him. British Prime Minister Harold Macmillain, DeGaulle's Interior Minister Roger Frey and Colonel Bastien-Thiry (leader of the Petit-Clarmont assassination plot) also appear.

The year is 1963. Following a bloody and costly colonial war, French President Charles de Gaulle has granted independence to Algeria. His decision is seen as a betrayal by many of his former supporters. A disenchanted paramilitary group, the OAS, has vowed to kill de Gaulle in revenge but each plot has failed. In desperation, the OAS turn to a mysterious foreign assassin, known only as ''The Jackal'', to carry out the job. The government learns of the plot, but know nothing of the would-be assassin besides his code name. So they call upon the best detective in France: Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel, who is given unlimited authority to capture or kill The Jackal, with only two requirements: no publicity, and do not fail.

* ConspicuouslyPublicAssassination: The Jackal plans to assassinate Charles de Gaulle at a public event, [[spoiler:notably the award ceremony on Liberation Day, the one occasion he can be certain the President of France will turn up, no matter what threats have been made against his life.]]

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: De Gaulle obviously; he's a constant presence, and has a scene where he's briefed about the Jackal's plot against him. British Prime Minister Harold Macmillain, DeGaulle's Interior Minister Roger Frey and Colonel Bastien-Thiry (leader of the Petit-Clarmont assassination plot) also appear.

* BlownAcrossTheRoom - To save himself from being shot, Lebel grabs a machine gun in desperation, and the bullets splash his target spread-eagle into the wall.

* RightWingMilitiaFantatic: The OAS, as was TruthInTelevision.

* GameChanger: None of the OAS's efforts to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle succeeded, because their ranks were riddled with police informers. The Game Changer comes when the OAS leaders contract the services of a British assassin, about whom the French Secret Service know almost nothing.

* MysteriousPast

* EvilBrit: The Jackal is British and a ProfessionalKiller. [[spoiler:Or is he? At the end of the novel, Her Majesty's Government point out there's no proof, given his multiple identities, that he was ever British in the first place.]]

* [[spoiler:RedHerring]]: A man on British Intelligence's list of suspected assassins-for-hire has a name which suggests a StevenUlyssesPerHero for the Jackal: Charles Calthrop ("Chacal" is French for "jackal"). [[spoiler:He turns out to be a completely different person.]]

* EvilBrit: The Jackal is British and a ProfessionalKiller.

* ConspicuouslyPublicAssassination: The Jackal plans to assassinate Charles [=DeGaulle=] at a public event, [[spoiler:notably the award ceremony on Liberation Day, the one occasion he can be certain the President of France will turn up, no matter what threats have been made against his life.]]

* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted by Lebel, who is very effective at his job.

* ShoutOut: A fairly subliminal one, but in one section of the book it's mentioned that the head of British Intelligence plays cards at a club called Blades. Blades is from the ''JamesBond'' series.

* EvilBrit: The Jackal is British and a CareerKillers.

* CareerKillers: The Jackal is one. His wages are so high that the OAS has to rob several banks to gather the money needed.

* ProfessionalKiller: The Jackal is a definite Assassin.

** The otherwise well-planned opening assassination failed because Bastien-Thirty looked at an almanac for the wrong year and so misjudged when the sun would go down. As a result it was too dark for the gunners to see his signal and they opened fire to late.

The year is 1963. Following France's withdrawl from Algeria following the Algerian War of Independence, a group of far-right terrorists hire an assassin to kill French President Charles de Gaulle. The government, consisting of the entire French Cabinet, can't figure out who the assassin is, only that he has a code name: ''The Jackal''. So they have to get the best detective there is: Deputy Commissioner Claude Lebel, who is given unlimited authority to capture or kill The Jackal, with only two requirements: no publicity, and do not fail.

The 1973 movie holds us for nearly two and a half hours as we watch as the Jackal's plans proceed with inexorable precision, as the police struggle to stop the actions of a man of whom they know nothing: no name, no picture, they aren't even sure if his plans are real or simply the ravings of a tortured terrorist. Lebel doesn't even know that the terrorists have infiltrated the French Cabinet by hooking up one of its members with a HoneyTrap mistress who extracts valuable information to pass on to the Jackal. After the members of the cabinet tire of Lebel using the authority they granted him to find the cabinet member who is leaking information, they essentially fire him, thinking they can find the Jackal easily enough. When that doesn't work, they reluctantly call Lebel back, in desperation, because the Jackal has eventually disappeared, and they need to find him before he carries out the assassination.

* ForegoneConclusion: The narrative points out near the beginning that de Gaulle died several years later of natural causes.

* DoNotGoGentle: Kowalski, the huge Polish OAS member who is kidnapped by French security forces, immobilises three agents before the rest finally overpower him.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Apparently, seven centuries on, Series/{{Cadfael}} is alive and well and working in France. Also, Michael Lonsdale, the actor who plays Lebel plays the villain Hugo Drax in the Film/JamesBond film ''Film/{{Moonraker}}''. [[Film/TheBattleOfAlgiers Col. Mathieu ]] will join the OAS apparently.

* CastingGag: OAS adjutant Wolenski is played by Jean Martin, better-known as Colonel Mathieu from ''TheBattleOfAlgiers''.

* MasterOfDisguise: The character (along with [[Literature/TheBourneSeries Jason Bourne]]) is heavily influenced by the real life terrorist Carlos "The Jackal", who was a Master of Disguise. This is carried over into the remake film, ''TheJackal''.