History Literature / TheDayOfTheJackal

* ModernMajorGeneral: Sir Jasper Quigley, the British Foreign Office's "Head of France", is a diplomatic equivalent; his primary qualification for the job is a long history of service in foreign postings everywhere ''except'' France, and an equally long history of betting on the wrong horse in every political race he's ever witnessed (if he hadn't [[Nepotism married his boss's daughter]] while he was posted to Berlin in the early 1930's, his memorandum predicting that German rearmament would have ''"no real effect"'' on Europe's future might have put a bigger dent in his career).

* OneLastJob: One reason why The Jackal's fee is so high is that he knows that he will never be able to work again after such a high-profile assassination, not to mention he will need to pay for a lot of precautions to keep himself hidden - every law-enforcement organization on the ''planet'' will be looking for him for the rest of his life.

*** There is also a mild OffscreenMomentOfAwesome when Lebel reports the results of a records check. In the ten previous years they've had to contend with four contract killers. They got three of them and they know who the other one was but he's doing life in Africa. That's a 75% catch rate and a 100% detection rate and offers an early indication of just how hard the Jackal must work to evade the authorities.

* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Just barely averted. Jackal never tells anyone more about his plans than absolutely necessary, and comes within inches of succeeding. [[spoiler:Had De Gaulle not bent over as Jackal was lining up his first shot and Lebel not intervened before he could fire a second, it would have worked]].

* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: The whole plot becomes a RaceAgainstTheClock once the French figure out that the Jackal will make his move on Bastille Day, with the climax taking place on that day.

* TranslationConvention: Everyone speaks English at all time, regardless of nationality or context.

** A very small one, in the book the Jackel disguises his car registration by flipping over the plates and painting on a forged fictional number. In the movie we briefly see him steal a set (along with its registration card) off a Peugeot.

* RiddleForTheAges: The Jackal's trues identity:

* AfterActionVillainAnalysis: Subverted. At the end of the film, after the Jackal's funeral, Mallinson and Inspector Thomas discuss the villain they spent the movie pursuing, and concede that he will remain a RiddleForTheAges:
-->'''Insp. Thomas:''' But if the Jackal wasn't Calthrop, then who the hell was he?

* RiddleForTheAges: The Jackal's trues identity:
-->'''Insp. Thomas:''' But if the Jackal wasn't Calthrop, then who the hell was he?

Forysth wrote the book in ''35 days'' in early 1970 (drawing heavily on his experiences as a journalist in France in the early 1960s), although the book wasn't published until after de Gaulle's death the following year. It was [[TheFilmOfTheBook adapted into a 1973 film]] directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Creator/EdwardFox (of the Fox acting dynasty) as the Jackal and Creator/MichaelLonsdale as Lebel; Creator/DelphineSeyrig and Creator/DerekJacobi appear in small parts. The 1973 film adaptation holds us for nearly two and a half hours as we watch as the Jackal's plans proceed with inexorable precision, as Lebel struggles to thwart a man of whom he knows nothing: no name, no picture, no nationality. He isn't even sure if the plot is real or simply the ravings of a tortured terrorist. To make matters worse, the terrorists have infiltrated the French Cabinet, and the Jackal is being passed valuable information about the pursuit. 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.

[[TheFilmOfTheBook Adapted into a 1973 film]] directed by Fred Zinnemann, starring Creator/EdwardFox (of the Fox acting dynasty) as the Jackal and Creator/MichaelLonsdale as Lebel; Creator/DelphineSeyrig and Creator/DerekJacobi appear in small parts. The 1973 film adaptation holds us for nearly two and a half hours as we watch as the Jackal's plans proceed with inexorable precision, as Lebel struggles to thwart a man of whom he knows nothing: no name, no picture, no nationality. He isn't even sure if the plot is real or simply the ravings of a tortured terrorist. To make matters worse, the terrorists have infiltrated the French Cabinet, and the Jackal is being passed valuable information about the pursuit. 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.

* TruthInTelevision: The attack on De Gaulle's motorcade at the film's beginning happened very much as shown. Despite unleashing with machine-guns and De Gaulle's Citroën-DS limo hit by multiple bullets -- even through the windows -- the gunmen failed to hit anyone in the group, including the motorcycle escorts, and the motorcade sped away safely and directly to the airport.

** A very small one, in the book the Jackel disguises his car registration by flipping over the plates and painting on a forged fictional number. In the movie we briefly see him steal a set off a Volkswagen Beetle.

* ReverseMole: The OAS is so full of Action Service infiltrators that Rodin trusts only Montclair and Casson, and has to rely on an outsider, namely the title assassin, for the task.

* FallGuy: The real Charles Calthrop; the Jackal had apparently used his identity and address on his fake passport during a previous contract assassination. [[spoiler:He then left the passport planted in Calthrop's flat so he'd become the fall guy for the British authorities to find. Fortunately, he was away the whole time until after the Jackal was found and killed.]]

** Also an example that could only be used in the movie, [[spoiler: we see the Jackel's flat very early on and Calthrop's bedsit a little later. They look nothing alike, giving an early hint that Calthrop is not actually the Jackel.]]

** While the Jackal is working in his flat, the camera briefly pans over the papers on his desk. A brochure advertising the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, a small Italian sports car, can be seen on the corner of the desk. When the Jackal eventually goes to Italy, he actually hires a Spider for himself. He continues to use the car for most of the rest of the movie, [[spoiler:even specially modifying it to carry his unique weapon, and then repainting it to avoid detection. He only abandons the car after he crashes it due to fatigue caused by his constant attempts to evade the police. ]]