Film / The Day of the Jackal

"It's possible. The point is getting away with it."

— The Jackal

A 1973 political thriller directed by Fred Zinnemann. It is the film adaptation of the 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal. It stars Edward Fox as the Jackal and Michael Lonsdale as Claude Lebel. The supporting cast includes Terence Alexander, Michel Auclair, Alan Badel, Tony Britton, Delphine Seyrig and Derek Jacobi.

Like the book, the film is about an attempt on the life of Charles de Gaulle by the Jackal, a British assassin hired by the French underground group OAS. The film runs for about two and a half hours as we watch as the Jackal's plans proceed with inexorable precision, as deputy police commissioner 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.

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Examples:

• Adaptation Distillation:
  • While on the whole an extremely faithful adaptation, the filmmakers streamline the novel, cutting most of the historical and political backstory (especially marginalizing the OAS leaders, who have a much more prominent role in the novel, and omitting the subplot about British officials' reluctance to help de Gaulle) and several subplots (including the aforementioned scenes with the Unione Corse) and minor characters to make for a more efficient narrative.
  • The OAS courier who gets snatched, Viktor Wolenski (originally Viktor Kowalski), doesn't get lured to France by a forged letter to be extracted. Here, Action Service simply does a milk run where they snatch him off the street and smuggle him out of Italy—basically copying another abduction mentioned in the book where an OAS figure was kidnapped from Germany.
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • A very small one, in the book the Jackal 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.
  • In the novel Lebel pays a discreet visit to the hotel where the Jackal stayed. In the movie it's cordoned off and searched by armed police, and Lebel is shown interrogating the staff and the woman the Jackal slept with.
• Adaptational Jerkass: In the novel, the Interior Minister admires Lebel's professionalism and efficiency and defends him against Colonel St. Clair and others on the council. In the movie, he holds Lebel in thinly-veiled contempt and treats him with icy politeness throughout the film.
  • Inverted slightly with the Jackal. In the novel, the woman he bedded finds out that he plans to kill De Gaulle, ends up in a struggle and breaks her neck. In the film, she knows the authorities are looking for him but doesn't know why and confronts him saying that she doesn't care and welcomes him to stay with her. He still ends up killing her but unlike in the novel it's done quickly and rather painlessly without her even realizing it.
• Adaptation Name Change: Viktor Kowalski is renamed Viktor Wolenski.
• After-Action Villain Analysis: 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 Riddle for the Ages:
  Insp. Thomas: But if the Jackal wasn't Calthrop, then who the hell was he?
• Blown Across the Room: To save himself from being shot, Lebel grabs the fallen gendarme's machine gun in desperation, and the bullets splash his target spread-eagle into the wall.
• Casting Gag: OAS adjutant Wolenski is played by Jean Martin, better-known as Colonel Mathieu from The Battle of Algiers.
• Composite Character: In a bizarre example, the Jackal's third false identity as Marty Schulberg, an American student vacationing in Europe, is combined with Per Jensen, who in the novel is a Danish priest and not a schoolteacher. Schulberg is the identity the Jackal uses to seduce Jules in the novel whereas he only briefly impersonates Jensen to evade capture after his Duggan identity is blown.
• Contrived Coincidence: A deliberate plot point. When the British Special Branch's investigation into the Jackal's identity hits a dead end, the official asks the Foreign Office if they might have encountered anyone who fits the limited description of the hired assassin. The Foreign Office official brings up a "Charles Calthrop", and adds that "Cha-Cal" forms the French word for "Jackal". The Special Branch official's "Are you serious?" look speaks volumes.
• Cool Car: We start off the film with the President's black Citroen DS19 sedan that plays a vital role in saving his life during an assassination attempt. This is also Truth in Television as the car kept going despite two flat tires thanks to its unique hydro-pneumatic suspension. The Jackal's Alfa Romeo roadster deserves a mention as well as the Renault coupe he later steals.
• Coup de Grâce: After a firing squad riddles Bastien-Thiery with half a dozen rifle bullets, their officer walks over to the post and administers a final shot with his revolver.
• Crime Spree Montage: OAS needs to amass half a million US dollars as payment for the services of a professional assassin, code named Jackal. A series of French banks are shown being robbed by loyal underlings of the OAS to acquire that much capital.
• Deadpan Snarker: The Minister of Interior has one when St. Claire suggests they could get a better description of the Jackal from... Rodin; one of the three that ordered the hit in the first place.
  Minister of Interior: I hardly think he'll be likely to accept an invitation from any of our departments, Colonel.
• Death by Adaptation: Colonel St. Clair, who simply resigns in the book after being exposed, commits suicide by sleeping pills.
• Everybody Smokes: Everywhere like chimneys, being set in 1963.
• Foil: The dishevelled and overly chatty and inquisitive i.d. forger is contrasted with the tidy, disciplined, and quietly unassuming gunsmith.
• Foreshadowing: About a half hour into the movie, we see the Jackal in a street market shopping for the clothes and medals he'll use for his "one-legged veteran" disguise to get past the gendarmes in the climax.
  • Before this, we see the Jackal observing Per Lundqvist in Heathrow Airport, before stealing his passport. This is the second identity he's going to use once he gets into France.
  • Also an example that could only be used in the movie, we see the Jackal'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 Jackal.
  • While the Jackal is working in his flat, the camera pans briefly over the papers on his desk. A brochure can be seen in the corner, advertising the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider, a small Italian sports car. The Jackal eventually travels to Italy, and actually decides to hire a Spider for himself. He continues to use the car for most of the rest of the movie, even specially modifying it to carry his unique weapon, before repainting it to avoid detection. He only abandons the car after he crashes it due to the mental fatigue caused by his constant attempts to evade the police and the bad luck of the driver of another car suffering a heart attack and veering into his path.
  • Before and during the Liberation Day celebrations there are a few subtle reminders of how tall Charles De Gaulle was (6’5”). When the Jackal has his shot De Gaulle leans in to kiss the cheek of the much shorter recipient and manages to avoid the bullet as a result.
• Gilligan Cut: Bastien-Thiery telling his lawyer "No French soldier will raise his rifle against me." Cut to his execution by firing squad.
• Gorn: Implied. The Jackal tests his rifle by shooting at a watermelon with a face painted on it. After getting the sights straight with plain bullets, he tries one of the explosive bullets, and red pulp splatters everywhere. That is going to happen to someone's head.
• Have You Told Anyone Else?:
  • The i.d. forger stupidly blabs to the Jackal without prodding that no one else knows and that only he knows where he hid the incriminating evidence on the Jackal and only he can access it.
  • The Jackal's lover inadvertently lets the Jackal know that, no, they have not told the police that they noticed the Jackal's face on TV.
• Heavy Sleeper: One humorous scene reveals Lebel to be this. After trying to wake him up via talking and opening the window to let some light in, his wife resorts to picking up his leg by his big toe.
• Hollywood Silencer: Averted because the ammunition is small caliber, probably .22; the ammunition is apparently subsonic, it takes a very noticeable time from shot to the impact even though the target is only 120 meters / 400 feet out; the chamber is closed, with no openings before the suppressor and the muzzle; and the noise that remains is a distinct "thump", but that would be completely drowned out by the noise and commotion of the ceremony anyway.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Convicted unsuccessful assassin Col. Bastien-Thiery confidently tells his lawyer, "No French soldier is going to raise his rifle against me." Cut to the prison courtyard, where a firing squad of French soldiers shoot him dead without a moment's hesitation. Subverted in that it's not exactly "instant", as his execution occurs the morning after he tells his lawyer this, but the Gilligan Cut makes it seem so.
• I Reject Your Reality: When Bastien-Thiery's lawyer apologetically tells him that his appeal for clemency has been denied, Bastien-Thiery just smiles and says his lawyer needn't have bothered.
  Lawyer: My God, man, don't you realize you are going to be shot?!
  Bastien-Thiery: You don't understand. No French soldier is going to raise his rifle against me.
  [Gilligan Cut to the firing squad taking aim at Bastien-Thiery the next morning.]
• Just One Little Mistake: The plan to kill President de Gaulle is known by the French almost from the word "go" and screws up the Jackal because 1) the person who hired the Jackal mentioned the Jackal existed around Wolenski (who releases the information after some torture by Action Services) and 2) the OAS' sudden spike of robberies to get the money to cover the Jackal's fee attracted the attention of the French.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Having spent his career hiding and faking his identity everywhere, after being killed the Jackal ends up buried in a cheap coffin in an unmarked pauper's grave with only Inspector Lebel observing the burial, as a voiceover explains that authorities could find absolutely nothing about his true identity.
• Lonely Funeral: The only person to attend the Jackal's funeral is Lebel, for whom it is not an act of mourning, but an act of closure to put a stopper on the case.
• Master of Disguise: The Jackal disguises himself to fit the false passports he's created (though in the book it's the forger who advises the Jackal on how to do this).
  • Actually downplayed in the movie, where the Jackal tells the forger he's not good at makeup. His disguises mainly consist of dyed hair and glasses (for Lundqvist) and dyed hair and a strapped-up leg (for the one-legged soldier), with appropriate clothing for each.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: The English actors playing French characters, mostly noticeable when they play scenes opposite actual French actors.
• Oh, Crap!: The Jackal's lover has seen their new house guest's face all over TV and not bothered to find out what that was about. They go home, inform said house guest that their face is on TV, turns on TV, and gets to hear the reason. See Too Dumb to Live below.
• One Last Job: The Jackal points out to the OAS that you don't get to assassinate the president of France and just continue working as an assassin without becoming one of the most hunted men on the planet. This will be the last assassination he can pull off and he's forced to retire afterwards, explaining the high price for the hit.
• Practice Target Overkill: The Jackal takes his custom-made sniper rifle to a remote wooded area to test it and to align its scope. This needs only two standard rifle bullets fired into a melon in a mesh tote bag, as the gunsmith had already tested it and tweaked the sights. Then comes one of the vaned, mercury bullets: the melon disintegrates and the tote was left in tatters.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: In the book, the gunsmith and the forgers are from Brussels, not Milan. Presumably, this was done to streamline the Jackal's progress. Also, Belgium and France would seem similar enough to a viewer that it might cause confusion.
• Rewind, Replay, Repeat: The Action Service intelligence analysts are shown doing this as they transcribe Wolenski's torture interrogation.
• Riddle for the Ages: The Jackal's true identity:
  Insp. Thomas: But if the Jackal wasn't Calthrop, then who the hell was he?
  • Another being that, with the huge manhunt for him even before his assassination attempt, how did the Jackal even plan to escape if he'd succeeded in killing De Gaulle?
• Scaramanga Special: A downplayed example: Jackal's gun of choice is a custom-built sniper rifle made mostly out of unpainted straight metal tubing with an angled piece serving as the stock and the butt of the rifle with a wooden piece attached to the end for support and storing ammo. It fits neatly into a single 3 feet metal pipe, which allows him to both disguise it as a part of his Alfa Romeo as well as a crutch for the one-legged veteran disguise he uses at the end.
• Shirtless Scene: Quite a few: Jackal is seen with his shirt off when he's in bed with his current one-night stand and whenever he's changing his identity.
• Shoot the Builder: Zigzagged. The Jackal visits a gunsmith and a forger in preparation for his mission. He kills the forger for trying to blackmail him, but never considers doing the same thing to the gunsmith. However, it's mentioned that the gunsmith has hidden evidence of his various criminal dealings, so that any client who does decide to shoot the builder will get an unwelcome visit from the police.
• Shot at Dawn: Bastien-Thiery, for his role in planning the failed assassination attempt on De Gaulle.
• Source Music: The opening narrative or at least the last part of it is apparently spoken by a newsman on the radio OAS members are listening to.
• Stiff Upper Lip: The Minister informs the Cabinet that De Gaulle refuses to alter his plans or public appearances in any way despite the numerous attempts already made on his life and a new credible threat.
• Talking in Bed: How the OAS get their information out of Colonel St. Clair.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • The i.d. forger attempts to blackmail the Jackal by meeting him completely privately instead of in public, and blabs away that no one else but him can find the incriminating evidence. Hints imply that the guy's a cocaine snorter so that would explain why his judgment was stupidly awful.
  • The Jackal has gone into hiding by picking up a lover and living in with them for a while. The lover sees their new house guest's face all over TV, but does not stop to think "I wonder what that is all about?", and instead goes right back home and informs the guest that their face is all over TV, with a jovial carefree air that lets the Jackal know that the police has not been informed about this. Then they turn on TV and get to hear what the hubbub is actually about. Oh, Crap! moment and inevitability ensues.
• Translation Convention: Everyone speaks English at all times, regardless of nationality or context.
• Truth in Television: 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.
• The Voiceless: De Gaulle, who's always seen in crowds or long-distance (unlike the book where he's a more substantial presence).
• "Wanted!" Poster: Once Lebel knows that the Jackal is in Paris and under what identity, he sends out bulletins and broadcasts naming that alias as a suspect in the murder of a woman the Jackal killed under a previous identity. Unfortunately for the police, the one person to see the broadcasts who knows the Jackal goes to him and asks why his face is on the telly instead of calling the police, tipping the Jackal off that it's time to switch to a new identity.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The gunsmith in the film, who disappears after the Jackal is handed one of the explosive bullets. In the novel, the Jackal ultimately leaves him alive and unharmed after repeating his warning and deduces that the Gunsmith had taken precautions that would alert the authorities should he be murdered.
• Withholding Their Name: The title character assumes several identities over the course of the story, but we never learn his real name and only a few hints about his background. Much of the plot hinges on a Red Herring, with investigators assuming he's another man (Charles Calthrop) with shady ties to international arms dealers.
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The OAS leaders are insistent when they hire the Jackal that, "We are not terrorists, we're patriots." Most of the membership came from the French military.

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