# Day of the Jackal... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 8, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435 "2011-12-08T00:36:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/1 "2011-12-08T00:36:10Z")
Were you sad when the Jackal gets it ? ---
**Author:** ![Clockwork\_Jackal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Clockwork\_Jackal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_Jackal)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/2 "2011-12-08T01:38:05Z")
Yes. Next question. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/3 "2011-12-08T02:11:43Z")
Did Edward Fox remind anyone else of David Bowie? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/4 "2011-12-08T02:15:32Z")
That spoiler appears on roll over. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/5 "2011-12-08T02:19:43Z")
Damn, you’re right. Could a mod please edit it to fix it? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/6 "2011-12-08T02:22:50Z")
I was in sixth grade when this book came out in paperback, and my hippy-dippy librarian, desperate to find me something to read (I’d basically looted the school library) loaned me this, with a caution to keep it concealed. Oh the glory days of people willing to risk their jobs for a good book! Now she’d end up as a Yahoo! splash story. I read it twice, especially the sexy bits. And in answer to the OP’s question: a big YES. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/7 "2011-12-08T02:23:34Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Damn, you’re right. Could a mod please edit it to fix it? Done. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/8 "2011-12-08T02:26:05Z")
I think this is a good example of something relatively rare: a first-rate thriller of a book made into an equally good movie. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/9 "2011-12-08T03:11:45Z")
When this film came out, did any maverick director try to recruit Fox for a spy/assassin film series to compete with the James Bond franchise? I sure as hell would have, if I were a director working at the time of _Jackal_’s release. Fox is such a distinctive looking and acting actor, and as the movie showed, he could also drastically change his appearance with simple disguises. He would have been perfect for an espionage or political-intrigue series. Would Fox would have even wanted to do this, if someone asked him? I get the impression he is really more of a stage actor and would rather be associated with theater than with film. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/10 "2011-12-08T03:22:58Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Fox is such a distinctive looking… If you’re not counting his brothers. 😃 I wasn’t sad when he got it, but I’d prefer it happened after he shot DeGaulle, an ending almost as satisfying as that of “Inglourious Basterds.” ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/11 "2011-12-08T03:45:18Z")
One thing always bugged me. Edward Fox burned the last of his fake IDs to get through the seciruty perimeter and into the rowhouse where he set up his sniper nest. How did he plan to get away? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/12 "2011-12-08T03:51:37Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > If you’re not counting his brothers. 😃 James Fox is like the British Steve McQueen…totally awesome in _Performance_ with Mick Jagger and some hot “birds”. (Legendary gangster John Bindon also makes a cameo!) Definitely watch this film - ideally while altered! ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/13 "2011-12-08T04:06:37Z")
I assume the phrase “what remake?” is operative here? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/14 "2011-12-08T04:31:32Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > When this film came out, did any maverick director try to recruit Fox for a spy/assassin film series to compete with the James Bond franchise? Fox played M in _Never Say Never Again_, the “unofficial” James Bond movie. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/15 "2011-12-08T05:06:19Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > When this film came out, did any maverick director try to recruit Fox for a spy/assassin film series to compete with the James Bond franchise? I sure as hell would have, if I were a director working at the time of _Jackal_’s release. Fox is such a distinctive looking and acting actor, and as the movie showed, he could also drastically change his appearance with simple disguises. He would have been perfect for an espionage or political-intrigue series. > > Would Fox would have even wanted to do this, if someone asked him? I get the impression he is really more of a stage actor and would rather be associated with theater than with film. Fox also played Sergeant Miller in **Force 10 from Navarone** (the role David Niven played in **The Guns of Navarone** ), playing the behind-the-lines demolition expert. That’s as close as he got to secret agent status, aside from his aforementioned role as “M”. I would’ve liked to have seen him in more things, too. It wasn’t the end that moved most people. The thing that always got me was the scene after the Jackal learns that his cover has been blown, and he druives his Alfa Romeo down the road until he comes to a fork marked _Italy_ and _Paris_, then he pulls up the cover on his convertible and drives to Paris. The audience always goes “Ahhhh” at that point, and you know that, despite their better instincts, they’re rooting for the assassin. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/16 "2011-12-08T05:42:24Z")
Style question: it seems like throughout most of this movie, Fox’s pants are pulled up very high. Was this the style back then among the British, or is this just a particular quirk of the character? ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/17 "2011-12-08T06:55:56Z")
> [@Patch](#): > > One thing always bugged me. > > Edward Fox burned the last of his fake IDs to get through the seciruty perimeter and into the rowhouse where he set up his sniper nest. How did he plan to get away? I assumed he was just going to become the one-legged old war veteran again and disappear into the crowds. They wouldn’t have had any idea where that shot came from.As for the OP, yeah, you had to be sad. Roger Ebert described watching this movie as like watching a fine Swiss watch carefully being assembled piece-by-piece. So, even though he’s clearly the villain, you can’t help but be sad to see the watch get smashed the instant it’s finally completed! ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/18 "2011-12-08T10:14:30Z")
I was sad when the watermelon got it 😉 Si ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/19 "2011-12-08T11:19:00Z")
Funny thing is I first saw the movie on TV. This was in the 70s before video and DVD and good movies were on TV a year or two after their cinema run. It was long and the synopsis made it obvious that I knew how it ended so it didn’t seem very interesting at all. Except it was riveting. And even after I saw it I quickly went and read the book. My two favorite smart ass bits of writing are Forsyth’s _The Day of the Jackal_ and Fowles’s _The Collector_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435/20 "2011-12-08T12:36:00Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Funny thing is I first saw the movie on TV. This was in the 70s before video and DVD and good movies were on TV a year or two after their cinema run. It was long and the synopsis made it obvious that I knew how it ended so it didn’t seem very interesting at all. > > Except it was riveting. And even after I saw it I quickly went and read the book. > > My two favorite smart ass bits of writing are Forsyth’s _The Day of the Jackal_ and Fowles’s _The Collector_. If you liked Forsyth’s book, try reading **The Odessa File** , which came out shortly afterwards. Or **The Dogs of War** , which came out shortly after _that_. Forsyth has written many books since, but his first trio of books were arguably his best, and have the same feel (although I’m not so fond of Dogs of War. The other two books were filmed, as well, but they weren’t nearly as good as **Day of the Jackal**. ) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/day-of-the-jackal/605435.md?page=2)