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Revealing mistakes
When chain smoking Police Commissioner is at first cabinet meeting, at one point has well used cigarette in his left hand, and moves it under the table, out of sight. He then reaches for a second cigarette with right hand, but lifts LEFT hand, and cigarette has now disappeared.
(at around 5 mins) In the shooting at the Petit Clamart ambush the lower part of the rear window of the presidential limousine is shattered and falls to pieces, but when the car arrives at the airport the rear window, though badly cracked, is still largely in place.
The amount of gray in Lebel's hair changes noticeably in different scenes, beyond what lighting conditions would account for. Much grayer for some reports given in the conference room, distinctly less so in other settings.
(at around 1h 24 mins) At the hotel The Jackal checks the guest book to find out Colette's room number. Each guest has a date of birth next to their name, Colette's being August 1933, which would have made her 30 at the time the film was set (1963), however, her character is supposed to be around 40 and has a 19-year-old son.
(at around 1h 45 mins) When the Jackal parks the blue car (he had stolen from Madame de Montpellier) between two others vehicles there is absolutely no space for him to move out from the drivers seat. But in the next shot we find him easily maneuvering himself out.
(at around 21 mins) When Wolenski gets the mail from the post office, the narrator says the mail is addressed to General Delivery. But Wolenski is shown opening a P.O. Box; General Delivery mail is held at the counter and called for by name.
An "explosive round" would have been unnecessary for the shooting and a skilled assassin like The Jackal would know that. The extra weight in the bullet could have impaired accuracy and since he was likely only going to get a single shot, anything that might cause problems would be avoided.
This is another holdover from the novel. A master gunsmith would have known that hollow point or frangible rounds would perform the best for this role and neither would effect the ballistic performance of the round.
This is another holdover from the novel. A master gunsmith would have known that hollow point or frangible rounds would perform the best for this role and neither would effect the ballistic performance of the round.
(at around 1h) When the Jackal prepares to take his final shot at the melon in the forest, he is clearly shooting with the rifle on his right shoulder, but he views the sight with his left eye. No sniper could see reasonably through the sight with his opposite eye, which turns his head away from the intended line of fire.
The assassination of Rafael Trujillo is one of the most documented killings in world history. The entire complement of assassins were caught, tortured and executed within a month of the murder. The killing wasn't particularly well-planned and it didn't require the efforts of an accomplished assassin like The Jackal.
This is a holdover from the source novel and it's as incorrect there as it was in the film.
This is a holdover from the source novel and it's as incorrect there as it was in the film.
When the Jackal checks the hotel register for Mme de Montpellier's details, you see that her address is near Lyon. When he steals her car, the number plate is clearly visible and ends in 63 which is the 'Department' (French region) number for Clermont-Ferrand which is in another 'Department' 170km away from Lyon where the number plates end in 69.
It is sometimes claimed that The Jackal hides the pieces of his disassembled rifle in his car's exhaust pipe, which would prevent the engine running. The pipe in question is fat and corrugated, not slim and smooth like an exhaust pipe.
When discussing the Hotel Garibaldi, Wolenski is shown in a film holding a case containing mail chained and handcuffed to his wrist, prompting someone to remark that you would have to 'cut his hand off to get the mail away from him.'
This is, of course, not the only way. You could cut the chain or handcuff, unpick the handcuff lock, or even pick the lock on the case open while it was still chained to his arm, to name a few others. The person making the statement was not being literal - he was using a metaphor to show how tight security around the mail deliveries was.
This is, of course, not the only way. You could cut the chain or handcuff, unpick the handcuff lock, or even pick the lock on the case open while it was still chained to his arm, to name a few others. The person making the statement was not being literal - he was using a metaphor to show how tight security around the mail deliveries was.
(at around 1h 6 mins) "The Jackal is wearing no eye protection while welding the exhaust pipe." He is not welding, he is soldering, and eye protection is not necessary.
(at around 1h 13 mins) When the Jackal is crossing into France and gets called into inspection, his suitcase seems to switch from a single to a double strap closure. However as we see later when checking into a hotel, he has two suitcases.
When the passport photo of Charles Calthrop is handed around it is a picture of Edward Fox but at the end of the film we discover that Edward Fox was not playing Calthrop but Edward Hardwick was but the photo was not of him.
When the Jackal is shot with the machine gun his body is lifted up several feet in the air and thrown back against the wall. This would not happen with any small arm or light weapon.
Near the beginning, the conspirator on the motor scooter, wearing a full-face helmet that covers his ears, stops at a café and begins making a phone call without removing his helmet.
(at around 2h 10 mins) When the Jackal enters the final apartment to carry out the attempted assassination, he uses a key, taken from the lobby, to open the apartment door. When he has entered, he does not re-lock the door with the same key, but turns a dead lock, which is higher up the door, to secure it. However, when the policeman, with Lebel, shoots the lock, to burst open the door, he fires at the lower lock. The door falls open, yet no shots were fired at the upper lock, which is securing the door.
All the entries in the hotel's guest book are in the same handwriting. Every hotel requires each individual guest to sign in themselves.
(at around 33 mins) When Victor is knocked out, kidnapped and tossed into the back of the van you can clearly see the actor holding his head up off the floor of the truck as the door is being closed.
(at around 2h 15 mins) In the final scene no one reacts to the sound of the gendarme's submachine gun shooting the lock out, the parade continues uninterrupted.
When the Jackal is making arrangements with the gunsmith, the gunsmith asks about explosive bullets. The Jackal says mercury or glycerin? Neither mercury nor glycerin are explosive, but fulminate of mercury, commonly used in primers, and nitroglycerin are. The Jackal is merely using a shorthand both would understand.
When Duggan steals the number plates of the couple's car in the forest, the registration of the Alfa Romeo that Duggan drives shows 161741 GE on the front plate and GE 161741 on the rear one.
As the Jackal is being buried, one of the gravediggers is shovelling dirt on top of his coffin.
However, just before the scene fades, he does not throw in the final shovelful, keeping it on the spade.
However, just before the scene fades, he does not throw in the final shovelful, keeping it on the spade.
Lebel says "repeat that again" but he should have said "say that again" or "repeat that".
When the man on the motor scooter stops at the cafe in the first few minutes of the movie, we see an August 1964 calendar on the wall, but the movie is set in August 1963.
(at around 2h 10 mins) During the Mass scene at the cathedral, the priest is seen standing behind the altar facing the congregation. At the time the movie portrays (1963), the priest would have his back to the congregation. The change in the mass was one result of the Church's Vatican II council in 1968.
All of the clothing & hair styles, both men's and women's, reflect the early 1970's (when the film was made) and not 1963 (when the film was set).
(at around 1h 50 mins) When arriving at Gare d'Austerlitz a SNCF class 6500 can be seen behind The Jackal/Per Lunquist. These locomotives were introduced in 1969, even though the film is set in 1963.
A Morris Minor can be seen bearing a white front number plate; these were introduced as an option in 1968.
At 1:43'29", the Jackal is not yet in the car and yet the motor starts (the wheel being on the left side of the car, the key ignition would be near the center of the car and thus not accessible).
At 1:08', a character says "we better get a search warrant" but his lips are not moving.
At just over an hour in, when the Jackal is supposedly approaching the border between France and Italy from the Italian side, he drives along a downhill curve past a sign telling him that the border is 23km away. The scene was actually shot on the D52 road on Cape Martin, France.
The Jackal had taken an impression of the key to the apartment, and presumably had therefore made a copy. That means he could have simply slipped past the concierge while she was in the kitchen and gone up the stairs to the apartment without her knowing.
That way, if anyone had come into the building to ask if she had seen anything, she would be there to answer "No", instead of being found lying on the floor.
(at around 1h 24 mins) The Jackal is supposed to be one of only three guests who checked in at the hotel that day. Supposedly Colette is one of the other two guests, since she tells the Jackal that she had spent the day attending her son's graduation ceremony at his school in the Alps. That means the Jackal's alias ("Duggan") must be entered on the first or second line above or below Colette's name in the guest book. "Duggan" is not entered anywhere near Colette's name in the guest book. Also, more than two names are entered below Colette's name (on the same page as well as on the next page of the guest book), which means there were more than three guests who checked in that day.
When the Jackal enters the flat, he opens the door with the mortice lock key but he secures it with a deadbolt above it. The gendarme shoots at the mortice lock but has no idea of the existence of the bolt yet the door opens easily.
Although he has used all his false identities generated for this operation, he still has his real identity plus any others he had used on previous operations.
The Jackal arranges to meet with the gunsmith and the forger again on 13th and 14th August respectively but he visits the forger first.
When the Jackal is in the forest testing the rifle, he fires the first shots looking through the scope with his right eye, making adjustments as needed. When he test fires with the explosive shell he is shown using his left eye.
A professional like this would know about 'eye dominance' and that switching eyes to aim can throw off the aim, substantially over a large distance.
A professional like this would know about 'eye dominance' and that switching eyes to aim can throw off the aim, substantially over a large distance.
(at around 1h 22 mins) When Lebel is advised by telephone that the Jackal has passed through the border into France in his white Alfa Romeo, he is told the license plate number is GE 1741 when, in fact, the license plate number on the Jackal's car is GE16 1741.
(at around 1h 4 mins) While discussing Charles Calthrop's possible involvement in the 1961 assassination of General Trujillo, the British detectives refer to the latter as dictator of Dominica. Rafael Trujillo was in fact dictator of the Dominican Republic, a different nation in the Carribean. (In a later scene where Calthrop's passport is shown, we see the visa stamp for "Republica Dominicana", Spanish for Dominican Republic.)
At 2:05'34", the officer in a tan suit walking in front of the troops is wearing very dirty shoes. Any officer would be wearing spotless shoes for a military parade.
The Jackal tells the gunsmith four tubes will be required, specifies exactly what will be contained in each one, and the gunsmith agrees. When the tubes with their important contents are hidden, and again when the tubes are actually used, only three tubes are required.