The Jackal takes up with a beautiful and wealthy woman but kills her when she tells him the police have asked about him. However, because a female member of the OAS has insinuated herself into the life of one of the ministers and pries information out of him, the Jackal is kept apprised of each step of their investigation. Led by the man described as the best detective in France, top members of the Surete and Scotland Yard go to work and learn the Jackal’s identity, his description, and even the kind of car he drives. While he is attending to the details of his job, a member of the OAS is captured and provides information to the authorities, and a secret but massive manhunt is begun.
Day of the jackal code#
After several assassination attempts fail, the group decides that it needs a professional to carry out the job and hires an Englishman with the code name Jackal.Īfter the Jackal receives $250,000, the first half of the fee, he begins to make meticulous preparations for his assassination attempt, acquiring expertly forged papers and buying a rifle made to his own design. Many Frenchmen, especially former soldiers, are outraged with Charles de Gaulle for having given independence to Algeria and they vow to kill him, forming an organization called the OAS. Forsyth has admitted that the Jackal was real and that he met him, though he lacked the suave sophistication and intelligence of the fictional character. Forsyth has refused to confirm or deny that this plot to assassinate de Gaulle ever actually took place or that there was a leak in the top ranks of the Secret Service, though it is true that there were several attempts on de Gaulle’s life in 1963, the year in which this thriller is set. There is an OAS (Organisation de l’Armée Secrète), and most of the characters in the book (and the film) were real, although most of the names were changed and even their physical descriptions altered to protect against libel suits. To this day, there is speculation about how much of The Day of the Jackal is true and how much is fiction. SOURCE: The Day of the Jackal, novel by Frederick ForsythĮdward Fox…………………………….…….….The Jackal/ Paul Oliver Duggan/ Per LundquistĪlan Badel…………………………………………………………………….………The Minister
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Day of the jackal series#
Catch up on the series and find new installments daily here. Otto Penzler ranks, analyzes, & celebrates the 106 greatest crime films of all-time.