The jackal (novel)

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The Jackal ( The Day of the Jackal ) is a novel by Frederick Forsyth , which was first published in the 1971st Based on the real, failed assassination attempt by Petit-Clamart on President Charles de Gaulle by the OAS , the novel tells the fictional story of a professional killer who is then hired by the OAS to kill de Gaulle. The only German translation of the bestseller so far (2006) comes from Tom Knoth and was first published in 1972 by Piper-Verlag in Munich . The 20 editions published by this publisher up to 1994 alone totaled 315,000 copies.

action

After several failed attacks on French President Charles de Gaulle, the French terrorist organization OAS decided in 1963 to hire a contract killer abroad to kill de Gaulle. This becomes necessary because the own organization is infiltrated by informers and every important action is betrayed in advance. Now when a candidate has been found in England who has never been active in France but is an absolute professional, the terrorists begin to get the fee of $ 500,000 through bank robberies . The jackal demands this enormous sum because he has to retire after this attack. The increasing number of attacks is noticed by the police and they begin their investigations. The French secret service kidnaps a member of the OAS and tortures him to death. Shortly before his death, it says that the OAS hired a blonde professional killer who calls himself a jackal. This should murder de Gaulle. While the killer is busy with his meticulous preparation, the police discover that the planned action is an attack on the president. De Gaulle himself does not want to make any concessions to the security officers and continues to maintain close contact with the people.

A race begins between the murderer under the code name Jackal and the commissioner Lebel, who is entrusted with the solution of the case. Lebel asks colleagues in western countries for help. The British are following a rumor that a British citizen was behind a successful murder campaign against ex-dictator Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina . They determine that a man named Charles Calthrop is said to have acquired a new identity. The suspicion of him intensifies because the first three letters of his first and last name result in the French word "Chacal" (jackal). A search of the apartment brings no further results; the resident should be on vacation.

Lebel himself is regularly confronted with the obstacles of the bureaucracy, various high-ranking officials try again and again to influence the direction of the investigation and to boot the police officer. Again and again, as soon as the path of the murderer and his plans appear to be visible, Lebel is thanked and said goodbye, only to be fetched back if there are new problems. Lebel realizes that the murderer must have information from the innermost circle of power. Finally, a senior official is exposed whose young lover, widow of an OAS sympathizer, has forwarded sensitive information to the OAS. A wiretapped phone call found the official's mistress as an informant and provoked other officials to ask how Lebel knew which phone to tap. Lebel replies that he simply had all the telephones of the officers involved tapped.

The jackal, who had a special rifle made, moves through Europe with ever new identities and finally reaches France. Lebel and the French security apparatus chase him down and narrowly miss him several times. In the course of the investigation, Lebel becomes aware that the jackal intends to carry out the attack on the holiday for the liberation of Paris (August 25), as the president will show himself publicly on that day. The jackal wants to kill de Gaulle from an attic with an aimed shot. Lebel is aware of this risk and is maximizing safety precautions.

The jackal arrives in Paris, killing possible witnesses who could betray him several times. Lebel and the Ministry of the Interior are not only recruiting all police spies, but also the Corsican mafia to track down the jackal. He billeted himself with a homosexual whom he killed. Disguised as a war veteran, he managed to gain access to the police restricted zone around the square where de Gaulle was supposed to appear. Lebel inspects the area; he is aware that the killer has still not been found. By chance he learns of the existence of the ominous veteran from a young police officer on duty. Together they storm into the attic, where the jackal has already missed once. The hit man shoots the policeman. However, at the last second, Lebel manages to kill the wanted man with his colleague's submachine gun.

The suspicion against the Englishman Charles Calthrop turns out to be false after his return from vacation. The jackal's identity remains unclear. His body is buried in an unmarked grave.

success

The book was number 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list for 23 weeks in 1972 .

Audio books

There are two audiobook versions of the novel. The first was spoken by Heinz Ostermann and was released in 1987 by Polyband on 3 cassettes. The version published by Random House Audio in 2004 was read by Hannes Jaenicke and consists of 4 CDs ( ISBN 3-86604-569-7 ). Both versions are shortened.

Film adaptations

Forsyth's novel has been adapted twice for the film. However, only the version by Fred Zinnemann sticks to the literary model. The second version was moved to the film's year of production (1997) and from France to the United States.

The Jackal (1973)

The first film adaptation directed by Fred Zinnemann dates from 1973 . The main roles are played by Edward Fox as Jackal and Michael Lonsdale as Inspector Lebel. In other roles: Delphine Seyrig , Michel Auclair , Olga Georges-Picot and Jean Sorel (as Bastien-Thiry ). The film adaptation is very true to the original novel.

The Jackal (1997)

The American remake was made in 1997 under the direction of Michael Caton-Jones . The main roles of Bruce Willis (as Jackal), Sidney Poitier (as FBI -Vizedirektor Carter Preston, correspondence to Commissioner Lebel) and Richard Gere (as a former IRA -Terrorist Declan Mulqueen that supports the FBI in the hunt for the Jackal) played. Fred Zinnemann, who was 89 years old at the time, vehemently opposed the use of the original title The Day of the Jackal for the new film adaptation. Finally, the film appeared with a slightly different title ( The Jackal ), but in Germany they were identical. This film adaptation is only loosely based on the original novel, and the setting has been shifted from France in the early 1960s to America in the 1990s.

See also

Web links