The Jackal
The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the opening scene as Ghazzi's car is about to pull up to the club, they round a corner at an intersection where the camera cuts to a different angle. There is a white van to the right of Ghazzi's car as they turn with nothing behind it, but in the next shot there is suddenly a smaller white vehicle of some sorts visible behind the van. Additionally, a third car appears on the left side, as a red vehicle next to the crowd of people at the club's steps. Thirdly, though it is very difficult to tell due to the shadows of the buildings, it might be that the three people walking past the red car suddenly appear between shots as well. (00:04:00)

Quantom X

Continuity mistake: When Ghazzi's car pulls up to the steps of the club in Moscow, you can see the bald bouncer at the door with nobody directly in front of him. The the camera cuts to the door with the bald bouncer there and suddenly the guy smoking a cigarette who greets Ghazzi with a hug just appears. (00:04:05)

Quantom X

Continuity mistake: After Ghazzi is embraced and greeted at the door, Valentina is watching from a side alleyway. She glances over at the red van where the FBI agents are watching and you see Witherspoon in the passenger seat. It then cuts to a close up and suddenly Witherspoon has his arm up with his hand in front of his face in a thinking pose. (00:04:30)

Quantom X

Video

Continuity mistake: The guy who greeted Ghazzi at the door escorts him and a group of men inside the club and to a table. As he is showing them their seats, he places his hand on the guy's shoulder to his left and nudges him to the table. It then cuts to a closer angle and suddenly he's facing the guy to his right again before he then rubs his nose and then places his hand on the guy's shoulder to his left again to nudge him forward. (00:05:05)

Quantom X

Continuity mistake: When Ghazzi says "Do you think I'm afraid of the M.V.D?" in the club, you can see various plates and glasses on the table in front of him. To his left, there is a tall beer glass between him and his henchman with a smaller shot glass in front of it. Preston points his finger at him and says that's enough, at which Ghazzi then flips the table. When the camera cuts to an angle behind Ghazzi as he's flipping the table, the tall glass and the shot glass have switched places. (00:06:55)

Quantom X

The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After the Major shoots Ghazzi, a wide show shows Preston bent over as he's trying to get up. He's got his right knee forward with his right hand on his knee. It then cuts to a closer shot of him, and suddenly his left knee is now forward and he's picking his hand up off the floor. Also, the soldier behind his extended left arm suddenly vanishes. (00:07:30)

Quantom X

The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Terek comes into the room where the Jackal is staying and pours himself a drink from a bottle. He turns to the Jackal as he is putting the cork back into the bottle and holds it up, asking if he would like a drink. The camera cuts to the Jackal, who speaks in Russian for them to just get to the point. When the camera cuts back to Terek, he's still holding the bottle out in the same position he was, but now the cork is suddenly gone from it. It jump cuts to him turning to set the bottle down, and then suddenly the cork is back in it once more. (00:10:30)

Quantom X

The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the Jackal and Terek are discussing the terms of his target and payment, the Jackal begins saying how much he wants. His glass on the table next to him is about half full. He continues talking and the camera cuts to a close up, at which point he reaches for and pulls the glass up into view to take a sip. There is now noticeably less liquid in the glass. (00:11:35)

Quantom X

The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: The Jackal takes a drink from his glass and as he looks at it, it's almost completely empty with just a little bit at the bottom. He then tells Terek he wants $70 million to take this job. After Terek agrees, the camera cuts back to Jackal and his glass on the table beside him. His glass is now half full. (00:11:55)

Quantom X

Character mistake: At the meeting of the MVD and FBI where they are discussing Terek's hiding place, she mentions that he's in the town of Porvoo and that it is 60 kilometers west Helsinki. Porvoo is actually 50 kilometers northeast of Helsinki. (00:12:45)

Quantom X

Revealing mistake: In the first meeting with the Director of the FBI, you can see some of the latex is peeling off the Russian Major's burn, just over the right eyebrow there's a small flap of it. (00:13:15)

David Mercier

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: I have closely examined every frame of that moment and other shots of her in that scene. There is no sign of any peeling or fallacy in the makeup.

Quantom X

Continuity mistake: When the Russian officer tells Preston that they need to conduct the interrogation efficiently and then walks away, you can see Preston contemplating what he means looking awkwardly. He's looking almost straight ahead with his head slightly turned to his left. The camera then cuts to by his shoulder before he turns to Witherspoon and suddenly he's now got his head turned fully to the left watching the Russians leave the room. (00:13:25)

Quantom X

The Jackal mistake picture

Revealing mistake: As Politovsky is walking up on the orange van before they ambush him, you can see one of the men walk past the left back door and can see the window on it. The window is completely covered in frost with no parts disturbed. Then after they shoot Politovsky with the rubber ball and are loading him into the back of the van, you can see the door again but now there are clear finger prints on the window in the frost from where they did previous takes of this shot in filming where the guy grabbed the door there to close it. (00:14:00)

Quantom X

The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the agents make their move on Politovsky, they fire a rubber ball at his chest to knock him down and stun him. As he hits the ground, his brown bag falls from his hand and slides a few inches away from him. You can see the straps and latches of the cover sticking up in the air from the side of the bag facing up, indicating the bag is facing upwards. When the two men go over to him to grab Politovsky and throw him into the van, you can see the bag is a little closer to him now, and lying face down. (00:14:10)

Quantom X

Character mistake: Sophie finishes making fake passports and IDs for the Jackal, and states that she had to use ethyl acetone, and that it's naughty stuff that causes liver cancer. This is wrong, as Ethyl acetone is non toxic and a popular solvent because of this. (00:15:25)

Quantom X

Factual error: When searching for a weapon to use to perform his hit, The Jackal requests a weapon that is identified as a Polish ZSU-33 14.5mm. However what's shown is actually a Browning M2HB mocked up as a KPV heavy machine gun in 14.5mm. Both of these weapons have a fire rate of about 600 rounds per minute. But the film states the Polish has a fire rate of 1400 rounds per minute. Sourse: http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Jackal, _The# .22Polish_ZSU-33_14.5mm .22_.28Browning_M2HB_mocked_up_as_KPV_heavy_machine_gun.29. (00:17:35)

Quantom X

Factual error: When Bruce Willis is giving the address to wire the money in Montreal, he gives the postal code GIH 876. The postal code format alternates between letters and numbers (ex. H9B 1R6). (00:18:11)

The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As the MVD and FBI are together watching the footage of the torture and interrogation of Politovsky, Witherspoon has his hand up on his face. The camera cuts to an angle from behind everybody showing the screen and now his arm is down. It then cuts to a closer shot of him sitting beside Preston and his hand is back up again on his mouth. (00:18:20)

Quantom X

Factual error: When The Jackal arrives in Canada, he walks up to a customs officer who is just wearing a suit and tie with a badge. Canadian customs officers wear uniforms. (00:20:40)

Quantom X

The Jackal mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As the FBI and Koslova are walking away from Declan at the prison grounds, they are walking almost in line with each other with Preston in the front, Witherspoon in the back, and then Koslova and the other guy between them. But when it cuts to them stopping to turn around in response to what Declan says, they are suddenly almost standing shoulder to shoulder with each other. (00:27:30)

Quantom X

Video

Declan Mulqueen: Preston, what about letting me have a gun?
Preston: Are you crazy? If the right people knew I was letting you walk around without cuffs, I'd have forced retirement.
(01:08:45)

Quantom X

More quotes from The Jackal

Trivia: Just a few months before his death at age 91, Fred Zinnermann, who directed the original The Day of the Jackal (1973), on which this movie is based, actually fought Universal Studios to change the name of the film. Saying that the original had stood the test of time and he did not want the remake to bear the same name. (00:01:25)

Quantom X

More trivia for The Jackal

Question: What is the title and author of the music played at Isabella's house on the stereo?

Answer: It's called "Red Tape" by Agent Provocateur.

More questions & answers from The Jackal

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.