The Jackal (1997) - 18 corrections

Directed by Michael Caton-Jones, starring Bruce Willis, Diane Venora, J.K. Simmons, Mathilda May, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier (add more)

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Entry Towards the end, where Declan has chased the Jackal into the subway, the other people are just calmly walking along, not a care in the world. This is despite a mass shooting just happening pretty close by outside and everyone out there screaming and running around in mass hysteria. Most of the people in the subway would have been in the vicinity of the shooting so probably wouldn't be admiring the scenery of the subway station. [It's surprising how little people react or even notice things like that. A friend was at a movie theater where 2 people were shot and killed, and 3 more were wounded. People were still ordering food from the concession stands, playing video games in the lobby, or making their way to the screens. None of them began running around in hysteria. Once police arrived, they had a difficult time finding witnesses, and some of the witnesses even said they thought it was a promotion for a movie, and didn't think it was real.]
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Entry 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). Also Quebec postal codes only start with either J or H. [The first letter G is also used in the Province of Quebec. G is for the Eastern region of Quebec. J is for Western region of Quebec and H for Montreal region.]
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Entry Near the end of the movie, the Jackal tries to kill the first lady in Washington. He is wearing a police uniform and you can see the bullet proof vest underneath his shirt. When he enters the subway station he is still wearing his clothes, and gets shot in the stomach by Richard Gere. But where is the vest? [He's not wearing a vest - what appears like it, is simply the cut of the jacket. Throughout the park scene preceding the subway scene, where he's just wearing a shirt, there's no vest suggested under the shirt.]
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Entry When Richard Gere is in prison, eating his meal, he drinks from a cup, but does not swallow, which shows that the cup is obviously empty. [His swallow is partially hidden by his beard, but there is definite throat expansion. Note that swallowing liquid simply doesn't expand your throat as much as swallowing solid food.]
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Entry In the scene where Bruce Willis and the guy take the tripod and shoot at the pumpkin, he says the tripod is off by 3mm. Even if the tripod WERE off by 3mm, the camera was mounted on top of the gun, so it would have still been lined up correctly. [Just because the camera is on top of the gun does not mean it is aimed at the same spot as the gun.]
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Entry When Bruce Willis is dressed up as the policeman at the end of the film, he has a significant amount of make-up to make him look paler, older and bigger. In the underground station, all this has vanished and the only thing he is seen doing is taking his wig off. [No make-up was applied but the wig just gives that effect.]
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Entry When Bruce Willis shoots the Russian Major he says "The blood's black, that means the bullet is in your liver." He then draws on her with significantly darker than usual blood. Why then, is all the blood on her clothing and chest normal coloured? [The blood is as dark on the shirt as is on his fingers and that is darker then what's on her face.]
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Entry The Spanish woman loses and regains her accent all the way through the film, often halfway through sentences. I wouldn't normally complain as an accent is difficult to keep, but hers is shockingly bad. [That is because she's lived in America so long her accent is changing.]
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Entry Why does Bruce Willis not take the plans for the tripod from the guy's house? After all, he killed him to shut him up. [When Major Koslova says that every man makes mistakes and that was how Decklin was caught, that was one of his mistakes.]
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Entry This film supposedly takes place in Washington, D.C., which, if the movie is to be believed, is populated by skyscrapers. Tall buildings are expressly forbidden in Washington, D.C. [Those buildings were not skyscrapers.]
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Entry When they show the White House there is a crane on the left side of the dome, seen many times from the same angle. When the Jackal calls Doug (who he met at the gay bar), Doug's office window looks at the same view of the White House and the crane is gone. But it reappears when the helicopter flies near the White House. [The trees are in the way.]
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Entry When introducing himself to Isabella's husband, Richard Gere muffs his line and says something like, "Mr. Decker? I'm Decker Mulqueen." He even grins guiltily at the Russian major when he realizes what he said, but everyone covers it and goes on with the scene. Very stage-like, for a movie. [Gere hasn't messed up the line, as Isabella's husband is credited as "George Decker" in the end credits, and Gere refers to himself as "Declan Mulqueen." Also, he grins at the Russian major because he introduces her as "Major Koslova," referring to the previous scene in which Gere asks the major her first name and she replies, "Major. Major Koslova."]
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Entry If the calibre of the weapon Willis uses is big enough to blow Jack Black's arm off (which it certainly is), how come Sidney Poitier's leg wasn't blown off. I really dont think he would be up and walking so quickly either. [It's never shown or suggested that he got shot in the leg, it could well have been a piece of shrapnel that hit him, not a bullet.]
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Entry When the Jackal is flipping through weapon options (online with his mafia connection), a machine gun equipped with 7.62 mm bullets is described as 'suitable for anti-aircraft ground defence'. This is wrong. The 7.62 mm is standard NATO anti-personnel ammunition, considered too light and short range for defending air space. However, the Jackal ends up with a very effective 19mm gun, which has been used as a light anti-air weapon in European armies since WW1. [In the Army, we were taught how to effectively utilize the M-60 machine gun (which uses the 7.62mm NATO round) against aircraft.]
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Entry In the scene where the Jackal shoots Major Koslova he draws a heart of blood on her cheek but when Deklin speaks to her, the heart on their cheek disappears. [I'm Sure the paramedics wiped the blood off before she dies.]
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Entry When his minivan is white, it has the plain base-model gray plastic bumpers, but when it is red, the bumpers are the same color as the car. [He got a new Van.]
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Entry When Bruce Willis is doing his time run for washing the paint off the car, there is tape covering the windows. But when he finishes up the job and goes to stop the watch, the tape has been removed. [The tape was blown off by the pressure washer].
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Entry Richard Gere shoots the camera of the Jackal's remote controlled cannon thereby ruining his aim, but before he fired, the Jackal had the gun perfectly aimed. After he lost the picture all he had to do was press the fire button, thereby disintigrating the first lady, and get away in the fallowing riot. [A bullet striking the camera would be enough to throw off the gun's aim slightly. Given the van's distance from where the First Lady is making her speech, the Jackal would not have known whether or not he was still aimed accurately. Yes, he could have pulled the trigger anyway, but given his previously shown perfectionism, it's likely that he would have held fire unless he was certain.]
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You may also like: Hancock | The Day of the Jackal | Batman Forever | Shrek 2 | Man on Fire

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