Goofs for
The Day of the Jackal (1973) More at IMDbPro »

• Continuity: When the Jackal is sighting in his rifle, he opens the bolt to put in the last round, but the but the chamber is empty - the shell casing from the prior round is missing.
  
  
• Anachronisms: When the dispatch-rider arrives at the Ministry of the Interior, there's a new type Citroen ID/DS parked in the courtyard: the version with the double headlights that wasn't introduced until the late sixties.
  
  
• Continuity: 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.
  
  

• Continuity: When the Jackal tests and calibrates his new rifle in the forest, the telescopic sight on the weapon changes from one model to another - in some scenes, the two calibrating screws on the sight are small and silver, in others - they're large and reddish.
  
  
• Continuity: When the Jackal travels to Paris disguised as the Danish schoolteacher we see three shots of the train he takes, and each time it has a different engine.
  
  
• Continuity: On leaving Mme de Montpelier, the Jackal takes her car. His bag is on the bonnet, then suddenly disappears just before he drives off.
  
  
• Continuity: When the detective is interviewing Madame de Montpelier, his legs are alternately crossed/not crossed between shots.
  
  
• Continuity: When the dispatch rider on the motorcycle arrives at the Ministry, the extras in the foreground/ background (depending on the angle of the shot) are doing different things.
  
  
• Continuity: When the Jackal first is trying to get a target on the president, the shot is taken outside the building and you can clearly see rain pouring down the roof tiles. Next shot shows the president and the crowd all dry with no sight of rain anywhere.
  
  
• Continuity: At the hotel The Jackal checks the guest book to find out Clare's room number. Each guest has a date of birth next to their name, Clare'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.
  
  
• Continuity: When the Jackal parks the blue car (he had stolen from Madame DE Montpelier) 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.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: 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.
  
  
• Plot holes: There is no parade on "Paris liberation day" on August the 25th, and therefore no public appearance of the president - so there is no opportunity for the assassination attempt depicted. The big parade in Paris takes place more than a month earlier on July the 14th, the French national holiday.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In the first minutes of the movie the man on the scooter turns right and passes a Peugeot 504 parked on the corner, this car came on the market only in 1969. The Renault 16, available from 1965, can be seen in different scenes of the movie. In the section of the movie where the Jackal makes his preparations for the assassination in Paris you can clearly see one passing the café on the Place de Rennes from where he observes the concierge.
  
  
• Anachronisms: When President Charles de Gaulle attends mass, shortly before the assassination attempt, the priest-celebrant is facing the congregants, post-Vatican-II style, rather than away from them, as would have been the case on 25 August 1963, when the action that day was set.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The Jackal is supposed to be one of only three guests who checked in at the hotel that day. Supposedly Clare 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 Clare's name in the guest book. "Duggan" is not entered anywhere near Clare's name in the guest book. Also, more than two names are entered below Clare'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.
  
  
• Continuity: When the Brits find the bogus passport application it's reported as having been applied for on July 14th and mailed on the 17th. Later when Lebel is announcing the find he says that that the passport was issued on July 30th.
  
  
• Anachronisms: When the Jackal drives into France in his period-correct Alfa Romeo Giulietta, he passes a red Alfa Duetto. The story is set in 1963, but those were not made until 1966.
  
  
• Anachronisms: As the Jackal is approaching the border checkpoint, a Ford Escort can be seen driving towards him. The story is set 5 years before this model was introduced.
  
  
• Anachronisms: 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.
  
  
• Continuity: (At 1:13:20) When the Jackal is crossing into France and gets called into inspection, his suitcase switches from a single strap closure to a double strap closure.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When the Jackal releases his leg while posing as the old man, he is only wearing a sock on that foot. Later, while he waits for De Gaulle, he is wearing shoes on both feet. However, it's possible he stole a pair of shoes from the apartment while waiting.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: It appears there is some confusion over the rank of the Special Branch officer played by Tony Britton. In the film's dialog he is called Chief Superintendent Thomas by Mallison and other characters in the British segment, but is Called Inspector Thomas in the end titles.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Lebel is advised by telephone that the Jackal has passed through the border into France in his white Alfa Romero, 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.
  
  

• Revealing mistakes: SPOILER: When Lebel shoots the Jackal with the fallen gendarme's machine gun, the top section of the apartment room wall clearly gives way from the corner frame.
  
  
• Continuity: SPOILER: At the burial of the Jackal, there are two men filling in the grave. Just before the end credits we see the other man about to shovel some dirt onto the grave but then turning back and throwing the dirt back to the pile.
  
  

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