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

Lawyer: For heaven's sake, man, don't you realize you are going to be shot!
Bastien-Thiry: You don't understand. No French soldier will raise his rifle against me.
[He is shot by a firing squad the next day]

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The Jackal: Half a million. In cash. Half in advance, and half on completion.
Montclair: Half a million francs?
The Jackal: Dollars.
Montclair: Are you mad?
The Jackal: Considering you expect to get France in return, I'd have thought it a reasonable price.

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Minister: How did you know whose telephone to tap?
Lebel: I didn't, so I tapped them all.

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Mallinson: The prime minister?
Insp. Thomas: The prime minster, sir. That he said if there's the remotest possibility of General de Gaulle's life being threatened by a person of these islands, then it is to be stopped. And he's given me full powers and top priority.
Mallinson: Is this some kind of bloody joke?
Insp. Thomas: No, of couse not, sir. I've got to drop whatever I'm doing, and I shall need six of your best men, straight away.
Mallinson: Where's the notification for all this? Where's the proper authority?
[Telephone rings. Mallison answers]
Mallinson: Yes!
[Mallison listens then rises]
Mallinson: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Of course, sir.

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Colette de Montpelier: Why, I don't know what you're talking about.
Lebel: Madam, be in no doubt as to the seriousness of your position.
[Colette stands and moves uneasily to another chair]

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Col. Rodin: We are not terrorists, you understand. We are patriots. Our duty is to the soldiers who've died fighting in Algeria, and to the three million French citizens who have always lived there.
The Jackal: [bluntly] And so you want to get rid of him.
Col. Rodin: [after a pause] Speaking as a professional, do you think it's possible?
The Jackal: It's possible. The point is getting away with it. And speaking as a professional, that's a very important consideration.

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The Jackal: You see, gentlemen, not only have your own efforts failed, but you've rather queered the pitch for everyone else.
Casson: How dare you suggest that?
The Jackal: In this work you simply can't afford to be emotional. That's why you've made so many mistakes.
Col. Rodin: But if we decided to employ a professional...
The Jackal: You have to employ a professional. Your organization is so riddled with informants that nothing you decide is a secret for long.

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The Gunsmith: Will the gentleman be moving?

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Caron: But no crime has been committed yet, so where are we supposed to start looking for the criminal?
Lebel: We start by recognizing that, after De Gaulle, we are the two most powerful people in France.

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Insp. Thomas: [after Special Branch Detective finds Charles Calthrop's passport in his apartment] What's this?
Special Branch Detective: His passport.
Insp. Thomas: Oh?
Special Branch Detective: We checked it. It's him, all right. Look. The Dominican visa. There's no exit stamp, though. He must have got out on the sly.
Insp. Thomas: You haven't grasped it yet, have you? Oh, yes, this is our man, all right. Definitely. But hasn't it occurred to you that we're holding his passport in our hands? If he is out of the country, what's he travelling on? Eh?

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Lebel: Excuse me, but it has just occurred to me that we have forty-eight hours in which to find this Jackal
[There is a chorus of "What?" and "How do you know?" from the committee members]
Lebel: Am I right in assuming that the President has no engagements outside the Elysee Palace today, tomorrow and Saturday ?
Minister: None.
Lebel: And what is Sunday, August the twenty-fifth?
Minister: [Slaps forehead] Of course! Liberation Day!
Lebel: That's what he's been waiting for.
Minister: We must have been blind.

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