Spy Film Season: The Day of the Jackal (1973) Trailer - Fred Zimmerman adaptation of one of Frederick Forsyth's greatest ever novels. The situation is historically accurate. There were many such attempts to depose President de Gaul and the film closely follows the plot of the book.... A professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" plots to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France. It is the early 60s in France. The remaining survivors of the aborted French Foreign Legion, who have lost their