When buying his hair coloring in London he was waited on by a none-too-bright saleslady who seemed confused by the simplest request. What was the reason for inserting such a scene? It wasn't funny enough for comedy. Perhaps to show the Jackal as an ordinarily patient gentleman off duty, rather than an easily-infuriated homicidal maniac.
shareClearly the scene was used to show how his looks and charm could be distracting to in this case the opposite sex.
sharewell put and probably on the money.
shareThanks. I've seen many similar scenes like that in movies where the good-looking charming lead seems to have various women he encounters from coat-check girl to countess giving him the eye & sometimes acting all flustered by his presence. The Bond films come to mind for example.
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You may be on to something because I imagine at that time most men weren't that concerned about graying hair or their hair in general, so a request for hair dye would probably throw someone slightly. This was before Grecian Formula and I think the only hair dye for men was black.
shareI seem to remember that the same scene in the book was centred more on the Jackal's charm and appeal to the young woman.
*EDIT* Nope, I'm wrong. In the book he obtains the hair dye from (to paraphrase Forsyth) a wig shop run by two homosexuals.
Look out! Most of the answers that follow the original question have to do with the answerers' personal agendas. Come to think of it, so do most of the comments on this site.
sharePersonal agendas? Lol.
Anything in any movie *could* be interpreted differently by different people. Unless we all had copies of the script and it specifically said something like "Salesgirl bumbles around, taken aback by the Jackal's good looks." Or whatever.
I've often wondered about that girl too. But nice to see Kensington High Street in the good old early 1970's! I remember the Ryman well, used to buy stationery for the company I worked for in Earls Court Road!
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1) She provides a little eye-candy in a movie cast mostly with men, 2) She provides a vehicle for the Jackal's all-important charm to be shown, 3) The scene allows for the introduction of the hair dye and the after-shave bottles into the story.
shareIt was probably the only light moment in the whole film. The next most giggliest bit you could show the kids was probably the melon exploding like the head of a dead man or six coppers going through a massive pile of cards at three in the morning. It's not a Steve Martin kind of a film :-)
Now I've written that, I wonder what it'd have been like with Steve Martin in the lead... Maybe his ten kids could have come to stay when he's at the flat the night before the job and there's an hour of him trying to sneak out with the rifle while the eldest teen tells him he's "like toadily so not cool, dad".
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Free your mind and the rest will follow
Now I've written that, I wonder what it'd have been like with Steve Martin in the lead... - loveagoodstory
The entire French security services would be scouring the Liberation Day parade when Steve Martin would sorrowfully roll up in a wheelchair. He'd tell the officer on duty that he loved to dance. Then his girlfriend buggered off and the trauma left him stuck in the chair so now he still lives in an upstairs flat overlooking the Place de le Sniper. They'd take him in for questioning and leg-whipping by Lebel za Third, old Michael Caine. Cue a big escape and chase scene, with Steve and those naff-looking French police cars that can't keep up with Steve's wheelchair and he gets to Switzerland.
shareCould be because she is new in the job....
And tells him: "I have only Clairol, Sir !" but after appears a bottle
of "Old Spice".......when he filled the black dye.
I'd be bumbling too if someone asked for 'solvent'.
shareActually he was "on duty". He needed that hair coloring for his disguise. As for the girl not knowing where the solvent was, what did you want him to do? I mean he can't kill everyone he encounters (even though he kills a few).
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