Would the Jackal sleep with the gay, if there was no TV announcement, or would he kill him if the gay tried that?
If he would sleep who would be f* who? ;)
I'd think not, unless he was inclined that way to begin with. I mean, he's shown that he wasn't adverse to killing.
shareIf I remember the book correctly the Jackal killed Jules as soon as they got to his home. The movie implies there's a time lapse so who knows?
"Lola, I love you, you selfish bitch!"
He sleeps the night on the sofa, and then kills him when he's shown on the TV.
It's not a lot of detail about why he waited till the morning - I mean, he had to have known that he'd have to kill the guy anyway - since he was planning on spending a few days there out of sight.
Maybe he just didn't want to leave another body for the cops. The Jackal didn't kill people unless absolutely necessary.
"I may not punish you for treason, but I could slap you for stupidity."
interesting question. Book says he aced him as soon as the door was shut then sized up his food supply and living environment. The film seemed to imply some time between the arrival and the murder (guy went grocery shopping) and the murder was done only when discovery was an issue! Perhaps the film version has the Jackal as heterosexual but willing to swing both ways out of necessity.
shareWould the Jackal sleep with the gay, if there was no TV announcement, or would he kill him if the gay tried that?
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Just saw the flick again on TCM, and I got the impression the Jackal was gay when he needed to be. He at least spent the night.
He asks the cab driver to take him to a Turkish bath, and in those days bath houses were where gays hooked up. His plan was to find a dude he could shack up with long enough to do the hit and not leave any paper trail--the hotel cards the detectives mentioned. For $500K he'd do what he had to do.
If he'd not been discovered and had his identity put on TV, the Jackal would have just disappeared after the job and the guy would never have even suspected.
Only sex would explain inviting a total stranger into your home the same day/night you meet.
For contrast, in the book:
The Jackal went to a gay bar, not a bath house.
He did not have sex with Jules. (Slept on the coach.)
He killed Jules as soon as there was an announcement on the TV revealing that he was wanted.
I just responded to somebody else asking the same question. Going strictly from the film because I have not read the book, but my thought is that Jackal is such a cold, calculating professional that he does anything it takes to get the job done. He will have sex with man or woman if it serves his purpose. Having already used a woman to hide out earlier, he was probably thinking that the authorites would not expect him to shack up with a man. I think it would be naive for anybody to suggest that the Jackal would go to a bathhouse and let himself get picked up by another man and then simply sleep on the couch.
shareI just responded to somebody else asking the same question. Going strictly from the film because I have not read the book, but my thought is that Jackal is such a cold, calculating professional that he does anything it takes to get the job done. He will have sex with man or woman if it serves his purpose. Having already used a woman to hide out earlier, he was probably thinking that the authorites would not expect him to shack up with a man. I think it would be naive for anybody to suggest that the Jackal would go to a bathhouse and let himself get picked up by another man and then simply sleep on the couch.
shareFunny, I never thought about him (Jules) being gay (didn't read the book). Thought he was just being friendly.. kinda obvious in hindsight though :)
shareHe isn't gay. He's on a mission and trying to survive. Can't believe people on here are so stupid. He's doing a risky job for a lot of money, and the whole government is after him. He just happened to have found it easier to pick up a man and take over his apartment than anybody else.
shareI think he knew he could fend the guy off for long enough to get comfortably in the door, especially is those days. Dunno if homosexuality was illegal in France in 1963 but it seemed to be in most other places. I imagine Jules would be used to not pushing it, pardon the phrasing.
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Free your mind and the rest will follow
In the book, he does not. He sleeps on the sofa. In the book, he keeps the gay man, Bernard, from going out for fresh milk the next morning, presumably in case he talks to someone and mentions the foreign man staying in his flat (in the book the Jackal is pretending to be a young American at this point). The film is a little more ambiguous. The Jackal seems to have settled in quite comfortably, the man he picked up in the sauna has gone out (obviously the Jackal did not prevent it) and on returning mentions seeing him on TV while passing a shop window, sealing his own doom.
A somewhat later thought: Forsyth tends to be a bit homophobic and the book absolutely rules out the Jackal being bisexual. The film is not quite so clear-cut, although Bernard in the book is rather more obviously gay than the man from the sauna. The sauna seems to be a more understated pick-up joint than the gay bar in the book.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."