Incorrectly regarded as errors? - The Day of the Jackal (1973) Discussion

[–] anghmho 13 years ago

Although the Alfa Romeo 1300 Normale that the Jackal drove was a hot car for its time (it's still exciting to drive), it had just a single exhaust pipe. And you're right; the Jackal was soldering, not welding, but whatever he was soldering the gun to, it wasn't the exhaust pipe. After sawing away at the underside of the car, he pulled away a piece of corrugated tubing--clearly not the exhaust pipe, which would have been uncorrugated mild steel of a much smaller diameter. Besides, as one poster pointed out, putting the gun inside the exhaust pipe would not have let the engine run at all. It would have had the same effect as a kid's prank of sticking a potato up somebody's exhaust pipe: the potato is a snug fit, preventing exhaust gasses from escaping, thus preventing the car from starting. Anyway, that aside, the heat through the exhaust pipe would have melted any solder and left his rifle scattered all over the road, wouldn't it. So, no, it wasn't the exhaust pipe.

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[–] anghmho 13 years ago

Although the Alfa Romeo 1300 Normale that the Jackal drove was a hot car for its time (it's still exciting to drive), it had just a single exhaust pipe. And you're right; the Jackal was soldering, not welding, but whatever he was soldering the gun to, it wasn't the exhaust pipe. After sawing away at the underside of the car, he pulled away a piece of corrugated tubing--clearly not the exhaust pipe, which would have been uncorrugated mild steel of a much smaller diameter. Besides, as one poster pointed out, putting the gun inside the exhaust pipe would not have let the engine run at all. It would have had the same effect as a kid's prank of sticking a potato up somebody's exhaust pipe: the potato is a snug fit, preventing exhaust gasses from escaping, thus preventing the car from starting. Anyway, that aside, the heat through the exhaust pipe would have melted any solder and left his rifle scattered all over the road, wouldn't it. So, no, it wasn't the exhaust pipe.

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[–] lwi101 13 years ago

While the ALFA had a single exhaust pipe, many ALFAs have two branch manifolds/headers, so there is a Y pipe connecting to the singe exhaust.
Secondly the 101 Giuletta/ Giulia series had large and deep rocker panels, which are constructed as a box shape to stiffen the chassis, great place to hide stuff. I don't remember if that was in the book, but I had bought a 65 Spider Veloce, with rusted out rocker panels just before I saw the movie. I spent a lot of time trying to reconstruct the rocker frames. Easily enough room to hide the package!
Good photos here: http://www.automobile-catalog.com/make/alfa_romeo/spider_tipo_101/giulietta_tipo_101_spider/1960.html. It's a 101 Spider in the movie because of the fixed quarter window. It would have been simple to cut a hole in the back of the rocker, hide the package in the corrugated tube, which would look structural under casual examination, and put it in the rocker. The tube of flex pipe he uses is sometimes used to fix exhaust, so I was never sure from the movie exactly what he was doing under there. Again for the record, the top stores behind the seats, there is almost noway to one handed put up the top while sitting in the driver's seat! I still can't figure how they did that!
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[–] turtletommy 13 years ago

Pretty interesting info thanks. I too thought that he was doing something to the exhaust to hide his rifle under there, because that flex tube looked so much like exhaust pipe. But he may have very well been using the rocker panels as a hiding spot while using the flex pipe as protection/insulation for his rifle parts. For putting the top up like he did maybe the filmmakers came up with a way for him to do it like he did simply for cinematic purposes because the action flowed better- like how in older films the driver would sometimes enter a vehicle from the sidewalk by coming in thru the passenger door and sliding over behind the wheel- or in a convertible jumping in the driver seat over the closed door! Who ever did that?

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[–] lwi101 13 years ago

Thanks for the kind words. Re the curb side slide: as you know most movies are filmed in California, and California was VERY strict about that at one point. Haven't been there is years, so that may have changed.
Oh, I know why they did the one hand top up, it would have ruined the pacing to show him pull to the side, fold the seats forward, flip the curtain on the rear deck, pull the top forward, push the curtain back down,Pull the top frame up and locked, clip the back bar to the rear deck, snap the two snaps on the quarter, run around the back and snap the two on the passenger side. unfold the top, clip it to the windshield, run back to the drivers side and clip it to the windshield, push the seat back, get in close the door drive off. You can do it faster when its raining, but not much faster! After I saw the movie, I'd leave the window clipped to the rear deck if it looked like rain, which saved some time, but I still had to get out to put the top up.
On my Veloce, the pipe right after the Y from the Exhaust manifold was something like 2 7/8 or 3" in diameter, this for a 96 cubic inch engine!
Nuvolari always wore a Turtle pin when he raced~
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[–] lwi101 13 years ago

Checking one of the Alfa parts places indicates that the Giulietta has a two branch down pipe into a resonator which exits into a large exhaust pipe.
http://www.centerlinealfa.com/cgi-local/SoftCart.exe/online-store/scstore/c-ExhaustAv_Front_Sections.html?L+scstore+lztj7284ff8cbd8c+1380580726
There are several things that could have been done regarding exhaust, but If I remember, he wraps the package in polyethylene sheeting, or something similar, which would melt in close proximity to an exhaust pipe. I'm holding out for the rocker panels. Again, this was intended to fool a boarder guard that took a casual look under the car. No reason to believe the average Swiss or French Boarder guard was an expert on the exhaust configuration of every Italian car model. As long as it looked like it belonged, it would pass. He had the old coat stuffed in the back as get out and get under work clothes, so maybe he made it looked like a cobbed up exhaust repair. Bottom line he hid the package successfully by attaching it to the undercarriage and making it looked like it belonged. For me it all works and using the old soldier's great coat as a ground clothe to work on the bottom of your Alfa was brilliant. None of the strategies were intended to withstand 35 years of probing, just the "inspection" by a border guard who had a hundred people behind you. The two bottles of old Spice raise an eyebrow, but no suspicion. Two bottles of hair color would have raised suspicion. Believe he knew what he was doing. The fact that I don't know exactly how to act exactly like an international assassin, says more about how my mother raised me that weaknesses in the plot.
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[–] turtletommy 13 years ago

I grew up and lived in Calif. from the 1950s to 1970s and have no idea what you mean by the state being very strict about the "curb side slide"? That's a new one to me lol.

I noticed the practice every now and then in older movies and TV shows but always attributed the rather awkward maneuver simply as a filming convention.

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[–] lwi101 13 years ago

I grew up in Brooklyn, so its not like I'm an expert. I drove to LA in 68. The fact that traffic stopped if I stepped off the curb, made me think traffic rules were strictly enforced. Even Superman got in from Curbside I just ASSUMED, my apologies!
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[–] garyedgecombe 11 years ago

Why are you discussing exhaust pipes? If you read the
(hardback) book you'd know that the exhaust has NOTHING whatsoever to do with concealing his rifle. He chooses the Alfa Romeo after much research..in the scene where he writes his "when- where-how" list in his flat (apartment)
you can see a Guilietta manual open on the table. This is before he's even left London.
He picks this model because of a deep ledge on the inside of the chassis rail on both sides of the car, the car really has them, about the only part of of the car that was over engineered.
Ideal for hiding your sniper rifle! The corrugated flexi pipe?
Artistic licence. No such pipe exists on the model. In the book he puts the rifle in the pipes that will become the crutch, & solders the lot to the car with wire. In the film, i'm guessing the "concealment" has to be visually obvious to the viewer...hence the hacking away at a piece of prop pipe!
That model Alfa would have been a pretty stupid car to an assassin to pick by the way, even in 1963 it was a pretty exclusive set of wheels. You'd want to blend into the scenery, not stick out like a sore thumb!
He might as well have hired an E Type Jaguar! (XKE in the US.)
Those Alfa's were nice cars though you can't pull the roof up with one hand like the Jackal does in the film..more poetic licence i guess!
I owned one for 5 years, until some swine stole it. I never saw it again!

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[–] lwi101 11 years ago

Yeah we got pretty far off topic, but if you read the whole thread, the rocker panels were discussed.
I've had 2 101.18 Spider Veloce's and some experience fixing rocker panals and exhaust. I think in the boo the car was a 750 but the movie used a 101 IIRC, mainly because of the fixed quarter light.!

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[–] garyedgecombe 11 years ago

It's now a recognised classic too! An original and/or concours example can lighten your wallet by up to £75,000 here in the UK! While it's a beautiful car, you can get a flawless series 1 3.8 E Type for that kind of cash! (and i know which one I'D pick to pose in while wafting around the French riviera!!)

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[–] ksjazzguitar 10 years ago

If you people had read the book, you'd know that he was soldering, not welding. And he wasn't putting them in the tailpipe. The book mentions that he chose the Romeo because of a large lip in the underside of the chassis. He wrapped up his pipes, secured them into place with wire, and soldered the wire to the chassis.

Seriously, read the book.

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[–] Nikon11 10 years ago

Sure, reading the book helps. I read it long before I saw the movie, and have re-read it since. That said, though, a movie should stand on its own, and shouldn't require the viewer to have read the book in order for the film to be understood.

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