Why was the gunsmith (played by Cyril Cusack) wearing a black armband? I noticed when they were both sat down there was an open magazine on the table with a picture of, I think, Kennedy, showing. I wondered if he might have just been assassinated, but if so why would the gunsmith care? Maybe it's mentioned in the book, which I've not read.
(Also they were drinking Campari neat with no ice - yuck!)
I haven't read the novel in years but I've read elsewhere that a black arm band is traditionally worn as a sign of mourning for a loved one. Perhaps he is a widower. Probably just an ironic detail included in the story/screenplay to highlight the humanity of this black market gunsmith.
shareThanks, I just thought it was an interesting detail. I read elsewhere the film is meant to be set in 1963 so that would tie in with the Kennedy assassination.
shareThis in the film's trivia section: "When the Jackal meets the weapons supplier in Genoa, there is a picture of John F. Kennedy on the cover of an Italian magazine reporting on President Kennedy's recent visit to Europe. The scene is set on 2 August 1963, about three months before Kennedy himself was assassinated."
I think the film's 1963 setting had more to do with the state of affairs in France at the time, following Algerian independence, OAS actions & resultant prison time or executions for its leaders than a tie-in with the Kennedy assassination which, as far as I know, was a completely unrelated matter- except perhaps to conspiracy theorists!
Kennedy's photo on the cover of the Italian magazine is used to document the time period for the viewer. JFK had actually just visited several west European countries in June & early July 1963 (most notably in West Berlin, Germany for his Eich en Berliner speech) and ended his European goodwill tour in early July in Rome, Naples, and Vatican City for an audience with the Pope. I find it interesting that France wasn't on the itinerary on this visit- though Kennedy had made a state visit in 1961 to meet with De Gaulle. Perhaps U.S.-France relations were strained by 1963 as De Gaulle was being viewed critically by the U.S. and its NATO allies for taking France on a more independent path.
I'd always wondered why my Dad loathed De Gaulle but when you're a kid you don't question things like that. Now I realise it was his selling out of Algeria, and also during WW2 he was given shelter in London and then later did his best to keep us out of the Common Market - there's gratitude! At least I think those were Dad's main beefs, I could be wrong.
I like TDOTJ because it's very idiosyncratic. I like the way the director shows a scene and then freeze frames the camera, even though that technique is a bit dated now.
I love this movie one of my favorites. De Gaulle is definitely a polarizing figure! Same thing here (in America, De Gaulle wasn't viewed too highly either) but after reading "A Savage War of Peace" by Alastair Horne detailing the long Algerian conflict I've come to a grudging admiration and/or respect in some ways for him as a leader, statesman, figure. When it came to his beloved France he wanted what he thought best for it, but of course history and historians will be the judge of that. Certainly he did a lot of things that seem to be a thumbing of the nose (and what a nose it was) towards his one-time allies.
shareIt could be because of the death of Pope John XXIII. He died in July of that year. That's right about the time of the visit.
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