Frederick Forsyth for film buffs

Frederick Forsyth's extensive literary work not only resonated deeply with his voracious and numerous readers. Many of his books were adapted for the big and small screens with varying success with audiences and critics. His most famous novel, The Day of the Jackal (1971), was made into a film twice. American Fred Zinnemann ( High Noon, From Here to Eternity ) directed the first version in 1973, bringing together Edward Fox, Michael Lonsdale, and Derek Jacobi in a classic thriller that was nominated for Best Editing at the Oscars. In it, a prestigious hitman whose true identity no one knows has been hired to kill the President of the French Republic, General Charles de Gaulle. Sobriety and fidelity to the famous bestseller characterized this detective piece where tension reigned masterfully.

Much less effective was the 1997 remake by Michael Caton-Jones, who replaced the plot of the De Galle attack with an alleged Russian conspiracy against the United States. Bruce Willis played the role of an unscrupulous killer, known only by the pseudonym The Jackal, and Richard Gere, as a former IRA activist, had to hunt him down. The film, a straightforwardly entertaining thriller, served as the setting for the two stars to work together for the first and last time.

'The Day of the Jackal', 'Odessa', 'The Fourth Protocol' and 'The Dogs of War' are some of the works that have been adapted to film.

Oscar-winning British actor Eddie Redmayne has become the face of the new Jackal in the recent series created by Ronan Bennett for SkyShowtime. He's an elusive, solitary assassin without rival who makes his living working for the highest bidder and is partnered with Úrsula Corberó. After ten episodes of the first season, a second one is already in the works.

Another of Forsyth's works that won fans in theaters was The Fourth Protocol (1987), an efficient thriller with a star-studded cast led by Michael Caine and a young Pierce Brosnan. Caine played an intelligence agent pursuing the cold-blooded and ruthless Russian agent, played by Brosnan, who arrived in England under a false identity with the goal of detonating a nuclear device.

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The success of Odessa also had its film adaptation in 1974, in a thriller directed by Ronald Neame and starring an efficient Jon Voight. The actor played a freelance journalist investigating the whereabouts of the head of one of the Nazi extermination camps, protected by a secret organization of former SS members. Maximilian Schell played the villain.

John Irvin's 1980 adaptation of The Dogs of War received mixed reviews. Christopher Walken played a war veteran hired by a North American corporation to investigate everything he could about the Zangaro dictatorship in West Africa. The novel The Avenger was made into a 2006 television film, with Sam Elliott determined to hunt down all the war criminals the government refuses to arrest.