IMAGE: Best-selling novelist Frederick Forsyth passed into the ages on Monday, June 9, 2025. Photograph: Kind courtesy Frederick Forsyth/X
After an exciting career as a journalist, MI6 asset and war correspondent, Frederick Forsyth returned home to the UK, to ‘no job, no prospects, no flat, no car, no savings,’ in his words.
With no other plan in sight, he wrote a novel, fictionalising his own experiences and observations in France.
The Day Of The Jackal (1971) was about an unnamed assassin sent to kill President Charles de Gaulle, and turned out to be a huge bestseller. It was turned into a film just two years later.
His meticulous research, an expert reporter’s eye for spotting stories and ability to turn them into page-turning thrillers made him one of the most popular writers in the genre.
His books became global bestsellers, and a few were adapted for the screen.
The recent Web series The Day Of The Jackal (2024), starring Eddie Redmayne, was based on the character created by him, and placed in a modern setting. It evokes a nostalgia for a generation that grew up on his novels. Forsyth passed into the ages on June 9, at the age of 86.
Deepa Gahlot looks at the films based on his books, and where you can watch them.
The Day Of The Jackal (1973)
Where to watch: Rent for Rs 99 on Amazon Prime Video
Edward Fox played the assassin code named Fox, hired by disgruntled military personnel, to kill French President Charles de Gaulle.
Fred Zinneman directed this political thriller, which was fast-paced but also had a documentary-like authentic style.
Critic Roger Ebert described it as ‘a beautifully executed example of filmmaking. It’s put together like a fine watch.’
The Odessa File (1974)
Where to watch: Rent for Rs 99 on Amazon Prime Video
Ronald Neam directed this John Voight-Maximilian Schell starrer about a German reporter who goes on a hunt for a Nazi war criminal, Eduard Roschmann, and finds that there is an organisation aiding members of the notorious SS.
Interestingly, it was reported that the novel actually helped identify the real Roschmann.
Forsyth told The Telegraph, ‘They made it into a film, which was screened in a little fleapit cinema, south of Buenos Aires, where a man stood up and said, “I know that man, he lives down the street from me,” and denounced him. He decided to make a run for it to Paraguay and died of a heart attack on the river crossing. They buried him in an unmarked gravel pit. I hope they tossed a copy of the book in on top of him.’
The Dogs Of War (1980)
Where to watch: Rent for Rs 119 on Amazon Prime Video
Again based on real incidents, Forsyth set his story in a fictional African country called Zangaro.
Directed by John Irvin and starring Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger and Colin Blakely, the plot was about a group of mercenaries hired by a British tycoon to depose the president of Zangaro so that he can get his hands on the country’s platinum deposits.
Norman Jewison wrote in his memoirs, This Terrible Business Has Been Good To Me: ‘The Dogs of War is one film I would rather have directed than produced, but I was proud to be associated with it in any capacity. It had modest success in North America but was well received in Europe, where there is more interest in African politics and a better understanding of the underside of corporate power in poor countries.’
The Fourth Protocol (1987)
Where to watch: YouTube
With his journalist’s instinct on the pulse of world politics, Forsyth’s book was turned into a Cold War spy film, directed by John Mackenzie and starring Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan.
A British agent discovers that the Russians are planning a nuclear detonation on American soil and are smuggling bomb parts into the country. This would be in contravention of the Fourth Protocol, the NATO agreement to halt nuclear proliferation.
The Jackal (1997)
Where to watch: JioHotstar or rent for Rs 99 on Amazon Prime Video
Directed by Michael Caton-Jones, and starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere and Sidney Poitier, the film was loosely inspired by The Day Of The Jackal.
When an FBI operation in Moscow leads to the killing of the brother of Azerbaijani gangster, Terek Murad, he hires an assassin code-named The Jackal to kill FBI director Donald Brown.
The authorities are forced to seek the help of an imprisoned IRA sniper, Declan Mulqueen, to foil the plot.
The film was panned by critics, but went on to become a commercial hit.
The Shepherd (2023)
Where to watch: JioHotstar
A heartwarming, short story by Forsyth was made into a movie, by Ian Softly, starring Ben Radcliffe, Steven Mackintosh and John Travolta.
On Christmas Eve, a young RAF pilot flying home across the North Sea finds himself close to death when his radio and electric power crash, and his plane is running short on fuel.
A mysterious saviour turns up to guide him to a safe landing: A real Christmas miracle.
Cry Of The Innocent (1980)
Not available on OTT
Cry Of The Innocent, based on a Forsyth story, was adapted for a television film. It was directed by Michael O’Herlihy and starred Rod Taylor as an American insurance executive, who seeks revenge for the death of his wife and child in Ireland.
Icon (2005)
Not available on OTT
Charles Martin Smith’s TV miniseries, starring Patrick Swazye, was loosely based on Forsyth’s 1997 novel.
It was about a former undercover agent in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, who was sent back to halt the manipulation of the elections in Russia, with the use of biological weapons.
Avenger (2006)
Not available on OTT
Robert Markowitz’s American TV film, starring Sam Elliott and Timothy Hutton, was based on the 2003 novel of the same name. Elliott’s daughter gets murdered, and it’s up to him to get justice when the official channels fail.
When tasked with tracing the son of a rich businessman, who disappeared in Bosnia, he stumbles upon a global conspiracy.
