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So in 1973, director Fred Zinnemann had little trouble turning the book into a classic thriller starring Edward Fox.
Twenty four years later and Hollywood bosses thought it was time for a revisit although the title alone caused a few headaches for the film's backers.
At 81, just months before his death, Zinnemann fought with Universal to change the name of the remake. He said the original had stood the test of time and did not want the 1997 version to have the same moniker.
Needless to say, Fred got his wish before the great director in the sky shouted: "Cut!" on his illustrious career.
While the original movie centred on a plan to kill General Charles De Gaulle, the screenwriters behind this version - Chuck Pfarrer and Kenneth Ross - decided Americans wouldn't give two hoots whether a French VIP was bumped off or not. So, while this hangs onto the book's stucture and much of its plot, a more US friendly target entered the crosshairs - the deputy head of the CIA.
Scots director Michael Caton-Jones was an ideal choice for The Jackal. A master of flashy dramas such as Memphis Belle and Scandal, he recruited Bruce Willis, Richard Gere and Sidney Poitier for his core cast and handled the epic set pieces with bags of flair.
The plot centres on reformed 'Oirish' terrorist Declan Mulqueen (Gere), given a pardon from prison to track down an assassin (Willis) hired to kill CIA boss Preston (Poitier).
The supporting cast includes Mathilda May - perhaps best remembered as a nude vampire in Lifeforce but less memorable here as a Basque separatist - Leslie Phillips as the delightfully named Woolburton and doing his Hitchcock cameo, Caton-Jones as 'Man in video.'
Perhaps most notable is Diane Venora as facially scarred Russian officer Valentina Koslova. The reliable co-star of Heat, The Cotton Club and TV's Chicago Hope manages to eclipse both Gere and Willis in the acting stakes. If you like her performance in this, take heart as she can soon be seen in Antonio Banderas epic, The 13th Warrior - your everyday tale of Norsemen and cannibals which should be hitting the local multiplex soon.
"It's wonderful. I play the queen of the Vikings," she remarks.
Despite shooting to the top of the US charts, The Jackal received mixed reviews when it was released in the States in late 1997 - not least because of a few continuity errors worthy of Denis Norden himself. For example, don't miss the scene where Sidney Poitier appears to have a caucasian leg when stepping from a helicopter or another chopper cock-up in which the aircraft's markings change from 28 to 29 while in flight.
There's also the slight matter of the Jackal's extraordinary van. The fact that he can re-spray the whole thing in 10 seconds flat can be put down to artistic license but it seems strange that the vehicle doesn't have license plates until he goes to r
