Recognise this station?

Well, you might not, but I do, and there are people out there just like me. And we have the right to highlight movie goofs. This is a screengrab from the 1997 Hollywood blockbuster The Jackal, the half-baked remake of the seventies thriller The Day of the Jackal. Richard Gere plays an ex-IRA man on the hunt for some bad assassin guy played by Bruce Willis yadda yadda yadda...

What's really important (oh yes) is that parts of the film were filmed in Montréal. The story is partially set in the city, but what's amusing is that later on, when the scene shifts to Washington DC, a number of scenes take place in the Washington Metro system, and at one point supposedly in Capitol Heights station. If you're a Montréaler though, you're probably sensing a scam. And yep, you're right, 'cos that ain't Capitol Heights station - it's actually Radisson, in the east-end of Montréal. Notice the distinctive orange and silver STM ticket booth in this screen grab, sporting a new station sign hastily stuck across the real one. And if you check out the photos here you'll also recognise the blue and white trains and Montréal's little transfer ticket machines (with the French instructions blacked out so as not to suggest any cheese-eating in the American capitol...).

Oh, and if any Montréalers want to really sink to new depths in movie-trivia-goofdom, have a look at Bruce Willis' left hand. Look very closely.

Yep. Not only is he holding his ticket the wrong way up - so that the bar code isn't being read by the machine, but he's also swiping it through the wrong gate.

Oh yes. People have noticed this, and it really matters. Really.

*j*