Jackie Brown (1997)

Quentin Tarantino, a genius who brought us Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs returned with Jackie Brown, a tale of deception in the world of drugs-smuggling business. Heavily inspired by the 1970’s blaxploitation flicks, it tells the story of a stewardess, Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) who was pinned inside the cash-smuggling business as she’s tormented between two choices, becoming a cash-mule and in the end snitching her own boss or being smart by keeping the money for herself. It’s quite rare to see a film where the leading role is a female. Even though the plot relies quite much on Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch, Tarantino really did great in giving his own personal touch to the existing materials by adding up a fine composition of clever dialogue, dark humor, and even the ultra violence in the forms of gun-battling badasses, drugs, and absolutely very graphic language, making it absolutely a typical Tarantino flick.

This film also possessed its own controversies that put Tarantino in the prosecuted seat because of his frequent use of the word “nigger”. This serious accusation was made by Spike Lee who furiously (while busy counting) noted that was used 38 times, excessively, throughout the film and he claimed that it’s an abuse and definitely an insult to black people. Apart from the above accusation, in my opinion, Jackie Brown, with its strong casts from Pam Grier, Bridget Fonda, Robert Forester, and Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Keaton and Robert De Niro really add up to the greatness of the film. The way I see it, every cast here is given a complex set of character for us to study. Both De Niro and Keaton, despite their small roles, they remain favorable and memorable.

Booyah!

Coming as it did after critical darlings "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction", it's perhaps not surprising that Quentin Tarantino's next film failed to - at the time - scale those giddy heights. Yet on reflection these days, when viewing Tarantino's career over twenty years later, it's one of his tightest works.

Working from master pulper Elmore Leonard's novel "Rum Punch", Tarantino had a concrete base from which to build on, which he does with aplomb. Cleaving close to the spirit of Leonard, "Jackie Brown" is rich with glorious chatter, each conversation either pings with a biting hard ass edge, or alternatively deconstructing the vagaries of the human condition.

Oh for sure this is a talky pic, but nothing is ever twee or pointless, for it's a film that pays rich rewards to those prepared to fully grasp the characters on show, to be aware that all is building towards the final third. It's then here where the story brings about its stings, with a complex operation cloaked in double crosses and evasive captures, of violence and more...

There's a wonderful portion of the story that sees Tarantino play the same sequence out from different character perspectives, but this is not self indulgency. Tarantino reins himself in, not letting stylisations detract from the characters we are so heavily involved with. His other triumph is bringing Pam Grier and Robert Forster to the fore, who both deliver terrific performances. It's through these pair, with their deft characterisations, where Jackie Brown is most poignant and purposeful.

Is it a case of "Jackie Brown" being undervalued in Tarantino's armoury? Perhaps it is? For it's ageless, holding up as a piece of intelligent work of note, and well worth revisiting by anyone who hasn't seen it since it was first released. 9/10

Outstanding, no two ways about it.

<em>'Jackie Brown'</em> makes for a great watch, I personally found the pacing excellent; which is obviously important for a 2hr 30min+ production. The cast knock it out the park, while the story is riveting. It's worthy of the hype, one of Quentin Tarantino's best no doubt.

Pam Grier is fantastic as the titular character, Samuel L. Jackson is quality as well - the scenes that those two share are top notch. Robert Forster plays a much larger part than I was expecting at the beginning, which is only a massive plus as he gives a great performance. You also have the likes of Michael Keaton, Chris Tucker and Robert De Niro involved - I actually would've like to have seen De Niro used more meaningfully.

Not much more needs to be said, I'd only be repeating what everyone else has positively said about this. It's brilliant.

Samuel L. Jackson really steals the show here as the petty criminal "Ordell". He sells guns - gradually accumulating a small fortune which he smuggles in from Mexico using the services of the eponymous air stewardess (Pam Grier). When his well oiled machine starts to splutter, he avails himself of bail bondsman "Cherry" (Robert Forster) and so starts a complex story that sees people drop like flies; policeman "Ray" (Michael Keaton) get involved and we build to a sting operation not seen since Paul Newman in 1973. A great soundtrack that doesn't overwhelm some good performances, a pithy and dryly humorous script with the foul-mouthed tirades from the rather ruthless "Ordell" working well to develop his character and a really solid effort from Grier as the middle-woman who is very capable of thinking on her feet! There are a couple of scenes - not least between "Melanie" (Bridget Fonda) and "Louis" (Robert De Niro) - that are genuinely laugh out loud and the threads knit cleverly and from left field a bit at the denouement. This might be my favourite Tarantino film - it has pace, style, character and engaging contributions from a cast that work and deliver well together.

Jackie Brown (1997)

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino could have spent his career chasing the adrenaline rush of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, refining his trademark violence and verbal pyrotechnics into a formula. Instead, he made Jackie Brown, and in doing so, announced that he was capable of something rarer: restraint, maturity, genuine emotional complexity. This is still pulp fiction, still genre through and through, but it's pulp that trusts intelligence over spectacle, character over chaos. It's a film about middle-aged people running cons and running out of time, and it remains one of the finest sting movies ever made.

The comparison to The Sting (1973) isn't casual. Both films understand that the pleasure of a con isn't just in the reveal but in watching smart people think their way through impossible situations, manipulating information and perception until everyone sees exactly what the con artist wants them to see. Jackie Brown, a flight attendant smuggling money for arms dealer Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), gets caught by the Feds and finds herself squeezed between the ATF and a criminal who kills loose ends. Her solution is to play all sides against each other, orchestrating an elaborate scheme where everyone thinks they're using her and no one realizes she's the one in control.

Pam Grier's performance is phenomenal, not because she's flashy but because she disappears into the role so completely that we forget we're watching an actress. One of my acting teachers used to say, "If it's a lie in the script you sure as hell better lie on stage!" Grier lies with absolute conviction. Jackie lies to the Feds, lies to Ordell, lies to bail bondsman Max Cherry, and Grier sells every deception with the weariness of someone who's been lying to survive her entire life. There's no winking at the camera, no signaling to the audience when she's being genuine versus when she's performing. We have to read her the way the other characters do, piecing together her actual intentions from fragments and inconsistencies, never quite certain until the end whether anyone, including Max, really knows her.

Robert Forster was her perfect partner, playing Max with a quiet decency that could have been boring in lesser hands but becomes deeply affecting. The genuine affection between them is totally believable; two people past their prime, past illusions, finding something like tenderness in the wreckage of compromise and disappointment. Their relationship isn't a subplot, it's the emotional heart of the film, the thing that makes all the intricate plotting matter. When Max helps Jackie, it's one of the most romantic gestures in Tarantino's entire filmography.

Samuel L. Jackson, of course, is great, playing Ordell with charismatic menace, all smooth talk covering a hair-trigger violence. This is Tarantino proving he could do way more than riff. It may be his most enjoyable and the one that can be watched again and again, like The Sting.