Tarantino uses his cachet in Hollywood to adapt one of his heroes', Elmore Leonard's, work. He adapts Leonard's novel Rum Punch, nabs Pam Grier for the lead, and lassos a posse of A-listers to fill out his ensemble, and gets off to the races.
Let's talk about Jackie Brown (1997).
I. What Is It?
This is the story of flight attendant Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) and the gunrunner she works for, Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson). And the money she's been tasked with bringing back from Mexico.II. Loveletter to Blaxploitation
Tarantino has said that he does not consider this to be a blaxploitation film, but it does feel like a celebration of the genre. It looks and feels and sounds like one. The soundtrack comes roaring out of the gate with "Across 110th Street," and packs in other funky 70s fare. Jackie Brown is no cheesy send up of the genre. It is a distillation of attitude and aesthetic through Tarantino's panache.
- Jackie Brown is a different kind of film. It features many of Tarantino's signatures, but it is more contemplative than his other work.III. A Powerful Woman
People who say Tarantino doesn't write powerful women have not seen this movie (or Kill Bill). Jackie is a canny survivor, and Pam Grier is a wonder. She plays Jackie's quiet moments with real vulnerability, but eases into the scheming that allows Jackie to navigate this caper. She isn't a victim, and refuses to lay back and let life happen to her. She pulls the rug out from under Ordell, and devises a killer plan to fool both the ATF, neutralize Ordell and walk away with the money. Jackie asks Max, at the end of the film, if he's afraid of her. He says, "a little." He better be. The woman is a force in her own right.
And let's not forget that Jackie is 44 years old. Not only does Pam Grier look amazing in this movie, we also have to note how strange it is for a major Hollywood film to feature a woman in her forties as a lead. And while Max is certainly taken with her, she does not have a romantic dependent relationship with a man in this movie. That is pretty rad.
And let's not forget that Jackie is 44 years old. Not only does Pam Grier look amazing in this movie, we also have to note how strange it is for a major Hollywood film to feature a woman in her forties as a lead. And while Max is certainly taken with her, she does not have a romantic dependent relationship with a man in this movie. That is pretty rad.
IV. A Great Ensemble
Ordell Robbie is a great screen villain. Samuel L. Jackson lends him suavity and attitude, but keeps the ugly gently bubbling below the surface. Ordell is a shark, and it is greatly cathartic to see Jackie work him over. He is so sure that he is in control, and Jackie knows all the right buttons to push to goad him along. Decked out in ridiculous flowing hair and an absurd chin braid, and clothed in some delicious retro threads, Ordell SHOULDN'T look like a badass, but, in Jackson's capable hands, he springs off the screen and into our nightmares. When Ordell bonds you out of jail, you had better run.
Robert Forster is a wonder as Max Cherry. He is stoic cool and calm, but there's thunder in his eyes. The lines of his face tell the story of hard-life bail bondsman, and Forster makes the most of a longing look and a shrug. Cherry is that rare exception in a Tarantino flick: he isn't verbose, and he isn't larger than life. You feel for Max because of how grounded he is. Because of how gently Forster plays him. But he's no fool, either. He's a bail bondsman, and has seen his fair share of shit. It's a compelling character that I'd love to see further adventures from.
Robert De Niro plays wonderfully against type as the schlubby, not-all-there Louis. Louis kind of drifts in life. He's fresh out of jail and looking for the only work he's ever known: the criminal kind. His interplay with Ordell reveals that Louis wasn't always this way. Right before Ordell kills him, he says, "what the fuck happened to you, man? Your ass used to be beautiful." It's kind of tragic. Even though Louis is also a piece of shit who just casually murdered a woman because she wouldn't stop nagging him.
This is a hangout film: you want to stay with these people, be a fly on the wall and listen to their conversations.
Robert Forster is a wonder as Max Cherry. He is stoic cool and calm, but there's thunder in his eyes. The lines of his face tell the story of hard-life bail bondsman, and Forster makes the most of a longing look and a shrug. Cherry is that rare exception in a Tarantino flick: he isn't verbose, and he isn't larger than life. You feel for Max because of how grounded he is. Because of how gently Forster plays him. But he's no fool, either. He's a bail bondsman, and has seen his fair share of shit. It's a compelling character that I'd love to see further adventures from.
Robert De Niro plays wonderfully against type as the schlubby, not-all-there Louis. Louis kind of drifts in life. He's fresh out of jail and looking for the only work he's ever known: the criminal kind. His interplay with Ordell reveals that Louis wasn't always this way. Right before Ordell kills him, he says, "what the fuck happened to you, man? Your ass used to be beautiful." It's kind of tragic. Even though Louis is also a piece of shit who just casually murdered a woman because she wouldn't stop nagging him.
This is a hangout film: you want to stay with these people, be a fly on the wall and listen to their conversations.
V. Transition
This is perhaps the least Tarantino movie Tarantino has made. It still bears his trademark dialogue, and it still features flourishes of style, but it feels the most straight forward of his films. In a way we are watching Tarantino try to make a "normal" Hollywood movie. It is telling that his next feature, Kill Bill (2003), would ratchet up the cool and the bonkers aesthetic. But Jackie Brown is content to be more languid, more relaxed.
After being criticized for excessive violence, Tarantino made an interesting decision: he cut back on the explicit show of violence. People get shot, but we never see them take the bullets directly. The camera will be far away, or the violence will be obscured in frame so as not to show the grisly details. Melanie dies entirely off screen: we know she gets shot, twice, but Tarantino never even pans back to show us her body. Beaumont is shot in the trunk, but the camera is situated far away; we see the flash of Ordell's gun in the night, and the trunk swings back down. It is an interesting directorial choice to include all of the violence, but to be purposefully restrained in doing so. Again, consider the blood showers of Kill Bill and the sloppy blood puddles of Reservoir Dogs. Yes, Tarantino would go back to the well, but he showed his critics the finger, here, letting them know that he doesn't HAVE to resort to pure shock value.
It is fun, also, that this is another author's world and characters being cast through Tarantino's funhouse mirror. I can think of no better pairing than Elmore Leonard and Quentin Tarantino. The style and characters and dialogue and ultra-cool of both men blend together so succinctly that it is hard to see where one starts and the other ends.
Jackie Brown probably doesn't top anyone's favorite Tarantino lists, but it has always had a special place in my heart.
After being criticized for excessive violence, Tarantino made an interesting decision: he cut back on the explicit show of violence. People get shot, but we never see them take the bullets directly. The camera will be far away, or the violence will be obscured in frame so as not to show the grisly details. Melanie dies entirely off screen: we know she gets shot, twice, but Tarantino never even pans back to show us her body. Beaumont is shot in the trunk, but the camera is situated far away; we see the flash of Ordell's gun in the night, and the trunk swings back down. It is an interesting directorial choice to include all of the violence, but to be purposefully restrained in doing so. Again, consider the blood showers of Kill Bill and the sloppy blood puddles of Reservoir Dogs. Yes, Tarantino would go back to the well, but he showed his critics the finger, here, letting them know that he doesn't HAVE to resort to pure shock value.
It is fun, also, that this is another author's world and characters being cast through Tarantino's funhouse mirror. I can think of no better pairing than Elmore Leonard and Quentin Tarantino. The style and characters and dialogue and ultra-cool of both men blend together so succinctly that it is hard to see where one starts and the other ends.
Jackie Brown probably doesn't top anyone's favorite Tarantino lists, but it has always had a special place in my heart.
Why You Should See It
- The cast is crackerjack, and the soundtrack swings.
- It's a small-scale crime caper that focuses more on the people than the crime.
Why You Shouldn't See It
- It was different at the time, and it remains an outlier in Tarantino's oeuvre.
In Conclusion
Miscellany
- This was one of Roger Ebert's favorite films of 1997.- The movie made $74.7 million dollars against a budget of $12 million.
- The movie was based on Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch. Tarantino changed the ethnicity and last name of Jackie. He was nervous to discuss his changed with Leonard, but ultimately showed him the script before the film was set to shoot. For his part, Leonard loved it, and called it one of the best screenplay adaptations of his work he'd ever read.
- Pam Grier originally auditioned for the role of Jody in Pulp Fiction. Tarantino didn't think anyone would believe that Pam Grier let her husband abuse her like that and decided not to cast her. He wrote the part of Jackie specifically for her.
- Robert Forster secured an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work in this movie.
- Jackie drives the same car that Butch used to drive down Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction. Not the same make and model: the same car.
- This is the only film Tarantino has adapted from another source.
- Ordell's ridiculous long hair and chin braid were Samuel L. Jackson's idea. Jackson has said that Jackie Brown is his favorite Tarantino flick. Ordell says the words "mother fucker" 37 times in this movie.
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