Quentin
Tarantino’s Jackie Brown (1997) is
somewhat of an anomaly in the director's repertoire. The only one of his films
to be based on a novel, it is relatively low on action, and it is not one of
his most financial successful endeavours. Some saw it as a step down after he
took the world by storm with Pulp Fiction
while others rightfully believe it showcases some of his best work. It shows QT
doesn’t need buckets of blood to make good entertainment. Sometimes it can be
all about the story.
I first saw Jackie Brown sometime after Kill Bill had come out, which in
contrast goes full-tilt boogie in terms of violence. By then I was hooked on
his filmmaking and was very enticed every time I would see the cover for the
Special Edition DVD at HMV. I wasn’t too familiar with Pam Grier since she rose
to fame in the 1970s, but if I see Robert De Niro, Samuel L. Jackson, and
Michael Keaton on a poster I take at a sign this is something good. Watching it
for the first time I was surprised by how low-key the violence was based on
Tarantino’s previous films, but loved the performances by Grier as Brown and
the excellent Robert Forster as bail bondsman Max Cherry. What a great name for
a character.
The great late
Elmore Leonard came up with that name for his novel Rum Punch, which I later bought to compare to the novel. A small
but key difference is the main character’s name, Jackie Burke in the novel, and
Brown for the movie. The name change is a reference to Pam Grier’s
blaxploitation film Foxy Brown (1974),
which is of course the exact kind of movie Tarantino, would have watched when
he was working at a video store in his youth. In that movie Grier was a
one-woman army gruesomely killing the bad guys. In Jackie Brown however she is a stewardess in her mid-40s smuggling money
into Los Angeles for gunrunner Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson). Despite not
being armed to the teeth, the character is a prime example of strong woman standing up for herself.
After getting
caught at the airport by A.T.F agent Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) and
detective Mark Dargus (Michael Bowen) Jackie is of course offered the option to
rat out on Ordell in order to avoid jail time. There have been plenty of small
time criminals stuck in a similar situation before, and to illustrate just that
Tarantino shoots a great sequence with Chris Tucker to show what Ordell does to
people who are given the option to become a snitch. When Jackie gets wind of
this she decides to turn the situation on its head.
Forget about
risking her life to send Ordell to prison. If that happens, Jackie is still
working for a small airline for little pay while not getting any younger. She
decides to raise the stakes by not only serving up Ordell to the cops, but also
stealing a large chunk of his money at the same time. Of course to pull off a
trick like that with both Ordell and Ray Nicolette keeping a close eye she will
need a partner.
Max Cherry
(Forster) takes a liking to Jackie the minute she walks out of jail after he
has arranged for her bond. He has been working as a bail bondsman for a long
time and like Jackie he is starting to feel the weight of the years. In yet
another great scene Max tells her about the time he had to track down a
criminal who had skipped out on his bail hearing, only for him to wonder, is
this what his life has come down to? When Jackie proposes a complicated scheme
to take Ordell’s money and run, he is cautious but interested.
The marriage
between Tarantino’s direction and Leonard’s dialogue is perfect, even though
Tarantino of course made the story his own thing. These characters do a lot of
talking, whether it is De Niro as ex-con Louis Garra smoking weed with Ordell’s
girlfriend Melanie (Bridget Fonda) or Max and Jackie discussing topics like their
taste in music and how they deal with ageing. Violence is something all of
these people would prefer to avoid as seen when Jackie believes Ordell will
come for her and tries to remain calm sitting at a desk while practicing her
quick draw skills. This is not something she does everyday.
Given the film’s
low body count of four people and its emphasis on dialogue rather than action,
some fans might be turned off by this rather tame turn by Tarantino. Me, I
think it’s one of his best movies. Grier and Forster deserved every nomination
they got, the plot requires you to pay attention while not being too
complicated, and as usual the soundtrack is superb. Plus, you get Samuel L.
Jackson saying lines like: “AK-47. The very best there is. When you absolutely,
positively got to kill every motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes.”
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