Jackie Brown

The 1997 American crime film, Jackie Brown, was the third film released by then newcomer director, Quentin Tarantino, who after the success of his previous film, Pulp Fiction, was in a good place when he set out to create his next feature. Based on the 1992 novel, Rum Punch, written by Elmore Leonard, the story of a flight stewardess who smuggles money from between the United States and Mexico for a gun runner, proved pretty popular with critics and audiences, earning an even higher total at the box office than both of his previous films combined. With clear inspiration from the blacksploitation genre, a sub-genre of action cinema that presented a lot of taboo and even scandalous topics through an unfiltered lens and was one of the only genres that allowed black talent the chance to star in major roles, even if it might not get mentioned as much as his later work, this movie would be another fine example of Tarantino’s weird, aggressive, and brutal, but otherwise gripping filmmaking style.

Jackie Brown (played by Pam Grier) is a flight attendant with a checkered past that doesn’t earn much money within her legally given job and dedicates most of her time to smuggling money between states for Ordell Robbi (played by Samuel L. Jackson), a gun runner in Los Angles whom Jackie was acquainted with in the past. On one of her drop offs, Jackie is intercepted by ATF agent Ray Nicolette and LAPD detective Mark Dargus (played by Michael Keaton and Michael Bowen), who find the money along with a stash of cocaine and threaten Jackie with jail time which can only be alleviate if she gives them information on Ordell. After confronting Ordell, she plans to scheme the authorities and agrees to get them off his trail if he gives her a cut of his $550,000 dollars, but even after he seemingly agrees to her terms, Jackie confides in bail bondsman Max Cherry (played by Robert Forster), another affiliate of Ordell, that she has her own plan to shortchange both sides and take most of the money for herself. With the cops’ keen eyes watching her thoroughly during her plan and with Ordell being known for executing his associates when they no longer serve him, Jackie is playing a dangerous game, one that she might just be able to survive if her wits and cunning are good enough.

Jackie Brown may not be as explosive or zany as some of Tarantino’s later movies, but the tight scripting, incredible characters, and a stylish atmosphere that comes from its clear allusions to a long untouched genre, helps it stand as one of his best.

Jackie Brown is still the first and only time Tarantino would direct a film based on another property, as while he clearly references pop culture and famous media franchises all the time, he’s not really known for adapting other people’s material, so it comes as no surprise to learn that he added his own touches when turning the original novel into a film. The Elmore Leonard story may feature the same plot as this film, but Tarantino decided to switch the lead from a white woman to a black woman, as well as change her last name from Burke to Brown, altering the plot to work more as a Blaxploitation film rather than a standard procedural thriller. While this might seem like a massive departure from the original intent and Tarantino was initially hesitant to tell Leonard of any of his changes, he was actually very accepting of his alterations and believed it to be one of the best screenplays he’d ever seen. This vote of confidence was definitely founded as the screenplay is genuinely really strong, taking a premise that might seem a little small and finite, and making it incredible enthralling through the way it impacts each newly introduced character and how it continues to unfold and unravel in a way that might be a little complicated, but never hard to follow.

Tarantino has a great talent at working within scenarios that should be restrictive and difficult and using his knowledge of pop culture and specifically wild directing style to bring a whole new kind of energy to a familiar premise or delivery, carrying over the zippy dialogue and methodical pace from Pulp Fiction alongside a stylish retro factor through the blaxploitation elements to birth someone wonderfully original. While not dramatically portrayed in a way that his later films would plainly showcase a style, it is definitely apparent through the various camera tricks, editing choices, specific lighting, and its overall mood and personality. With that said, while this film is very well organized and delivers its plot in a very strong fashion through the use of strong characters and an engaging atmosphere, it does have to struggle underneath a pretty hefty running time of about 154 mins. This isn’t from any fault of the story as it’s a pretty clean-cut plot and one that doesn’t waste time on detours or side stories, but rather just a consequence of Tarantino’s filmmaking choices, as the movie contains a lot of drawn-out dialogue exchanges and references to a specific film or genre which are given a moderate amount of screen time. While they’re well delivered and therefore don’t become irritating, it might’ve been better if some were edited down as the third act does start to stumble a little bit, and more dedicated time towards it would’ve been beneficial.

Much like a lot of Tarantino films, the ensemble cast is one to remember, and while on the small side, contains actors who know how to work with his personality and can provide a lot of character. Some credit also needs to go to Leonard’s original story since these characters feel pretty engaging all around and make for some great faces to keep track of throughout this entire feature, but it does feel like Tarantino’s specific way of leading actors and dialogue only adds to the sparky intrigue that these characters (whether cartoonish or realistic) exude. Even a good chunk of the background characters are played by big name actors, with people like Chris Tucker, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton and Robert De Niro all doing a pretty great job bringing distinct quirky identities to parts that could’ve easily been played straight without much issue, it’s a good showcase of a lot of great talents.

Easily the most iconic part of this movie is Pam Grier as Jackie Brown, and it feels like a lot of it fits together as picturesquely as it does because of her inclusion. Being a staple part of the Blaxploitation film genre, with her most famous being films like Coffy and Foxy Brown (both of which heavily inspired this film), she was an icon of the time and became arguably one of the first true female action stars in the United States, which is what Tarantino believed when he decided to cast her for the role. Even though it had been several years since she’d been in a movie, she is effortlessly as cool and stylish as ever in this film and with this character of Jackie, still retaining her demeanour, swagger and attitude in a very natural and believable sense, you can plainly see why and how she became a legend. They don’t just rely on her natural coolness and sex appeal however, as she’s also allowed to be a pretty interesting and complicated character that’s given a softer edge which makes her feel more human and therefore, more relatable. Jackie makes a fair share of mistakes and has moments where she’s forced to grapple with her growing mortality and bad decision-making surrounding her life choices, but it’s these instances that keep her from just being a stoic sultry bombshell and make her a legitimately great lead. She also shares a decently likeable flirtation with Robert Forster, who is also pretty good, but isn’t as strong as the rest of the cast (which is strange as he was the only one nominated for an Oscar that year). Samuel L. Jackson had already worked with Tarantino prior, but his role in this movie is extremely entertaining, being one of the few times the insanely charismatic and enjoyable actor comes across as intimidating and menacing whilst still retaining his usual acting quirks, it’s wonderfully unexpected and a great job by Jackson

Since Tarantino was still evolving as a film maker and making movies that in all honesty, feel like personal home movies made by someone who’s just really into cinema, he was still working on a very low budget, even with Miramax continually financing his movies (as well as Harvey Weinstein disturbingly). Ironically, it feels like each of his movies never needed that much money in order to work, as his scripts and his premises are often pretty small-scale and rely more on the chemistry between the actors and the hyperactive-ness of the direction to make them as engaging as they are. While Reservoir Dogs was mostly secluded to a single building and Pulp Fiction mainly located itself within typical housing units, Jackie Brown takes on a similar cavoite and uses its genre in order to explain away its cheaper look. While he says it isn’t supposed to be a blaxploitation movie per say, the influence is clear as day, and with it comes the familiar visuals elements associated with the genre that do a great job making what should look low budget feel cinematically inventive.

The opening credits showcase font that looks ripped right out of one of those old films, the visuals look cramped, softly light, and feature a lot of saturated colours that become muted by the realistic environments, and each of these qualities is done very well. The cinematography by Guillermo Navarro is wonderfully intimate and close-quarters, making each moment feel very in-the-moment and personal, and due to the limited use of any dramatic cinematic angles, it keeps things feeling unassuming and chill (which works wonders for making the tense moments even more threatening). With that said, it also looks very naturalistic, with the lighting being almost intentionally absent in moments to really give off the impression that some scenes are taking place out in the middle of nowhere in pitch black night time, which should be intrusive but never really feels as such. The editing by Sally Menke has a few quick cuts that keep the dialogue flowing and rapid, certain transitions like a split screen and fade ins feel delightful retro, and the soundtrack for this movie is incredible, with a lot of 70s jazz and soul music that really captures the sense of the time period and also just provides a lot of jivy beats (even most of the score is sourced from Coffy, so there’s genre inspiration all over this feature).

Jackie Brown isn’t as discussed as other Quentin Tarantino films, but that doesn’t in any way mitigate its quality, because this has all of his strongest components with very few downsides. The film may be a little long due to the director nerding out too hard over filming like a filmmaker of old, but when even the problems are handled effectively, there isn’t too much to get mad at. The story is kept engaging all throughout, the characters are very memorable and are supported by a lot of great actors, and the visuals and atmosphere very nicely reference a bygone style of moviemaking but still inject just enough of a modern touch to not just feel like a beat-for-beat rip-off. Another classic in his line up, Jackie Brown knows how to make a scene.