Jackie Brown
Originally written for The Occidental.
Quentin Tarantino. Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction have made his name all but synonymous with in-your-face violence and foul language. People either love him or hate him, but most think they know what to expect from a Tarantino film.
Now he’s made Jackie Brown, and it seems like everyone is confused.
Jackie Brown is not another Pulp Fiction. Sure, it’s got some violence, and some of the characters are very foul-mouthed, but it’s not the modernly witty splatterfest filmgoers have come to expect from its director. Tarantino has taken the wit, suspense, and attention to characters that were present in his other films and made them the centerpieces. Jackie Brown is a character study, a suspenseful heist film, and a lot of fun.
Jackie Brown is based on a book by Elmore Leonard (remember him? He wrote the book Get Shorty was based on), and has a tightly constructed but very complex plot. The story revolves aroud Jackie Brown (Pam Grier), a forty-something stewardess who also works as a courier for a drug and guns dealer (Samuel L. Jackson). She’s been caught with his stuff before, and as a result can only get a job on the worst airline around. Not surprisingly, when she has the opportunity (brought about by a set of very complicated circumstances) to take a million dollars of her boss’ money and get away with it, she jumps at the chance. Her only-slightly-reluctant partner in the scheme is Max Cherry (Robert Forster), a local bail bondsman (they met when her boss bought one of Cherry’s bonds to bail Jackie out of jail).
Throw an eager FDA agent (Michael Keaton), and the dealer’s constantly high girlfriend (Brigit Fonda), and an unsteady ex-con (Robert DeNiro), into the mix, and the resulting double- and triple- crosses are enough to keep you on the edge of your seat for the rest of the film.
One of Tarantino’s strengths is his ability to make characters ring true, and he’s at his best here. Grier and Forster are brilliant, and their middle-aged romance is one of the most touching I’ve seen this year (and that includes Titanic). Jackie’s strength is in her will to survive – she can take care of herself, and while she may be afraid occasionally, she doesn’t let that stop her from doing what she has to. Grier is perfect in the role, able to show the audience when Jackie is being herself and when she’s trying to bluff her way out of a situation. As Max Cherry, Forster is likewise wonderful. Cherry is settled into his life, good at what he does, and still able to hunt down bail jumpers when he has to. Jackie turns his life upside down, and makes him think a little.
As with any Tarantino film, there’s a fair amount of casual violence, sex, and obscenity — Jackie Brown is much tamer than his earlier films; there’s none of the blood-and-brains-everywhere kind of gore. But people do get killed, and characters do swear, so be warned. What violence there is, though, is either off-screen or blocked some other way. One character is gunned down in a dark room. Another is blown away at point-blank range, but we only see the shooter, and never see the body. The one sex scene in the film is very brief — the proposition is made, accepted, and we then cut to the end of the coupling. There’s no nudity, and it’s more a humourous scene than an erotic one. Finally, of course, there’s the language. Some of the characters are practically unable to speak without swearing, but there are also characters who talk more normally.
So, what’s the bottom line on Jackie Brown? If you’re looking for some brainless ultra-violence, you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re looking for suspense, strong characters, and an all-around excellent heist film, you’ll like it.