Jackie Brown

Rum Punch & the Delfonics

"Didn't exactly set the world on fire, did you, Jackie"

For me Jackie Brown is an important movie in my life, in fact I really shouldn't be putting it on here as I can watch this film at any time of the day, however this film is not for everyone so 2AM it is... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5pfU3Sd3Aw

I first watched this film 1998 in a hotel while on holiday in Las Vegas and I was just hooked, it introduced me to blaxploitation, Elmore Leonard, Pam Grier, Max Forester and a f**king good sound track.

So here's the plot....its a little complicated so I'm just gonna give you the bare bones, if you have a brain you'll discover the rest for yourself.....

Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is smuggling money into the USA from Mexico for gun trader Ordell Robbie (Samuel Mother F**king L Jackson) using her job as an air stewardess as cover.

Beaumont Livingston also works for Ordell, he is a bit a of a loud mouth and after being arrested and bailed he is shot by Ordell (don't worry I'm not revealing a plot twist you see it coming) Jackie is then arrested by the ATF so Ordell transfers Beaumonts bail bond to her and for this he needs bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster) Jackie is picked up by Max and they form a connection. Jackie plans to steal the money and retire with it, letting Max in on the plan she spends the rest of the film juggling Ordell and the agents (Michael Keaton & Michael Bowen) playing them off against each other. Ordell, thinking Jackie is on his side, drags his on/off girl friend Melanie (Bridget Fonda) and his former cell mate Louis (Robert Deniro) into the plot.

I don't want to give the end away (sometimes I do, but not this time) but lets just say things go tits up and not everyone gets out alive.

When watching this film the first thing you need to do is forget that this is a Quentin Tarantino film as this film its not a "Quentin Tarantino" film, this is why I think its never really made the impact that his others have made. Jackie Brown was the first film for Tarantino to direct since Pulp Fiction, inbetween he had been involved in films such as Natural Born killers and Dusk Till Dawn, so he had set a trend of being associated with very violent films with lots of blood not to mention a thumping soundtrack, when Jackie Brown came out there was lots of hype about the swearing (epsecially the use of the "N" word) and Tarantinos homage to the Blaxploitation genre so people went to the cinema with certain expectations that were not really met, there was no blood, not much shooting (ironic given this is a film dealing with gun running) and really the "homage" to Blaxploitation is really in the visuals and sound track, what you have instead is a well crafted film, its slow pace wouldn't bother fans of shows like The Wire, Sons of Anarchy or Mad Men.

Jackie Brown is an adaptation of the Elmore Leonard book Rum Punch, which was a sequel of sorts to his earlier book The Switch (its rumored the film Ruthless People was based on it) usually with adaptations people always say "see the film first as the book is better and you'll only be disappointed". This film is one of the exceptions, the book is great and the film only compliments it, yeh sure there are changes but on the whole they are smart moves, the setting is changed from Miami to L.A. which is a good idea because being how the book is very atmosphere heavy Tarantino went with his stomping ground and knows how to bring out the best in the back streets of L.A. giving the film a real sun worn look, he also changes the focus of the book mainly on Jackie (hence the title change) and we follow her story, this is a smart move as when there is so many twists and turns it could get messy. The biggest change that was made was changing the character of Jackie from a blonde white woman to Pam Grier, you'd think it would alter the character alot but it really doesn't, Jackie is a woman who, although still beautiful, has seen better days (in the book I picture her as Kim Basinger) Grier nails this character and makes it her own, she is smart, warm, sexy and tough, her performance is incredibly layered, she also holds herself well against her co-stars having great chemistry with all of them.

The other actors all bring their parts to life, Robert Foster as Max Cherry is perfectly cast, he plays so well against Pam Grier is make you wonder why these two have never been paired before or since, he has this resigned sense of "seen it all before" when it comes to all the danger and violence.

Samuel L Jackson plays the gun runner Ordell Robbie, I love Jackson but sometimes I find him a bit "samey" when watching him you kinda know at some point in the film he will stand up and declare he's had enough of these mother f**king snakes/sharks/Carrie Bradshaws/Jedi, however in Jackie Brown he has this on the downlow and turns in a very menacing performance, and what a I like is that when you first see Ordell he gives it all the Samuel L Jackson stuff with him showing Louis a TV show about guns declaring "AK-47. The very best there is. When you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherf**ker in the room, accept no substitutesDeniro, as Ordells friend Louis, was giving a half assed performance, that was until I read the book and realised not only was he perfect casting but his acting is brilliant, as Louis he acts like he has given up the will to live, he seems as if he is just going along with the plan just because there's nothing else for him to do. Bridget Fonda playing Mel makes up the last of the trio of crooks, having read the book she's the only one who doesn't really capture the character, Melanie in the book is a party girl past her prime, in my head I see an older Lindsey Lohan playing the part, Fonda is a little to classy, to well kept to have let her self go none the less her version of Melanie stays suitably immature. I always forget Michael Keaton is in this film, I don't know why because his performance is good, he has this enthusiasm that makes him seem younger than his years. Chris Tucker makes a great cameo as Beaumont at the beginning and succeeds in showing the audience just how lethal Ordell is.

Alot of people say Tarantino is an overrated director or that he is good at just doing "shoot em ups"

I however feel he is very underrated in certain areas, I think his films are beautiful, he has a style that I don't think will be appreciated until his later years, for example the 50s dinner scene in Pulp Fiction, the climax of Kill Bill Vol 1 and the opening of Jackie Brown, they are just so beautifully shot.

Ahh the opening, I love it, its so bold, Pam Grier standing there on the conveyor belt as the stark mosaic of LAX mural passes her by, with this retro back ground its like Grier is stepping out from the 70s where she has been hiding all these years....take a look.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BWA1T78WpI&feature=related The film has all the elements of a Neo Noir with a wonderful scene of Jackie drinking in a red lit bar giving you a sense of the murky world she is trapped in.

image by regted

Another thing that Tarantino does well is a the sound track, yes they are always popular and everyone finds them cool, but Tarantino really picks songs that work, they mean something to the scene, in particular I think Jackie Brown has one of the best soundtracks, not as iconic as Pulp Fiction or Kill Bill no, but the songs really work, aside from the opening credits there is one scene in particular where Jackie & Max talk about getting old, in the background plays the Delfonics and it just makes it lovely to watch seeing these two people chatting it almost feels like this could be about the actors as well as the characters.

Stand Out Day Player

My stand out day player in the film is Hattie Wilson as Simone, Ordells older lover. Simones big scene is where she entertains Louis by dancing to the Supremes, as she shakes herself to Baby Love Louis rocks himself back and forth in his arm chair mesmerised by the sight before him. Later Simone does a runner with some money so we know shes a smart bitch. In the book there is more of her but alas we just have to make do with this little scene, shes great though.

To sum up....

All in all I find Jackie Brown sings to me, all the players are lonely in their own way, they are people whose youth has long since left them, the money represents one last chance for them to make a new start, I like that aspect, I like how life doesn't always work out how you want it to be. As I said before if your looking for a Tarantino movie this won't be it and you don't get much violence, however when it is used it makes it all the more shocking, one characters death in particular I remember having quite an impact even though you don't see anything. The high light of the film for me though is when Max first sees Jackie, Tarantino once described this part as where the white audience see Max fall in love with Jackie and where the black audience fall in love with Jackie, which is true in some ways, but I fell in love with her at the beginning - the moment she hit the screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MaHwTCdlfM