A review by Brooks Rich
Jackie Brown is the Tarantino film that people seem to forget. I understand that to a degree. It had the misfortune of coming out after Pulp Fiction, an atom bomb in the film world that would change the landscape of cinema. Of Tarantino's first three films it is the lesser of them to be fair but that makes it the lesser of three films that feature one of the greatest debuts of all time and one of the greatest films ever made. Jackie Brown is a fun smart crime caper and deserves much more love than it gets.
The immortal Pam Grier, seriously one of the most badass awesome women ever, is Jackie Brown, a flight attendant who moves money for arms dealer Ordell Robbie, played by a totally awesome Samuel L. Jackson, who works with his live in girlfriend Melanie, played by Bridget Fonda, and recently released ex con Louis, played by Robert De Niro. When Jackie is busted at the airport by ATF agent Ray Nicolette, played by Michael Keaton, and LAPD detective Mark Dargus, played by Michael Bowen, she must be bailed out of jail by bail bondsman Max Cherry, Robert Forster in the role that was kind of a career resurgence for him. Together Max and Jackie try to set up Ordell to get taken down by Nicolette and Dargus and also make off with half a million dollars.
Tarantino wrote the script based on a novel by legendary crime writer Elmore Leonard. This film also has a connection to Stephen Soderbergh's film Out of Sight, as Keaton appears briefly as Nicollete in that film. Even with this film based off a novel it still feels very Tarantino. Look at the scene where Ordell talks his associate Beaumont, played by Chris Tucker, into helping him with a small business matter and then talks him into the trunk of his car. That is pure Tarantino.
The plot moves like a Tarantino film and the dialogue of course is straight up Tarantino. If you made a list of dialogue masters in Hollywood, Tarantino is at the top or in the top three at least. The guy is a fucking wordsmith and the conversations in his films never feel stale and always feel genuine. There's some screenwriters who are geniuses but their dialogue feels like dialogue from a script, where you hear a line and think, "that's a great line but people don't talk like that." I never get that with Tarantino.
Jackie Brown ends Tarantino's crime trilogy that he started with Reservoir Dogs, perfected with Pulp Fiction, and ended with Jackie Brown. Badass criminals and degenerates interacting with each other on the streets of LA. He really hasn't gone back to that well since then. His next film after this, his next full film to be fair, was a revenge film and he's been on a historical kick since then. Check out Jackie Brown if you haven't seen it.
Jackie Brown is the Tarantino film that people seem to forget. I understand that to a degree. It had the misfortune of coming out after Pulp Fiction, an atom bomb in the film world that would change the landscape of cinema. Of Tarantino's first three films it is the lesser of them to be fair but that makes it the lesser of three films that feature one of the greatest debuts of all time and one of the greatest films ever made. Jackie Brown is a fun smart crime caper and deserves much more love than it gets.
The immortal Pam Grier, seriously one of the most badass awesome women ever, is Jackie Brown, a flight attendant who moves money for arms dealer Ordell Robbie, played by a totally awesome Samuel L. Jackson, who works with his live in girlfriend Melanie, played by Bridget Fonda, and recently released ex con Louis, played by Robert De Niro. When Jackie is busted at the airport by ATF agent Ray Nicolette, played by Michael Keaton, and LAPD detective Mark Dargus, played by Michael Bowen, she must be bailed out of jail by bail bondsman Max Cherry, Robert Forster in the role that was kind of a career resurgence for him. Together Max and Jackie try to set up Ordell to get taken down by Nicolette and Dargus and also make off with half a million dollars.
Tarantino wrote the script based on a novel by legendary crime writer Elmore Leonard. This film also has a connection to Stephen Soderbergh's film Out of Sight, as Keaton appears briefly as Nicollete in that film. Even with this film based off a novel it still feels very Tarantino. Look at the scene where Ordell talks his associate Beaumont, played by Chris Tucker, into helping him with a small business matter and then talks him into the trunk of his car. That is pure Tarantino.
The plot moves like a Tarantino film and the dialogue of course is straight up Tarantino. If you made a list of dialogue masters in Hollywood, Tarantino is at the top or in the top three at least. The guy is a fucking wordsmith and the conversations in his films never feel stale and always feel genuine. There's some screenwriters who are geniuses but their dialogue feels like dialogue from a script, where you hear a line and think, "that's a great line but people don't talk like that." I never get that with Tarantino.
Jackie Brown ends Tarantino's crime trilogy that he started with Reservoir Dogs, perfected with Pulp Fiction, and ended with Jackie Brown. Badass criminals and degenerates interacting with each other on the streets of LA. He really hasn't gone back to that well since then. His next film after this, his next full film to be fair, was a revenge film and he's been on a historical kick since then. Check out Jackie Brown if you haven't seen it.
Comments
Post a Comment