Jackie Brown

Jackie Brown
File:Jackie Brown70's.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Quentin Tarantino
Screenplay by	Quentin Tarantino
Story by	Elmore Leonard (novel)
Produced by	Lawrence Bender Elmore Leonard Richard N. Gladstein Bob Weinstein Harvey Weinstein
Starring	Pam Grier Samuel L. Jackson Robert Forster Robert De Niro Michael Keaton Bridget Fonda
Cinematography	Guillermo Navarro
Edited by	Sally Menke
Production companies	A Band Apart Lawrence Bender Productions
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date	December 25, 1997 (1997-12-25)
Running time	154 minutes
Country	Template:Film US
Language	English
Budget	$12 million
Box office	$72,673,162

Jackie Brown is a 1997 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is an adaptation of the novel Rum Punch by American novelist Elmore Leonard and pays homage to 1970's blaxploitation films. The film stars Pam Grier, Robert Forster, Robert De Niro, Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda and Michael Keaton. It was Tarantino's third film following his successes with Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994).

Grier and Forster were both veteran actors but neither had performed a leading role in many years. Jackie Brown revitalized both actors' careers. The film garnered Forster an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and Jackson and Grier were nominated for Golden Globe Awards.

Plot

Living in the Los Angeles area in 1995, Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is a flight attendant for a small Mexican airline, the latest step down for her career. Despite the low pay, the job enables her to smuggle money from Mexico into the United States for Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), a gun runner under the close watch of the ATF.

Ordell learns that another of his workers, Beaumont Livingston (Chris Tucker), has been arrested. Fearing that Livingston will become an informant in order to avoid jail time, Ordell arranges for his bail with bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster) and promptly leads Livingston to his death. Acting on information Livingston had indeed shared, ATF agent Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) and LAPD detective Mark Dargus (Michael Bowen) intercept Jackie as she arrives in the United States with Ordell's cash and some cocaine that Brown was unaware was stashed along with the cash. She initially refuses to deal with Nicolette and Dargus, so is sent to jail on possession of drugs with intent to sell. Sensing that Jackie may be just as likely to inform as Livingston had been, Ordell arranges her bail. Max Cherry arrives to pick her up and, only partly masking his physical attraction, offers to buy her a drink and help determine her legal options.

Later that night, Ordell arrives at Jackie's house intending to murder her. But using a gun she borrows from Cherry, Jackie barters a deal with Ordell whereby she will pretend to help the authorities while still managing to smuggle $500,000 of Ordell's money, enough to allow him to retire. To carry out this plan, Ordell employs a woman he lives with, "my little blond surfer girl" Melanie Ralston (Bridget Fonda), plus his friend, Louis Gara (Robert De Niro), a former cellmate. He also uses a naïve Southern girl, Sheronda (Lisa Gay Hamilton). With Jackie's help, Nicolette and Dargus arrange a sting to catch Ordell, unaware that Jackie and Ordell plan to double cross them by diverting the actual money before the authorities make an arrest. Unbeknownst to the others, Jackie plans to deceive them both with the help of Cherry in order to keep the $500,000 for herself. After a dry run, during which Nicolette could observe the operation, the stage is set for the actual event. In a large shopping mall near Los Angeles (the real Del Amo Fashion Center, which is portrayed as it exists in the film), Jackie buys a new suit and enters a dressing room. Her real intention is to swap bags there with Melanie and Louis, supposedly passing off the $500,000 under Nicolette's nose. Instead, she gives Melanie only $50,000 and leaves the rest behind in the dressing room for Max to pick up. Jackie then feigns despair as she calls Nicolette and Dargus out from hiding and claims Melanie took all the money and ran.

In the parking lot, Melanie gets on Louis' nerves more and more, finally leading him to shoot and kill her while making their escape after she smarts off one too many times. Ordell discovers that Louis has only $40,000 in the bag (Melanie having kept $10,000 for herself after being tricked into doing so by Jackie). Then Ordell realizes that it was Jackie who took his money, and in anger, a suspicious Ordell kills his friend Louis. He is also concerned about the involvement of Max Cherry, having been told by Louis that he spotted Max in the store before the pickup. Lured back to Max's office, where Jackie is said to be frightened and waiting to hand over his money, Ordell arrives armed and dangerous. Jackie yells out that Ordell has a gun and he is shot by Nicolette, who was hidden in another room.

In the clear with the law and in possession of the money, Jackie decides to go away for a while and invites Max to go along. Max is tempted, clearly in love with her as they kiss. But he declines to go with Jackie for reasons that the audience are left to interpret for themselves. There are a number of hints during the movie given by Cherry in his dialogue with Jackie about why he makes the choice he makes. Some include Max's wanting to get out of the bail bond business and find something else to do to being too old to start a new adventure in life ("I'm just tired in general...." ), but his reasons for turning down a woman he is obviously in love with remain intentionally ambiguous at the film's closing.

Cast

• Pam Grier as Jackie Brown
• Samuel L. Jackson as Ordell Robbie
• Robert De Niro as Louis Gara
• Michael Keaton as Ray Nicolette
• Bridget Fonda as Melanie Ralston
• Robert Forster as Max Cherry
• Michael Bowen as Mark Dargus
• Chris Tucker as Beaumont Livingston
• Lisa Gay Hamilton as Sheronda
• Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr. as Winston
• Hattie Winston as Simone
• Sid Haig as Judge
• Denise Crosby (uncredited) as Public defender
• Quentin Tarantino (uncredited) as Answering machine voice

Production

Tarantino changed the race of the main character of Leonard's novel from white to black. Pam Grier was cast partly due to her involvement with the blaxploitation genre, in which she had made several films, such as Black Mama, White Mama. Jackie Brown alludes to Grier's career in many ways. The film's poster resembles those of Grier's films Coffy and Foxy Brown and includes quotes from both films. The typeface for the film's opening titles was also used for those of Foxy Brown; some of the background music is lifted from these films.

The film's opening sequence is similar to that of The Graduate, in which Dustin Hoffman passes wearily through LAX past white tiles to a somber folk music soundtrack. In Jackie Brown, Grier walks past the same spot to a soaring soul music song, Across 110th Street by Bobby Womack, which is from the film of the same name that was a part of the same basic "blaxploitation" genre as that of Foxy Brown and Coffy.

Later references to Jackie Brown

Michael Keaton reprised his role as Ray Nicolette in Steven Soderbergh's film Out of Sight, also based on an Elmore Leonard novel.

Tarantino has alluded to Jackie Brown in later films. The gang that Esteban Vihaio runs in Kill Bill is the Acuna Boys, a name that originally appeared on a cup on Sheronda's tray when Jackie first meets her at the mall. The Acuna Boys are also mentioned in the Death Proof portion of Grindhouse. Jackson's character also says "Pay attention because this concerns you," which is also said by Hannah's character in Kill Bill

Reception

Jackie Brown received a positive critical reception and a score of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert rated the film as one of his favorites of 1997. The film helped revive the careers of Grier and Forster, who received critical praise for their performances, as did Samuel L. Jackson. Grier and Jackson were nominated for a Golden Globe, Grier for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy, Jackson for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. Forster was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Soundtrack

Main article: Jackie Brown (soundtrack)

The soundtrack album for Jackie Brown, entitled Jackie Brown: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture, was released on December 9, 1997.

There was no film score composed for Jackie Brown; instead, Tarantino used music from various genres. Songs by The Delfonics and Slash's Snakepit are heard throughout the film. The original soundtrack features separate tracks with dialogue from the film. Also, some music from Grier's earlier film, Coffy, can be heard throughout the film.

A number of songs used in the movie do not appear on the soundtrack, such as "Cissy Strut" (The Meters) and "Undun" (The Guess Who).

DVD

The Special Edition DVD, released by Buena Vista in 2002 includes an introduction from Tarantino, an hour-long retrospective interview, a subtitle trivia track and soundtrack chapter selection, a half-hour making-of documentary ("How It Went Down"), the entire "Chicks With Guns" video as seen in the movie, many deleted and alternate scenes, including an alternate opening title sequence, Siskel and Ebert's review of the movie, Jackie Brown appearances on MTV, TV spots and theatrical trailers, written reviews and articles and filmographies, and over an hour of trailers for Pam Grier and Robert Forster movies dating from the 1960s onwards. The box also includes a mini-poster of the film, similar to the one above, and on the back of that, two other mini-posters, one of Grier, the other of Forster, both similar to the album cover.

Although the back cover of the Special Edition DVD states that the film is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, it was actually shot with a 1.85:1 ratio, the only Tarantino-directed film to date shot in such a format.

External links

• Jackie Brown at IMDb
• Jackie Brown at AllMovie
• Jackie Brown at Box Office Mojo
• Jackie Brown at Rotten Tomatoes