WARNING!!!
These previews contain vital
plot information and other potentially movie-spoiling stuff!
If you don't want to know, read no further!
JACKIE BROWN
Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Based on the novel RUM PUNCH by Elmore Leonard. Starring Pam Grier, Robert DeNiro, Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda, Robert Forster, Michael Keaton.
Quentin Tarantino. Mention his name in a roomful of movie fans and watch the fur start to fly. It sometimes seems like there's no middle ground when it comes to peoples' opinions about the guy. You have those who love his films... those who hate his films... and those who are simply pissed at the fact that he gets to doink Mira Sorvino. But not me. Nuh-uh. When it comes to Tarantino I don't fall into the love, hate, or 'Why isn't Mira with me?' categories. I am Mr. Middle Ground. Nice to meetcha.
I think Tarantino's had a hand in some pretty terrific movies: PULP FICTION, RESERVOIR DOGS, TRUE ROMANCE, NATURAL BORN KILLERS. I think he's also had a hand in some stuff that's truly painful to watch: FROM DUSK TILL DAWN, FOUR ROOMS, any interview he's ever given. (My favorite Quentin interview was with Charlie Rose - Tarantino seemed like he'd told those stories and given those opinions a million times in front of a mirror at home. And probably had.) I also think he's a great self-promoter - for good and for bad - who's been able to market himself as a director much the way Hitchcock did. He's a brand name, as much a reason you go to (or avoid) his films as any of the actors involved. A whole mythology has sprung up around the guy. I mean, we've all heard the stories about him working at the video store and blah blah blah... like anyone other than a frustrated filmmaker stuck in a minimum wage job at a video store wants to hear that story again. We've also heard how he ripped off RESERVOIR DOGS from a Chinese film and blah blah blah... like anyone other than a Chinese copyright lawyer wants to hear that story again. I would assume that the truth is Tarantino is a driven individual who came from less than wonderful beginnings and did anything he could to claw and fight his way into the movie business. In other words... he's like everyone else in Hollywood. What separates Tarantino from the rest is the quality of his work, and the fact that his films seem to have struck a chord with a hip, cynical group of moviegoers who want their films gritty, yet stylized. And in the past few years, no one's delivered that kind of film better than Quentin Tarantino.
Samuel L. Jackson
plays the PULP FICTION video to instruct
Robert DeNiro on the subtle differences between the words
'nigga' and 'nigger' in Quentin's dialog.
So now we have JACKIE BROWN, Tarantino's first attempt to adapt another writer's work (unless you believe all those RESERVOIR DOGS and Roger Avary rumors). The script is adapted from Elmore Leonard's novel RUM PUNCH, which I'll admit right up front to not having read. As a result, I can't tell you whether the adaptation is faithful, wildly different, ingenious or misguided. I can only judge the script as a script. I'll leave the other debate to the Elmore Leonard fans out there.
The story is typical of a crime film involving deals and double-crosses and triple-crosses - in other words, it's convoluted. Jackie Brown is a beautiful stewardess working for Cabo Air. She's involved in smuggling small amounts of cash into the U.S. from a Mexican bank for Ordell Robbie, who traffics in guns, guns and more guns. Ordell is assisted by Louis Gara, a prison buddy, and less-than-assisted by his surfer girlfriend Melanie Ralston, who thinks nothing of screwing Ordell... or anyone else for that matter. When Jackie is busted by a couple of Feds at the airport for smuggling - and found to have (surprise!) a bag of cocaine in with Ordell's cash, she's placed in a position where she must either help the Feds get Ordell (their real target) or go to jail and watch her life effectively end. But Jackie's not the type to lay down for anyone, the Feds or Ordell. She is soon teamed with weary, cynical bail bondsman Max Cherry, devising a way to pay Ordell back for her bust, make the Feds drop their case against her, and just maybe end up with a pile of Ordell's money to boot. The whole scheme comes to a head at the Del Amo Mall, where the Feds watch as Jackie passes the latest shipment of Ordell's money to Melanie (or does she?), who makes the rather large mistake of taunting Louis when he can't find his car in the crowded parking lot. Jackie tells the Feds that Melanie burst in and took all the money, while Max saunters in and walks away with half a million dollars. Trust me, it's complicated. Max and Jackie then act to rid themselves of their biggest problem - a seriously pissed off Ordell - and give the Feds exactly what they want. Does everyone live happily ever after? Well, those that live do. Sorta. Maybe.
Pam Grier lets loose
with Samuel L. Jackson,
happy to be acting with someone other than an ex-football player
for a change.
I thought this script was really enjoyable. Again, not knowing how faithful the adaptation is, this screenplay has many vintage Tarantino touches - the distinctive dialog (with much entertaining speechifying on the part of most of the characters), gritty action, and complex narrative that never loses your attention. He even manages to play with time, as in PULP FICTION, showing us the rendezvous at the mall one character at a time, which means backtracking around the other characters' stories. Heck, it's fun, okay? You can see why he continues to attract top-notch actors to his scripts, as that dialog has got to be a blast to speak. You think Samuel L. Jackson enjoys delivering Tarantino-isms after the dreck he was given in films like DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE and THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT? Bet your ass he does.
Bottom line? Those that like Tarantino's work will enjoy it, and those that revile him will continue to do so. No new artistic ground is broken here, that's for sure... but after seeing a truckload of faux-Tarantino over the past few years, it's nice to see him back and in fine (if typical) form. So here's my advice: You liked PULP FICTION, etc? Go see JACKIE BROWN, buy a tub of popcorn and a kidney-bursting soda, sit back and have a good time. You hated PULP FICTION, etc? Stay the hell away from any theatre showing this movie - primarily because I don't want to hear your bitching after you've seen it. You have been forewarned.
MY PROGNOSIS? I don't think we're looking at another PULP FICTION-like $100 million phenomenon here, but I'd imagine there will be some pretty solid grosses. And even if you don't like Tarantino, you've got to admit it would be very cool for Pam Grier to have a nice big box-office hit.
AND THE CRITICS SAY...
NY TIMES: "Having rested extensively on his laurels, Quentin Tarantino returns to feature-film directing after PULP FICTION with what might as well be two new crime tales, both called JACKIE BROWN. The better of these, halfway visible, is a quick and lean adaptation of Elmore Leonard's RUM PUNCH, replete with pop asides, shrewd maneuvering and all the casually hip hallmarks of the Tarantino style. But you'll have to look hard to find it within the slower, talkier, more sluggish JACKIE BROWN that actually appears on screen. Running nearly as long as PULP FICTION, even though its ambitions are more familiar and small, JACKIE BROWN has the makings of another, chattier GET SHORTY with an added homage to Pam Grier, the Annie Oakley of 1970's blaxploitation. That could well have been enough, since Tarantino shows such obvious affection for his leading lady and for the cheerful, greedy lowlife in Leonard's stories... The audience can root for Jackie to play off the film's other characters against one another, and can speculate on the whereabouts of a bag full of money that is pivotal to the plot. But beyond that there isn't anything special at stake in JACKIE BROWN, and Tarantino allows the plotting to grow so knotty that it loses interest. The film is best (and most patiently) enjoyed as a set of laid-back sketches that don't always lead anywhere, even if a filmmaker of Tarantino's talents can make schmoozing such an end in itself."
ROGER EBERT: "This is the movie that proves Tarantino is the real thing, and not just a two-film wonder boy. It's not a retread of RESERVOIR DOGS or PULP FICTION, but a new film in a new style, and it evokes the particular magic of Elmore Leonard - who elevates the crime novel to a form of sociological comedy. There is a scene here that involves the ex-con Louis (Robert DeNiro) and Ordell's druggie mistress (Bridget Fonda) discussing a photograph pinned to the wall, and it's so perfectly written, timed and played that I applauded it... A lot of crime films play like they were written by crossword puzzle fans who fill in the easy words and then call the hot line for the solution. (The solution is always: Abandon the characters and end with a chase and a shootout.) Tarantino leaves the hardest questions for last, hides his moves, conceals his strategies in plain view, and gives the characters dialogue that is alive, authentic and spontaneous. You savor every moment of JACKIE BROWN. Those who say it is too long have developed cinematic attention deficit disorder. I wanted these characters to live, talk, deceive and scheme for hours and hours."
WHILE THE PUBLIC SAYS...
JACKIE BROWN debuted in 5th place with a four-day gross of $8.8 million. Maybe it woulda made more if, instead of a suitcase full of money, everyone was after a suitcase full of Flubber!
Hunt and peck to return to the Script Review Archives!
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free
Home Page!