Jackie Brown (1997)

"Oh, I can see a lot of similarities. Here's this guy who's basically been plugging away for years, trying to stay honest in a job [he's a bailbondsman] that has a lot of seedy elements to it. And now he's middle aged and is facing the possibility that it's all over and that this is as much as he'll ever accomplish." - Robert Forster on the similarities Quentin Tarintino may have seen between him and his character in "Jackie Brown"

Quentin Tarantino delves into crime drama yet again but this time with a definite nod to 70's exploitation flicks and a helpful dose of a Elmore Leonard novel. This book, "Rum Punch" is changed just enough for QT to utilize some of the best names in the business.

Both the 70's cinematics and the novelization are backed up with Pam Grier, the queen of 70's blaxploitation and Robert Forster, a staple of 70's TV. Then, to make the mix perfect, the auteur downloads a massive groove on the audio track via excellent sound editing and the sweetest musical mix to hit the optical soundtrack lens in 20 years. The result is one of the best films to come out in '97. It looks great and it sounds great.

Now, Tarantino does something great here. He doesn't try to be Tarantino. This isn't an ultra-hip, bloody shoot-'em-up that follows it's own frenetic timeline. Instead, QT plays it straight and simply fashions a film that tells a marvelous story about some exceptional characters. He only turns to gimmicks, if you can call them that, when they truly aid the story and the film. He makes the perfect choices of when to break rules and when not to.

It is characters, not cinematic, this piece is all about. Grier's Jackie Brown is a woman in her 40's. She's had some troubles and she doesn't really want more. She feels too old to start over. It's easy to see why she relates so well to Forester's Max Cherry. He is her true male equal. The chemistry they evoke is electrifying. Meanwhile there is Samuel L. Jackson's gunrunner, Robert DeNiro's ex-con, Bridgit Fonda's pothead, Michael Keaton's gung-ho cop, Chris Tucker's nervous jailbird and numerous bit characters to keep the piece afloat. But they do more than that. This sucker flies! Everyone one is perfect. From Fonda's surprise turn as a white trash ingenue to DeNiro's subtle reserve that goes where no one expects it. The only person who doesn't really show us anything new is Tucker, and at least he is reserved by his usual standards.

Tarantino, from the start, reminds us of how effectively he uses sound in film. Early on, he evokes his own usage in "Reservoir Dogs," where the cop-torturer travels outside and we go with him audibly and visually to George Baker Selection's "Little Green Bag." Here, QT has a car stereo playing The Brother's Johnson's "Strawberry Letter 23" as we sit within it on the street before pulling out of it only to rise above it, only to following it around the corner and into a vacant lot. The sound guides us through the sequence. QT later switches shots from a car (with stereo playing) to a setting with silence and clicks the soundtrack back and forth as he edits this juxtaposition.

It's not really that his use of sound is anything all that original. And yet, it is. Tarantino seems to think it through much more. By taking us audibly where the character is at visually, he makes everything so much more real. Soundtrack, for Tarantino, isn't just an extension of mood or evocation of feeling but also a continuation of reality.

And here, he also uses music for exposition as it means something when Forster buys a particular cassette tape at a record store. And then there is the final shot, where Grier lipsyncs absent mindedly to a song on the radio. It says so much because she isn't singing, she isn't acting; She's thinking. This is about Jackie Brown considering the whole chapter in her life that we've just witnessed. When she lipsyncs in the car, she is doing what we do everyday. She is out of her body, in a way, her body is on reflex as she lipsyncs. What this scene is really about is her state of mind. We are left free to know she is lost in thought, trying to figure out, as much as we are, all that has been gleaned here. The fact that it's the same kick ass Bobby Womack song which opened the film playing in the sequence doesn't hurt either.

Tarantino rarely falters here. His biggest misstep, oddly, comes with the hackneyed use of music to simulate feeling when Forster first lays eyes on Grier. The music swells to indicate that he instantly loves here. It's a tired device and one that the director clearly does not need here. Everything we need to know is in Forester's eyes and in the way QT films Grier's elongated stroll to meet him. It's easy to believe that this sequence would be three times as effective if it were silent. Another problem is Jackson's easy acceptance of Grier in a situation that would have, in reality, made him weary. Coming at such an important moment in the film, it's a little tough to swallow. also, QT's use of titles to tell us where in Southern California the action takes place (which is really unimportant, in a way) and, to a lesser extent, his titles which tell us what time it is only distract from his vision. But overall - and in the big picture, you can't argue for a millisecond with what QT does here.

Jackie Brown opens with an exceptional sequence of Grier riding a moving sidewalk and then running in an airport terminal. Her facade focused against the colorful airport walls tell us all we need to know about her and sets us up perfectly for the film we are about to see. Consistently, Tarantino's camera is at the right place in the film - His shot skyward from the P.O.V. of inside a car trunk, his close-ups on the aged faces of Grier and Forster that make them seem sad, wise, weary, insightful and worn all at the same time. His use of settings that evoke both the 70's and the 90's, as if time had stood still for a brief interlude in the Southern California landscape.

"Jackie Brown" reestablishes Tarantino as a cinematic force to be reckoned with. Fans who are looking for the cool, hip, freewheeling style of "Pulp fiction" will probably be disappointed in this film. They don't really understand Tarantino anyway. He is a filmmaker. And he is fortunate enough to have the clout and the fortitude to do whatever he pleases on screen. Here, he pleases all of us who love movies.

Note:

Also with Lisa Gay Hamilton, Tom "Tiny" Lister Jr., Denise Crosby, T'Keyah "Crystal" Keymah, and Diana Uribe.

The video of "Girls with Guns" was concieved by Tarantino but directed by someone else.

Also on the Soundtrack: Guess Who, The Delfonics (also important to plot), Grass Roots, Johnny Cash, The Supremes (who are discussed briefly along with Mary Wilson), Bill Withers, Randy Crawford, Minnie Ripperton, Elliot Easton (a tune recorded for "Pulp Surfin," a sort of tribute album to the music of "Pulp Fiction"), The Vampire Sound Inc. (a track from a mexican horror film from the 60's), Pam Grier (a song she recorded for a film in the 70's) and Foxey Brown (a singer whose name comes from a film Grier made in the 70's).

Film clips from "Detroit 9000," (which was rereleased to theaters in 1998), "Dirty Mary Crazy Larry," "Mad Dog Morgan" and "Late Late Show with Tom Snyder" are shown.

Grier and Forester appeared together in 1996's "Original Gangsters")

Review written in 1998

Report Card

Script: A+

Acting: A+

Cinematography\Lighting: A+

Special Effects\Make Up: A+

Music: A+

Final Grade: A+