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Quentin Tarantino Review Day Three
A Tale with a Spine
♦ With the release of Hateful Eight in the UK on 8 January, we thought we would take another look at the previous seven films of Quentin Tarantino. It’ll be one per day, and today is the turn of his third film, Jackie Brown, released back in 1997.
Jackie Brown
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Pam Grier, Samuel L Jackson, Robert Forster, Robert DeNiro
Three years after Pulp Fiction saw the release of Tarantino’s third picture. Jackie Brown, an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch, assembled a mostly new cast with Samuel L Jackson acting as the bridge between this and his previous effort, Pulp Fiction.
On this occasion, Tarantino brought in celebrated Blaxploitation actress Pam Grier to play the title character, who finds herself caught between the ATF and violent psychopath Ordell Robbie (Jackson). Jackie Brown was helped considerably by the fact that Tarantino took his cues from hardboiled crime maven Elmore Leonard’s source material, making it a brilliant character piece, with Robert Forster an assured turn as bail bondsman Max Cherry, and Jackson, who once again shines as the sleazy Robbie. Robert De Niro, as parolee Louis Gara, manages to be darkly funny and sinister at the same time. Jackie Brown was probably De Niro’s last challenging role, as his career since then has consisted of poorly made romcoms and lightweight dramas.
Unlike Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown is a much more linear and conventional affair, which is by no means a criticism. Grier is genuinely good as the woman trying to go straight but is shackled to the demi monde, while Jackson showed yet again just how versatile he is as an actor given the right part. Support from the likes of Michael Keaton as ATF agent Ray Nicolette and Bridget Fonda as drug casualty surfer girl Melanie, showed that Tarantino was one of the canniest directors in Hollywood when it came to casting. Jackie Brown wasn’t as bold and groundbreaking as its two predecessors but it did prove that Tarantino could direct a more traditional Hollywood movie, albeit one which wasn’t afraid to subvert convention. Brown is a very strong female protagonist, and Tarantino fleshes her out sympathetically.
The director also brought the colourful world of Elmore Leonard – a place populated with crazed drug dealers, unhinged women and conflicted bail bondsmen – to vivid, compulsive life, showing a deft hand at keeping the story moving. Clocking in like its predecessor at two and a half hours, Jackie Brown never outstays its welcome, and is a classic, measured addition to Tarantino’s developing canon. The soundtrack is very strong here as one would expect, and it plays its part in immersing the viewer in the world of Cherry and Robbie. Jackie Brown shows a director who was coming into his own, and is mandatory viewing.
JOEL MEADOWS
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