On December 25, 1997, Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown was released on thousands of screens across the United States. I was there on opening night in a crowded theater that appeared to have been oversold. Well over a dozen people were sitting on the floor in the center aisle, waiting for it to start. I was there by myself, and I didn’t care. I just wanted to immerse myself in something I had been waiting so long to see. I was quickly lost in the picture, and before I knew it, two and a half hours had gone by, and the credits began to roll. I heard several people yelling about how the film sucked and what had started as being oversold ended with dozens of empty seats. I was baffled; I wasn’t sure I had seen the same movie these people had watched. I had just finished watching a masterpiece.
People had been anticipating Jackie Brown since it was Tarantino’s follow-up to the juggernaut that was Pulp Fiction (1994). No one was prepared for just how successful that film would be. With an estimated budget of $8 million, Pulp Fiction would gross more than $200 million worldwide. Tarantino had the weight of that success on his shoulders when he decided to take a sharp turn and deliver a film no one expected. Jackie Brown would be the first and only film he would adapt from another author’s work.
Rum Punch is a novel by legendary crime and western novelist Elmore Leonard, released in 1992. Tarantino and his partners would acquire the film rights to three of his books, Killshot, Freaky Deaky, and Rum Punch. Tarantino chose the latter to adapt into his next film as a director. While he made some significant changes to the story and characters, he preserved what made the story work in the first place. Pam Grier had auditioned for a role in Pulp Fiction which didn’t pan out. Still, he knew he wanted to work with her, so when adapting, he changed the character from a white woman to an African-American woman and changed the name from Jackie Burke to Jackie Brown (as a tribute to her classic character Foxy Brown), then the role was ready for her.
Tarantino would put together a massive cast of actors to bring these characters to life. In addition to Grier, he cast his pal Samuel L. Jackson as Ordell Robbie, Robert De Niro as Louis Garza, Bridget Fonda as Melanie Ralston, Michael Keaton as ATF Agent Ray Nicolette, and Robert Forster as Max Cherry. The supporting cast included Chris Tucker, Sid Haig, Denise Crosby, Michael Bowen, and Tiny Lister.
The story revolves around the character of Jackie Brown, a flight attendant who is busted smuggling money into the country from Mexico for gun smuggler Ordell Robbie. The ATF finds a small amount of cocaine on her and uses it as leverage to get her to roll over on Ordell. Ordell hires bail bondsman Max Cherry to get her out of jail, but once Max meets Jackie for the first time, there’s an immediate connection. With pressure from the ATF coming down hard, Jackie comes up with a plan to take down Ordell, clear herself with the ATF, and make off with $500,000. She won’t be able to do it alone, so she goes to Max to help develop a plan to save her life.
RELATED: 15 YEARS LATER: ‘DEATH PROOF’ IS STILL AMONG TARANTINO’S BEST
After twenty-five years, Jackie Brown hasn’t lost a beat. It’s every bit as engrossing now as it was the first time I saw it. The cast of characters is highly memorable and investable, which is a major reason why the film works so well. Not much happens during the film’s first hour or so, but once the main plot points come into play, what happens and what they go through becomes much more powerful.
My favorite scenes in the film have always been those between Pam Grier and Robert Forster. I’ve always felt Jackie Brown was more of a love story, an unorthodox romance between Jackie Brown and Max Cherry. It’s one of the sweetest romances ever committed to screen. Together they’re plotting this massive double (or triple) cross, and they still long for each other like teenagers falling in love for the first time. This is especially true for Max. Take, for instance, when he returns to Jackie’s apartment to collect the gun she “borrowed” from him. During their conversation and coffee, she puts on the song “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” by The Delfonics. It’s something he had never heard before but liked it. The song keeps returning throughout the film, with Max eventually going to a record store and buying a copy; he listens to it in the car while driving alone, and when Ordell forces him to see Jackie and get the money they stole.
Forester has never been better, and there are soft moments, especially at the end, when he looks at Jackie or thinks about her, which really tugs at the heartstrings in different ways. Pam Grier has given so many brilliant performances over the years, but this will stand as a testament to just how great she is and can be. Tarantino has often been criticized for how he writes female characters, but Jackie Brown is a brilliant piece of writing. Sure, some of the groundwork of who she is was laid down by Elmore Leonard in his original novel, but Tarantino gave her a powerful voice, and Grier gave her life.
I also can’t forget to mention Samuel L. Jackson. His character arc is fascinating as well. Ordell Robbie is one of his greatest roles; the way he, throughout the film, grows more and more unhinged is undoubtedly iconic. When you reach the final act, you realize how unpredictable he’s become, and he’s downright frightening. Jackson and Grier were both nominated for Golden Globes, while Forester was nominated for an Academy Award. None of them won, which is a real shame. Grier was robbed of a win (and nomination) for whatever reason and has never been properly recognized for the film.
RELATED: ‘MIAMI BLUES’ BLU-RAY REVIEW: A ’90S COMEDY/CRIME THRILLER WORTH REVISITING
Music has always played an essential role in Tarantino’s films, but this particular soundtrack and his song choices couldn’t be more integral to what he was trying to create. It seems that many of these songs were chosen not only because of their music style but also their lyrical content and how they relate to the film and characters. I already mentioned The Delfonics song, and there’s also “Long Time Woman,” a song about a woman behind bars that play when Jackie Brown is arrested. It also happens to be performed by Grier herself and taken from the Roger Corman-produced film The Big Doll House, directed by Jack Hill. The film opens and closes with Bobby Womack’s ”Across 110th Street” (taken from the 1972 film of the same name) and serves as a theme song, in a sense, for Grier’s character and her struggle. I could go on for every song, though I think you already get the idea.
Here are a few interesting facts about Jackie Brown:
- Tarantino was afraid of what Elmore Leonard was going to think of all the changes he made to the story, but once Leonard read the script, he said it was quite possibly the best script he’d ever read.
- Grier had done many films with Sid Haig over the years, and they were good friends. She had no idea he was playing the judge in the film and burst out laughing when he showed up on set.
- Michael Keaton would show up one year later in another Elmore Leonard adaptation, Out of Sight (1998). He would reprise his role of Ray Nicolette in that film which was directed by Steven Soderbergh.
- At the time, this would be the only film of Tarantino’s that he didn’t appear in though his voice is heard as the electronic one on Jackie Brown’s answering machine.
I’ll never understand the audience’s reaction when I first saw the film. I even have trouble accepting the lack of awards for the film. Considering the worldwide total of Pulp Fiction and comparing it to the $40 million Jackie Brown brought in, while profitable, it still could be seen as a box office failure. However, the film itself is anything but. I revisit Jackie Brown quite frequently, and its effect on me has never faltered. It’s a beautifully crafted film with powerhouse performances from everyone involved.
Tarantino’s career has spanned nearly four decades, consistently delivering something special. Jackie Brown, at least to me, will be the crowning achievement of his career. Perfect films very rarely exist, and this is one of them. Grier, Forester, and Jackson have never been better. They give career-best performances that have to be seen (more than once) to truly appreciate the brilliance.
