Jackie Brown - Miramax Collector's Edition

Rating:
Summary: 2 and a 1/2 Quentin Tarantino's worst effort
Review: This movie did not feel like Tarantino esque quality. I was real dissapointed with it and thought it could've been much much better than it was.

Rating:
Summary: Troupers, I salute thee!
Review: News of Robert Forster's prospective starring role in a new television series based on the Karen Sisco character (see Elmore Leonard's OUT OF SIGHT) got me thinking about the knock-on effect of quality on quality.

JACKIE BROWN is a film (based on Elmore Leonard's RUM PUNCH) that I come back to time and time again, drawn in the main by the wonderfully understated roles of Robert Forster and Pam Grier. Who are these people, I wonder - uncelebrated, unknown in the main - who made this film such a visually gourmet experience?

Ah, `uncelebrated, unknown', did I say? Check out their credits like I just did: Robert Forster's got 48 films under his belt going back 30 years or so, while Pam Grier's got 61 and counting.

I wouldn't mind betting that, were you to ask their co-stars, Robert de Niro (okay, so he's a similar age bracket: just hear me out for the sake of my argument) and Samuel L Jackson about their key formative influences in theatre and film, they'd point unhesitatingly to troupers like these.


Rating:
Summary: Pam Grier is back and better than ever!
Review: By the time Quentin Tarentino made "Jackie Brown" in 1997, his success as one of Hollywood's premier directors seemed assured. His hyper stylish crime thriller "Reservoir Dogs" caught the eye of film fans and Tinseltown big shots back in the early 1990s, and "Pulp Fiction" sent his popularity soaring. Certainly, many must have thought, "Jackie Brown" would put his career into the stratosphere. Alas, such was not to be. Critics gave this film a cool reception, and fan reaction was equally mixed. Attacks launched against the movie cited its slow pace, the absence of the sort of dialogue that made "Dogs" and "Fiction" such a joy to watch, and a rather mundane plot as proof that "Jackie Brown" ranks as a minor Tarentino effort. Maybe they have a point. I know I have a few problems with it. But I also think this film is a massively entertaining picture well worth watching. In fact, I would rather spend a few hours rewatching "Jackie Brown" then spend time viewing the vast majority of films churned out by Hollywood, films that cannot provide even a fraction of the heart and soul found in nearly every scene of this movie. Besides, "Jackie Brown" stars Pam Grier, and I love Pam Grier.

Grier plays the titular character, a washed up flight attendant rapidly running out of options in life. She works for Cabo Airlines, one of those fly by night operations that gives jobs to people who can't get a job anywhere else, and she uses her position to engage in several shady money laundering operations run by Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson). Robbie makes his living selling guns to anyone with cash, and Jackie is only one of many people he employs in his dirty dealings. Unfortunately, federal agent Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) and his partner are on to his operation. They haul Jackie in after they catch her with a wad of cash in her handbag, hoping that they can convince her to turn state's evidence against her boss. Brown refuses not out of a sense of altruism--Robbie is, after all, a very bad guy capable of murdering anyone he thinks will turn on him--but out of a sense of fear. She knows what this guy is capable of doing, but she also knows that if she loses her job she's out the money she gets from Robbie as well as any chance of obtaining employment at another airline. What's a woman to do when faced with such a conundrum? Easy--hook up with a lonely bail bondsman by the name of Max Cherry (Robert Forster) and come up with a plot to escape from her plight.

Jackie Brown is a very intelligent woman with more cunning than a dozen crime bosses. She formulates a plan that will keep her out of prison, get Ordell Robbie off her back, and allow her to walk away with a half million dollars in cold cash. It's not going to be an easy task. She faces opposition from the reluctant Cherry, from the deeply suspicious Robbie, from Ray Nicolette, as well as danger in the form of Louis Gara (Robert De Niro), an ex-con currently working for Robbie. Throw in Ordell's dippy yet enormously conniving girlfriend Melanie (Bridget Fonda) and you have the makings for a caper with more twists and turns than your lower intestine. Through it all, Jackie Brown navigates her way across obstacles with the tenacity of a woman with nothing left to lose in life, and she looks great doing it. Tarentino treats us to many offbeat scenes that only make sense in a film made by Quentin Tarentino. For instance, Robbie Ordell and Louis Gara spend time sitting around watching a videotape of bikini clad women firing an assortment of weapons while Robbie explains the ins and outs of the arms business. Tarentino also replays the essential part of the scam over and over again, each time showing us the exchange from a different character's perspective. It's good stuff.

When "Jackie Brown" works, it works wonders. It's all about Pam Grier, really, and for that I am truly thankful. It is obvious Tarentino has watched all of her low budget exploitation films from the 1970s--one of the songs that plays in the movie is a tune sung by Grier for one of her earliest films, and he hired Grier's longtime screen partner Sid Haig to play a judge. Two important things become obvious when comparing Grier's earlier work with her performance here: she's become a much better actress and she's even more beautiful now. Grier conveys complex emotions with a look, a slight movement, and an inflection of her voice--all things she utterly lacked early in her career. And she manages to pull it off while looking drop dead gorgeous. I couldn't believe how incredible she looked in that pantsuit she puts on at the mall. Grier is so good in the movie that it is easy to overlook the effectiveness of Forster and Jackson. Both men turn in bravura performances, especially Forster as a lonely man who falls in love with Jackie. What doesn't work, in my opinion, is Robert De Niro. It's strange to say, but this acting legend feels out of place in a Tarentino film and mars what is otherwise a great film.

All Tarentino fans will want to pick up this two-disc collector's edition. It's stuffed with so many interesting extras--the Chicks with Guns video we see in the movie is here in all its hilarious glory--that the viewer will stay busy long after the final credits roll. Perhaps the most important aspect of "Jackie Brown," however, is something Tarentino emphasized in previous films, namely that Hollywood's tendency to throw away actors after they move into old age is a big mistake. Here's to hoping Tarentino keeps pulling these guys out of semi-retirement!


Rating:
Summary: This is a women's movie
Review: This movie belongs to two women: Jackie Brown and Pam Grier. I enjoyed watching Jackie Brown struggle against the superpowers of her world, and I was refreshed and uplifted by Pam Grier's originality in portraying her.
The movie definitely needs to be seen more than once. The complexity of the story overshadows the deeper shades of the movie when you first watch it.
So if you're a woman - take a closer look at this movie.
I could have given it five stars, but all the drugs, guns and violence left me with a feeling of a cliche environment. Haven't I seen this agent shake this little white-powder-containing plastic bag with exactly that look in his eyes a hundred times already? Naturally, Tarantino was doing an adaptation. But I'm looking forward to when he does a mindblowing story from the environment that most of us live in. You can do it, Quentin!

Rating:
Summary: This is Tarantino's Best
Review: Well in my opinion, this is Tarantino's best piece of work. He met Pam Grier at a party in LA and said to her that he wanted to use her in his next film. Well, this is what happened. He got her career back on groove and showed off his sophistication by making this mind-blowing movie! I sure waited a long tome for this to come out on dvd but when it did a couple of years ago, I immediately bought it!

Yes, it is slower-paced than Pulp Fiction but I promise that if you give this film the chance it deserves you will absolutely love it! I am younger than the cast here and I didn't even know who Pam Grier was but was completely blown away with her performance as Jackie Brown. Keaton, Fonda, DeNiro, and of CORSE Samuel L. were outstanding in their roles. This film is SERIOUSLY under-rated!!

Rating:
Summary: Demands repeat viewings
Review: I say this because I was there on Christmas Day 1997, the day it opened. It was a late-night screening and the theater was sold-out. I liked what I saw yet came away without that buzz from Pulp. It wasn't until I picked this up on home video that it's greatness really hit me. Sam Jax - as usual - is perfect. The entire cast is. It's in the writing though, where Tarantino's adaptation really sinks in. When you have the ability to listen carefully and appreciate the tone of delivery and execution as you do here with the dvd, it's then that you realize you are witnessing a master at work. Superb.

Rating:
Summary: Better Than "Pulp"
Review: "Jackie Brown" is by far by favorite Tarantino film.

"Resevoir Dogs" was good, "Pulp Fiction" was great and "Kill Bill" was a masterpiece but somehow "Jackie Brown" is better. Flawless acting and and a spectacualr screenplay based on a good novel make this one of the best films of all time in my opinion.

This film should have gotten more praise than it did.



Rating:
Summary: Rum Punch comes to Life
Review: Rum Punch was perhaps my favorite Elmore Leonard book so I was very excited to hear Tarantino was adapting it to file. Some great scenes were cut out from the novel (Melanie killing the Nazi, especially) but what book-based movie doesn't cut out some scenes. Samuel L. Jackson is phenominal as the too cool for school arms dealer Ordell, Bridgitte Fonda is hot and funny as Melanie, and DiNiro is great as always as ex-con Lois.

Rating:
Summary: Hottest AARP Member of All Time
Review: Pam Grier is all Wooomannnn! Here is an actress so underused, to my knowledge, she's only been in two movies. Her second film by Quentin Tarantino, the new Orson Welles, and I say that without sarcasm, is an Elmore Leonard vehicle, a tale of bail bondsmen and shifty grifters; well, Pam is maybe too much woooomannn! With 1960's Rhythm and Blues pulsating, the score drives a tale of illegal gun dealers and a cool half-million.

Tarantino is all about style. There's something so satisfying about recognizing the inside jokes. Ya get, get, hehe? There's almost a comic book exaggeration about Tarantino's work that lends itself in script and film to the big screen. Is Samuel L. Jackson the coolest looking dude ever? Probably! Is Pam Grier the hottest AARP member of all time? Yeah! Is the gunplay and indiscriminate sex all comic books? Yeah. I wonder how women feel about Quentin's films? There are so many swaggering dudes having their way. Hmmm, maybe they'd be wrong about Jackie Brown because the chicks are the brains in this one. Max Cherry could have gone to Barcelona with Grier and all that money, but Jackie read it right. He was scared of all that wooomannn! I loved this movie.


Rating:
Summary: Didn't It Blow Your Mind This Time
Review: For starters this is my favorite film by director Quentin Tarantino. Ostensibly, it's an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch" but in reality it is a vehicle for one of Tarantino's favorite actresses, Pam Grier. Much like the "Kill Bill" films did for Uma Thurman, Grier shines under the loving direction of Tarantino. The story, though elaborate, seems superfluous to the acting here and the interaction between these interesting characters. Grier is just brilliant as the stewardess at middle-age caught between a rock and a hard place with the Feds and the gun runner, Ordell (Samuel L. Jackson). You can sense that she will be able to manipulate her way out of this sticky situation through guts and common sense. Jackson has never been better as the charismatic, yet cruel, gun-runner. Robert Forster as the love-sick bailbondsman, Max, effectively plays a man who helps Jackie more through emotion than his own common sense. Bridget Fonda as Melanie the slacker beach bunny gives a multi-hued performance to a part that could have been written off as a stereotype. Robert DeNiro, is sublimely clueless as Louis, Ordell's jailhouse buddy. Michael Keaton delivers solid work as Ray the Fed. Tarantino delivers an effective soundtrack of vintage r'n'b. The extras on the DVD are excellent, my favorite being trailers from the careers of Grier and Forster.