# Jackie Brown (1997)

### reviewed by
Brian Koller

    Jackie Brown (1997)

    Grade: 83

Watching "Jackie Brown" for the second time, still somewhat confused from its intricate plot of criminal double crosses, I was reminded of "Get Shorty", which had the same bewildering complexity. It turns out that both films were based on novels by Elmore Leonard, with "Jackie Brown" an adaptation of "Rum Punch". But "Get Shorty" was a much lighter film, while "Jackie Brown" is more tense and violent.

"Jackie Brown", of course, is the third film fortunate enough to have the talents of Quentin Tarantino both as a director and screenwriter. (We won't count "Four Rooms", a.k.a. "Four Directors") Elements present in the first two films are here as well. There is rampant violence and obscenities, imaginative casting, scenes taken out of chronological order, heavy doses of pop oldies and outstanding dialogue. While "Jackie Brown" may not be as great as "Reservoir Dogs", it may actually be better than the deservedly much-lauded "Pulp Fiction", and has to be considered to be a nearly complete success.

The title character, an airline stewardess in her forties, is played by Pam Grier. She works with violent and talkative arms merchant Samuel L. Jackson smuggling currency into the country. Jackson has several beachfront properties, sharing them with girlfriends Bridget Fonda, Lisa Gay Hamilton, and Hattie Winston. (Fonda fans will be glad to learn that her druggie "surfer girl" character gets much screen time and shows much skin.) Robert DeNiro shows up as Jackson's brooding assistant.

Grier is busted by cop Michael Bowen and ATF agent Michael Keaton. Grier, with her liberty, career and life at stake, devises an elaborate scheme with lovestruck bailbondsman Robert Forster. Can she recover the illicit money, and keep it from both the cops and revenge-minded Jackson?

The score is loaded with pop-soul oldies from the 1970s, one of the best of which, "Long Time Woman" is performed by Pam Grier herself.

Tarantino, despite casting African-Americans in the two most important roles, came under criticism for the script's heavy use of the n-word. In my ever-ready opinion, this word is in the same category for a screenplay as an expletive, meaning that it can be readily abused but also can be powerful in the proper context. In Tarantino films, expletives are typically used by violent and desperate criminals, a context which seems appropriate. I don't believe that Tarantino's films promote violence either. Like old gangster flicks starring James Cagney or Edward G. Robinson, the proponents are unredeeming and tend to meet death by their own measures.

kollers@mpsi.net http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html

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