Not all heist thrillers involve a large vault and panicked civilians lying face down on a polished marble floor hoping the armed men in ski masks will be satisfied with taking their money and running. Sometimes the heist happens in a mall dressing room with a little switcheroo action and decoys. As the old saying goes, there’s no honor among thieves, and maybe that’s true. Then again, maybe it’s not. Or maybe it’s not a question of whether there is honor or there isn’t, but whether anyone would be able to recognize it. Can anyone really be legit when everyone’s playing a crooked angle? Jackie Brown lays out just such a crooked campaign, one where gun runners, criminals, cops, bail bondsmen, and a flight attendant named Jackie Brown get so tangled that none of them can make sense of their situations. So they don’t try, they just keep twisting until they manage to break free. And if Jackie just happens to get out with a bag full of cash, well, I guess that means Quentin Tarantino’s crime thriller is not only well-written and acted, but satisfying too.
Picked up at the airport with $50,000 cash and some cocaine in her bag, Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) quickly winds up in prison. Her savior comes in the form of Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), a notorious gun runner whose last bailout recipient wound up dead shortly after leaving prison. Back as a free woman, Jackie dodges the advances of Ordell while finding a kindred spirit in the bail bondsmen (Robert Forster) who drives her home. After a few nights out together and with two police officers (Michael Keaton) asking her to help pull-off a sting operation, Jackie and her new man come up with a plan to walk away with a lot of cash. She’s not the only one looking to score though, and before long lowlifes come out of the wood work to get their share of the dirty money. Only one of them can take it all, and Jackie’s just strong enough of a woman to make sure it’s her.
The cast Tarantino assembled for Jackie Brown is nothing short of fantastic with the two standouts in the bunch being Grier and Jackson. Few actresses can truly embody a strong independent woman while still making them vulnerable at the right moments, but Grier gives a pitch perfect performance as Jackie. From the very beginning when we’re still not sure exactly what Jackie’s character flaws are right up to the end when we have a better understanding, Grier gives her all the depth needed to make her simultaneously sympathetic and ruthless, a believable contender in the cutthroat game she’s playing. Grier was a perfect choice and without her, Jackie Brown would not be as great a character piece as it is.
Whereas we don’t know what to expect from Grier stepping into the role of Jackie Brown, with Samuel L. Jackson, audiences had a rough idea of how he performs under the guidance of Tarantino thanks to Pulp Fiction. While some of the same delivery remains and a few character traits, like impatience and the wild swings from even dialogue to yelling, make for inevitable similarities between the roles Jackson played in Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction, his shift in mannerisms creates a dynamic distance between the two. Gone is the stiff, all business posture of Jackson from Pulp Fiction, and in its place is something of a loose swagger, one that comes from over-confidence that only a lot of money and guns can give a man: two things Ordell has plenty of. His transformation between the two Tarantino characters is astonishing, and it stands as a testament to both Jackson and the director’s characterization chops.
With such a stacked cast including Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, and the great Robert De Niro, it’s no wonder the film is brilliantly acted. When you have them reading off Tarantino’s trademark dialogue, then great things almost seem inevitable. Jackie Brown oozes with charisma and makes many a nod to the Foxy Brown persona that inspired the film’s titular protagonist; what’s more, it’s overflowing with nods to many crime thriller’s and classic films, making it a terrific film in its own right and something of a testament to the crime thrillers that came before.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
If you get the basics out of the way first, you’ll find the standard deleted scene reel, a trivia track (which is actually pretty great as it reflects Tarantino’s love for that kind of thing), photo galleries, a gallery of posters and marketing materials, and the full “Chicks with Guns” video that plays such a prominent part in helping us understand exactly who Ordell is. As for the featurettes worth watching, you have a massive piece that has interviews with the director and all the main cast as they look back on Jackie Brown and remember it quite fondly. For even more of that flavor, there’s another like it that only has Tarantino talking about the film, and while he’s an interesting man to listen talk about films, it’s nothing compared to the episode of Siskel & Ebert “At the Movies” where they review Jackie Brown. Finally, a featurette helps to straighten out the plot for any audience members uncertain of how it all “went down”.
"Jackie Brown" is on sale October 4, 2011 and is rated R. Crime, Drama, Thriller. Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Starring Bridget Fonda, Chris Tucker, Michael Keaton, Pam Grier, Robert De Niro, Robert Forster, Samuel L Jackson.
