Gaining the reputation of a great film-maker is much easier than maintaining it. Quentin Tarantino was more than aware of that after his films Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction marked the beginning of new era of world cinema. Tarantino was hailed as the guru of "independent" films and film-making genius. Naturally, everyone expected his next film to be equally important or equally magnificent as previous two. History, on the other hand, teaches us that even the greatest artists produced disappointing work during their careers. With Tarantino reaching Olympic heights at the very beginning, it was almost certain that such inevitable decline would happen very soon. Tarantino tried to postpone that by working as script-doctor and part-time actor in films of dubious quality. But the moment of truth finally came in 1997 with thriller Jackie Brown.
The plot of the film is based on Rum Punch, novel by Elmore Leonard. Protagonist of the film is Jackie Brown (played by Pam Grier), 44-year old air hostess forced to work for low salary in small-time airline. Because of her financial situation, she agreed to work as part-time money courier for Ordell Robbie (played by Samuel L. Jackson), Los Angeles gunrunner. Real problems for Jackie come when she gets arrested by ATF agent Ray Nicolette (played by Michael Keaton) and offered to testify against Ordell in exchange for freedom. Ordell has well-developed procedure for such situations - potential informers are bailed out of jail, brought to discreet locations and executed. Jackie is quite aware of what awaits her and because of that she isn't happy to see Max Cherry (played by Robert Forster), bounty hunter and bail bondsman who had been bringing bail for Ordell's men before. This time, however, Max falls in love with Jackie and decides to help her play ATF and Ordell against each other, while taking Ordell's money in the process.
Jackie Brown is far from being bad film, but, due to his author's reputation, it proved to be one of the greatest disappointments of 1990s. Main reason for the relative failure of Jackie Brown could be found in Tarantino's decision to use someone else's instead of his own material. Elmore Leonard's works proved to be good material for other film-makers, but in case of Jackie Brown mix of Leonard's exotic crime plots and Tarantino's style of screenwriting wasn't so fortunate. Tarantino was actually conspicuously un-inventive while making this film - his only major intervention towards literary source was change of protagonist's race. This allowed Tarantino to cast Pam Grier, heroine of 1970s blaxploitation cinema, in the role of Jackie. But his work on film's plot and other characters remained uninspired. 1970s music and couple of pop culture references are in Jackie Brown only to remind audience who is the film's director.
Those who are ,by some chance, oblivious or ignorant of director's identity, would ask a simple question - was two and half hours of running time really necessary for relatively simple crime thriller. Most of the shots in the film are overlong, narrative structure in film is conventional and, unlike Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, few viewers would remember a single scene or piece of dialogue from this film. Jackie Brown is rescued by excellent cast which fills the blanks left by Tarantino's script. Pam Grier and Robert Forster, two of 1970s icons, are very successful in their attempts to remind audiences that chemistry can exist between characters that are over 40 years of age. Samuel L. Jackson is impressive, but his performance is far from formidable standards of Pulp Fiction. He nevertheless managed to outshine Robert de Niro in the role of Ordell's partner. Bridget Fonda who plays Ordell's drugged-out girlfriend, on the other hand, would be best remembered for appearing in skimpy clothes and providing Tarantino with plenty of opportunities to satisfy his foot fetish.
Unlike many other films, Jackie Brown probably benefited from the passing of time. With today's audiences accustomed to Tarantino as mere mortal this film is less disappointing than years ago. Because of that, Jackie Brown is going to be appreciated as flawed, but stylish and moderately entertaining crime thriller.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on June 21st 2004)
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