With A Story And Cast This Good, No Wonder Jackie Brown Is So Thoroughly Entertaining

We all know how much Quentin Tarantino loves making movies that extensively pay homage to genres of cinema that proved highly influential to him while also putting his own spin on said genres, it's his own trademark as a filmmaker. While I've heard Jackie Brown frequently referred to as Tarantino doing a homage to blaxploitation cinema of the 1970's, I wouldn't quite classify it as occupying that specific region of filmmaking beyond the font used for the title and of course the casting of Pam Grier in the titular lead role. Like another 1990's movie I reviewed recently, Miller's Crossing, Jackie Brown actually skews closer to 1940's movies like The Big Sleep involving a lead character of questionable morals trying to keep their head above water among numerous intersecting storylines.

To put things more simply though, Jackie Brown can perhaps be even more easily classified as simply just a really entertaining movie, the kind of film that's perfect to watch or revisit on a Friday night with some pizza and a cup of Caffeine Free Diet Coke. Quentin Tarantino's screenwriting skills tend to revolve around his unique brand of foul-mouthed dialogue and while there are numerous memorable lines in here, a large share of why Jackie Brown proves to be so entertaining is how well Tarantino's script fuses together the various subplots that the character Jackie Brown becomes entangled in, there's an impressive subtle elegance in how well set-up's and pay-offs are executed here.

Everything in the plot comes back to Jackie Brown (Pam Grier), who's trying to make a living working for an airline when she's caught with a concealed envelope full of money by Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton). Facing jail time if she doesn't cooperate, she reveals who the money was for: local arms dealer Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson). Brown soon lets Robbie know that she's working with authorities and promises to use these new circumstances to their mutual advantage. Now Jackie Brown is playing both Nicolette and Robbie with the intent of gaining her own personal freedom, a goal that's easier said than done given all the complexities of trying to stay one step ahead of all the people who want to take her down.

Out of the seven Tarantino movies I've seen (Death Proof is my one remaining blind spot!), Jackie Brown dethrones The Hateful Eight as being the least violent Tarantino film. The film certainly earns its R-rating otherwise, but there's a conscious choice to film the two most notable deaths in the movie either in a heavily obscured manner or off-screen entirely (two late-in-the-game deaths occur on-screen but they're nowhere near as grisly as other Tarantino movie demises). Given how just one exploding head in the similarly restrained The Hateful Eight provided enough blood to fuel a blood drive for years to come, such comparative prudence is surprising but does fit in with the overall aesthetic of the motion picture. Eschewing violence allows Jackie Brown to more fully concentrate on what it's clearly more interested in which entails having fun with a storytelling chess game that involves Jackie Brown trying to juggle numerous individual agendas for her own long-term gain.

Concentrating on that element is to the movies benefit, the intricate but not convoluted story is a thrilling one that's impressive both to experience in the moment and appreciate reflecting on after the film is over. While complaints about its running time were apparently a recurring criticism of Jackie Brown in its initial release, I'd actually go against the flow here and say I had no real issue with the length that this tale runs. Jackie Brown isn't a movie in a hurry and that's a good thing particularly since it allows time for the characters to get fleshed out and the daunting nature of obstacles to get emphasized properly. The labyrinthian level of deceit Jackie Brown needs an elongated story to inhabit, otherwise, the proceedings would end up feeling cramped.

The all-around sensational work from the cast are especially helpful in making the appropriately long runtime fly right by in a flash. Pam Grier getting cast in the lead role is a nice nod to Grier's work in the 1970s but she's so exquisitely good as Jackie Brown that her casting works well beyond just being a reference to the past. Grier, like Humphery Bogart did in his performances in similarly complex movies like The Big Sleep, is able to convincingly realize the cunning nature of her character, Jackie Brown has got no shortage of wits about her, while also making it clear that she's also a human being capable of falling down or messing up one of her own plans. A mixture of vulnerability and cleverness, that's what Pam Grier pulls off outstandingly well in her compelling work in the lead role.

Tarantino regular Samuel L. Jackson is both fun and menacing as our villain for the piece, Bridget Fonda is an utter delight in a supporting role oozing with personality and it's a great amount of fun to watch Robert DeNiro play a role so pathetic, it's brilliant casting to juxtapose the guy who played the young version of Vito Corleone with role of a sleazy lowlife who seems like he'd hang out on misogynistic subreddits all day if this took place in 2018. And as for Robert Forster as a bail bonds guy that gets smitten by Jackie Brown, the guy certainly earns the Oscar he won for this part, Forster does exceptional work in the most understated role of the piece that impressively conveys so much about his characters weary state. With performances this good paired up with an impressively realized twisty-turny story, Jackie Brown is an outstanding work that rises towards the top of Quentin Tarantino's filmography in terms of overall quality.