Jackie Brown (1997)

A female flight attendant becomes a key figure in a plot between the police and an arms dealer.

Director:

Quentin Tarantino

Writers:

Quentin Tarantino (written for the screen by), Elmore Leonard (novel)

Stars:

Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 6 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pam Grier	...	Jackie Brown
Samuel L. Jackson	...	Ordell Robbie
Robert Forster	...	Max Cherry
Bridget Fonda	...	Melanie Ralston
Michael Keaton	...	Ray Nicolette
Robert De Niro	...	Louis Gara
Michael Bowen	...	Mark Dargus
Chris Tucker	...	Beaumont Livingston
LisaGay Hamilton	...	Sheronda
Tommy 'Tiny' Lister	...	Winston (as Tommy 'Tiny' Lister Jr.)
Hattie Winston	...	Simone
Sid Haig	...	Judge
Aimee Graham	...	Amy - Billingsley Sales Girl
Ellis Williams	...	Cockatoo Bartender (as Ellis E. Williams)
Tangie Ambrose	...	Billingsley Sales Girl #2

Storyline

Jackie Brown is the name of a flight attendant who gets caught smuggling her boss' gun money on the airline she works for. Luckily for her, the Fed Ray Nicolet and the LA Cop Mark Dargus decide to team up in order to arrest the arms dealer she works for, whose name they don't even know. Here's when she has to choose one way: tell Nicolet and Dargus about Ordell Robbie (the arms dealer) and get her freedom -except that if Ordell suspects you're talking about him, you're dead- or keep her mouth shut and do some time. That's when she meets Max Cherry -her bail bondsman-, a late fifties, recently separated, burnt-out man, who falls in love with her. Then Jackie comes up with a plan to play the Feds off against Ordell and the guys he works with -Louis Gara and Melanie Ralston, among others- and walk off with their money. But she needs Max's help. No one is going to stand in the way of his million dollar payoff...

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Plot Keywords:

money | arms dealer | atf | bail | flight attendant | 

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Taglines:

Be Prepared

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language, some violence, drug use and sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rum Punch

Filming Locations:

724 E Carson St, Carson, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

DEM 2,867,952 (Germany) (17 April 1998)

Gross:

DEM 9,169,811 (Germany) (22 May 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax Films, A Band Apart, Lawrence Bender Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

154 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Actress Mira Sorvino, who at the time was dating director Quentin Tarantino, can be seen out-of-focus in the back of the courtroom at Jackie's arraignment.

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Goofs

Ordell insists that .45 pistols have become popular because The Killer (Yun-Fat Chow) used a .45. In fact, Yun-Fat Chow wields a 9mm Beretta throughout The Killer (1989). The only .45 that appears anywhere in the movie is held by a Triad.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Girl at Security Gate: Flight 710 to Cabo San Lucas, now boarding Gate 103, first class only. Flight 710, Cabo San Lucas, now boarding Gate 103. First class only.
Jackie Brown: [greeting passengers] Buenos dias. Welcome aboard. Welcome aboard.

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Crazy Credits

The menu/function/default voice (example: 'you have no new messages') on the telephone answering machine in Jackie Brown's bedroom is Quentin's.

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Connections

Referenced in From Manila with Love (2011)

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Soundtracks

" (Holy Matrimony) Letter to the Firm"
(1996)
Written by Foxy Brown (as I. Marchand), Samuel Barnes (as S.J. Barnes),
Jean Claude Olivier (as J.C. Olivier), Isaac Hayes (as I. Hayes)
Performed by Foxy Brown
Courtesy of Violater Records, L.L.C.
Sample of "Ike's Mood Part 1" (1970)
Written by Isaac Hayes
Performed by Isaac Hayes
Courtesy of Fantasy, Inc.

User Reviews

Tarantino's sleeper. An underrated gem of a movie.

Many people were disappointed with 'Jackie Brown' when it was first released as it didn't live up to their expectations created by the more flamboyant 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'Pulp Fiction'. I admit that I was one of those disappointed fans. But as the years have gone by I have come to appreciate this movie more and more, and if you deal with what it IS and not what you thought it was going to be, you'll see that it is an underrated gem of a movie. 'Jackie Brown' is much more character driven and leisurely plotted than Tarantino's previous two movies. I haven't read the Elmore Leonard novel on which it was based so I can't tell whether this was a conscious decision by Tarantino himself, or it's because of the source material, but it might be a stumbling block for those with MTV-style attention spans. 1970s crime movie buffs will find it much easier going. The big names in the cast like De Niro, Jackson and Fonda are all very good, but the real standout performances in this movie are by 70s blaxploitation icon Pam Grier ('Coffy', 'Foxy Brown', 'Black Mama White Mama',etc.etc.) and a revelatory one from Robert Forster. Forster back in the day showed plenty of promise in movies like 'Medium Cool' but quickly found himself stuck in b-grade exploitation movies like 'Vigilante' and 'Alligator'. Fun stuff, but hardly Oscar material. Max Cherry is the best role he has ever been given, and he is superb in it. The fascinating thing about 'Jackie Brown' for me is that Tarantino's critics accuse him of making shallow and violent self-consciously hip crime films, but the central story of this movie concerns an inter-racial Middle Aged romance, something I haven't seen done in a believable or realistic fashion by Hollywood before. By doing this so well Tarantino shows he has much more depth, and is a much more interesting and braver film maker than his more acclaimed contemporaries. 'Jackie Brown' is a fine movie that hopefully one day will get the kudos it deserves. Don't overlook this one just because it isn't 'Pulp Fiction The Next Generation'!