Amazon.com Essentials:
The curiosity of Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown is Robert
Forster's worldly wise bail bondsman
Max Cherry, the most alive character in this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's
Rum Punch. The Academy
Awards saw it the same way, giving Forster
the film's only nomination. The film is more "rum" than "punch" and will
certainly disappoint those who are looking for Tarantino's trademark style.
This movie is a slow, decaffeinated story of six characters glued to a half
million dollars brought illegally into the country. The money belongs to Ordell
(Samuel L.
Jackson), a gunrunner just bright enough to control his universe
and do his own dirty work. His just-paroled friend--a loose term with
Ordell--Louis (Robert De Niro) is just
taking up space and could be interested in the money. However, his loyalties
are in question between his old
partner and Ordell's doped-up girl (Bridget Fonda). Certainly Fed Ray
Nicolette (Michael Keaton) wants to
arrest Ordell with the illegal money. The key is the title character, a
late-40s-ish flight attendant
(Pam Grier) who can pull her own weight and soon has both sides believing
she's working for them. The end result is rarely in doubt, and what is left
is two hours of Tarantino's expert dialogue as he moves his characters
around town.
Tarantino changed the race of Jackie and Ordell, a move that means little
except that it allows Tarantino to heap on black culture and language, something
he has a gift and passion for. He said this film is for an older audience
although the language and drug use may put them off. The film
is not a salute to Grier's blaxploitation films beyond the musical score.
Unexpectedly the most fascinating scenes are between Grier and Forster: two
neo-stars glowing in the limelight of their first major Hollywood film
after decades of work. --Doug Thomas
