Maybe I'm just a hopeless romantic, or maybe I was just tired of the over-hype of Tarantino's very good -- but not excellent -- Pulp Fiction, and its predominant heartlessness. Maybe I'm the kind of guy who sighs when he sees a lonely 56-year old man pop an old Delfonics cassette into his car stereo. Maybe I like movies about stings where the nastiest person gets his due and the equally nasty cops never know which end is up. Or maybe -- just like the career of the actress who plays the title role -- 1997's Jackie Brown simply just gets better with age.
Five years ago, Quentin Tarantino finally launched the highly anticipated directorial follow-up to Pulp Fiction but hasn't made a movie since. It's a shame, because this one ranks just higher than Fiction and just below his best work, Reservoir Dogs. With this kind of a track record, Tarantino should stick exclusively to directing. He's far better at it.
Samuel L. Jackson plays Ordell Robbie, a guns dealer who employs airline stewardess Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) to run money across the border for him. Ordell pays to spring for Jackie's bail (she is arrested for possession of narcotics and possession of a lot of money), and together they scheme up a plan to smuggle half a million dollars back into the country. Things get complicated when Melanie (Bridget Fonda), Louis (Robert De Niro), Lt. Nicolette (Michael Keaton), and bail bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster) get involved in the double-crosses.
Jackie Brown has some excellent acting, particularly by Forster and Grier and their onscreen chemistry. They never break a sweat, even when the chips seem to be stacked against them. Fonda and Jackson have some funny moments both together and individually, and De Niro plays the quiet goon quite well. Keaton isn't really at home as much as the others seem to be. It is the labyrinthine screenplay that reigns here though. Based on the novel Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard, this is a story where some of the characters may do dumb things, but at least they are always trying to do the smart thing. They want to win at this complicated game and will do whatever it takes to come out victorious.
Tarantino has written some sparkling dialogue here and couples it with some great shots, some short and some long. An event late in the picture is depicted from three different points of view and three different timelines with remarkable ease. There is also the trademark, vibrant, Tarantino-selected soundtrack that is never wasted when you hear it -- it infuses life into each scene. Highlights include Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street" and "Strawberry Letter #23" by Brothers Johnson, used at a key moment when Beaumont Livingston (Chris Tucker) is convinced to hide in the trunk of a car.
Jackie Brown may be nothing more than a heist picture, but there is genuine tension in the payoffs and that makes it all worthwhile. It's also a lot less violent than his other material, and while the language remains the stuff of Mamet-ian proportions, here it almost seems to help define the characters. Ordell, for example, curses a blue streak all the time, but when Jackie Brown starts swearing -- man, you know you're in trouble.
