Quentin Tarantino + Elmore Leonard= Quality

Rating: 9/10 (19 October 2004)

Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino's third movie) is a movie that grows on you. I tried to watch this for the first time expecting another wildly violent Tarantino flick. After an hour, I was bored. Well, I gave it a second chance and a few viewings later, I've come to a conclusion: I love this movie.
The plot is based on an Elmore Leonard novel called Rum Punch. The plot is way too complicated to explain here in full detail. Basically it is about an aging bailbondsman (Robert Forster) bored with his dead end job who helps smuggler Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) frame her boss and run off with his money. After she is arrested, her boss, Ordell Robbie, (an arms dealer played by Samuel L. Jackson) bails her out with the intention of using her for one last job and then killing her. Jackie Brown, however, has other plans. There are also a bunch of interesting subplots involving the cops (Micheal Keaton in particular) and Ordell's not-too-bright accomplices,(Rovert DeNiro and Bridget Fonda) who plan to keep the money for themselves and kill Ordell. The excellent plot is combined with Tarantino's trendy dialogue to help develop the great cast of characters. The movie moves along at a slow pace, so you have to be patient when watching it. If you are expecting a "typical" QT flick, you will hate it. It does not use any gratuitous violence (there is some violence, but it is realistically portrayed) or weird gimmicks such as Japanese anime. The plot focuses on just one character, who is not only likable but a good person, not a murderer like in Dogs or Fiction. The performances were excellent, Pam Grier convinced me as Jackie Brown and Sam Jackson is a great villain. There was also a great supporting cast. The soundtrack was awesome too, its a lot of 70s soul/funk...not a genre I'm familiar with, since I'm an 80s baby, but I loved it in the context of the movie. This is the most underrated of Tarantino's movies and my favorite.