Excellent

Rating: Null/10 (7 February 2000)

Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) is a flight attendant, who is legitimately employed, and earns $16,000/yr, and works a second job by delivering money (over $10,000) to Samuel L. Jackson, who is an arms dealer, with a "crack ho" beach bunny, portrayed by Bridget Fonda. Jackie Brown might not be your average flight attendant; she is a convicted felon, busted for carrying drugs for her husband, and in her current profession, she smuggles and delivers money to Ordell Robbie (Jackson). Eventually, she gets busted (for carrying $50,000 and possession of cocaine), but this is just the beginning. The portrayal of Ordell Robbie is another reference to the innovator, who engages in illegitimate sub rosa goals to achieve success, much like Al Capone and Meyer Lansky. The real-life criminals like Capone or Lansky is similar to the portrayals of the fictional characters Tony Montana (Scarface), Nino Brown (New Jack City), Dylan Malone (Catch Me If You Can), or the kid from Fresh (1994).
Jackie Brown might be the only Quentin Tarantino flick that stands alone from his other films, like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. One thing that I noticed was that the recurring alumni (e.g. Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, and Tarantino himself) weren't casted. Samuel L. Jackson was the only Tarantino alumni that was in the film, but he did another breakthrough by casting Hollywood has-beens (e.g. Robert Forester, Pam Grier, Sid Haig, and Michael Bowen) from 70s and 80s films and TV shows (e.g. Sharky's Machine, Across 110th Street, Detroit 9000, Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, Mean Streets, martial arts classics, and numerous 1970's-era blaxploitation films). Maybe it was the videos that Tarantino might have viewed while being employed as a video store clerk back in the 1980s.
She has a choice of serving time, or cooperate with the cops, to bring down Ordell Robbie. Excellent plot twists, especially when Robbie threatens Max Cherry (Robert Forester) in his Cadillac. Lots of cameos in this Tarantino flick, like Chris Tucker (who ends up killed in the trunk of an Oldsmobile), and Aimee Graham (Heather Graham's younger sister) as a sales lady in a department store. She REALLY looks like a clone of her sister from Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, without the shagadelic attitude! Another thing that I noticed was the Tarantino trademark of 70s music, especially R & B/funkadelic tunes like Across 110th Street (Bobby Womack), Didn't You Blow Your Mind This Time (The Delfonics), and Street Life (Randy Crawford).