Character-driven crime drama with Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Forster

Rating: 7/10 (9 February 2018)

RELEASED IN 1997 and directed by Quentin Tarantino, "Jackie Brown" is a crime drama about a middle-aged flight attendant, the eponymous Brown (Pam Grier), who smuggles huge sums of cash from Mexico to L.A. for a too-cool arms dealer, Ordell (Samuel L. Jackson). When she's caught by two agents (Michael Keaton & Michael Bowen) they propose a deal to apprehend the dealer in exchange for her freedom. In the meantime Ordell enlists an aging bondsman, Max Cherry (Robert Forster), to release her with the aim of eradicating her. Brown knows Ordell's wicked intentions and devises a plan to not only survive the life-or-death situation, but come out the richer for it. Bridget Fonda plays Ordell's hot white babe and Robert De Niro his fresh-out-of-prison pal.
This is Tarantino's most realistic film, so don't expect his typical cartoonish-ness and buckets of blood. There are occasional flashes of violence, but this is mostly a talk-driven drama. Interesting dialogues have always been one of Tarantino's strengths and so it is here. Grier is a distinguished protagonist while Fonda is smoking in her Daisy Dukes. De Niro's character is in a post-prison stupor, but you know he's still very formidable, which one character is too dull to realize. Bottom Line: "Jackie Brown" may not be as eventful as "Pulp Fiction" (1994) or "Django Unchained" (2012), but it's a very good crime drama and unique in Tarantino's oeuvre.
THE MOVIE RUNS 2 hours & 34 minutes and was shot in the greater Los Angeles area (e.g. Venice Beach, Carson, Torrance, Compton, Carson & Hawthorne). WRITERS: Tarantino wrote the script based on Elmore Leonard's 1992 novel "Rum Punch" (the only film he wrote based on a previous work).
GRADE: B+