Pam Grier terrific

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2015)

Flight attendant Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) smuggles money from Mexico to Los Angeles for gun runner Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson). His friend Louis Gara (Robert De Niro) did 4 years for bank robbery. Melanie Ralston (Bridget Fonda) is Ordell's surf chick girlfriend. Ordell pays the $10k bail with bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster) for his courier Beaumont Livingston (Chris Tucker). Then he kills Beaumont. ATF agents Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) and Mark Dargus (Michael Bowen) arrest Jackie Brown but she refuses to cooperate. Max arranges for her bail. Ordell intends to kill her but she comes up with a better scheme to help him smuggle out money and pay her for any jail time.
Quentin Tarantino fills this movie with compelling characters played by charismatic character actors. Pam Grier makes a terrific step up. The plot is stuffed beyond what's necessary. It's a bit too long. I would like it to be tighter and more tense although Tarantino loves to fill up the in between scenes. It never drags and it's all very interesting. It's not as great as 'Pulp Fiction' or 'Reservoir Dogs' but it's in the same ballpark.