Tarantino has once again defied the critics and produced a movie that solidly establishes him as still the most important filmmaker of the decade.
Jackie Brown (1997)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:67
Fresh:57
Rotten:10
Average Rating:7.3/10
Consensus: Tarantino's third film, fashioned as a comeback vehicle for star Pam Grier, offers typical wit and charm -- and is typically overstuffed.
Runtime: 2 hrs 34 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Quentin Tarantino returns to the crime genre once again with this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's RUM PUNCH. Transplanting Leonard's crime story from Miami to Tarantino's city of choice, Los... Quentin Tarantino returns to the crime genre once again with this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's RUM PUNCH. Transplanting Leonard's crime story from Miami to Tarantino's city of choice, Los Angeles, JACKIE BROWN cruises along smoothly, much like the film's 1970s soul soundtrack. The film follows Jackie Brown (Pam Grier), a flight attendant who makes extra cash by running drugs and cash for sleazebag Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson). When Jackie sees the opportunity to make off with a large chunk of change, she begins to play everyone around her, including two detectives who are threatening her with jail time if she doesn't rat out Ordell, and a sympathetic bail bondsman (Robert Forster) who finds himself falling for Jackie. Tarantino sets a pace that is laid back and groovy, building to an eventual climax that determines whether or not Jackie walks away with the booty. In much the same way that Tarantino resuscitated John Travolta's career with PULP FICTION, he does the same thing here with Grier and Forster. Overall, JACKIE BROWN is a less in-your-face effort than Tarantino's previous films, but it's this downshift in gears that makes it so refreshing. [More]
Starring: Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda
Starring: Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, Michael Bowen, Chris Tucker, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Tom "Tiny" Lister, Hattie Winston, Denise Crosby, Sid Haig, Aimee Graham, Ellis E. Williams, Tangie Ambrose, T'Keyah Crystal Keymah, Venessia Valentino, Diana Uribe, Renee Kelly, Elizabeth McInerney, Colleen Mayne, Laura Lovelace
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Screenwriter: Quentin Tarantino
Story: Elmore Leonard
Producer: Lawrence Bender
Reviews for Jackie Brown
It's not quite Pulp Fiction, but Jackie Brown is a hip tour de force of Tarantino's criminal universe.
Achieves the soulful edge lacking from Tarantino's previous efforts. Forster and Grier's performances deserve to join the short-list of all-time greats.
While Jackie Brown digs into its own stockpile of generic (namely, blaxploitation) conventions, it mostly avoids repetition, because it is Pam Grier's movie, flat out.
The tale is filled with funny, gritty Tarantino lowlife gab and a respectable body count, but what is most striking is the film's gallantry and sweetness.
The film is more Jarmusch than Peckinpah -- its soul is in the minutiae.
An unconventional crime caper adapted from an Elmore Leonard story about double-crosses and gun smuggling.
Despite its difficulties with pacing, though, Jackie Brown is ample proof that Quentin Tarantino continues to grow as one of America's brightest filmmakers.
Tarantino's tribute to creative influences, writer Elmor Leonard and blaxploitation star Grier, results in a more mature but also less audacious and duller film; last shot, taken from Queen Christina, only shows how magical Garbo was and Grier isn't
In this quirky film directed by Quentin Tarantino, two middle-agers are forced to take stock of their lives.
A slick, sly, soulful story of paranoia, misgivings, a dominant theme of vengeance and a tone of whimsy.
Jackie Brown won't make the same sort of splash as Pulp Fiction (few films could). But if viewers are willing to watch Tarantino's new film on its own terms, they'll be richly rewarded.
While this is not his best work to date, it is still a solid piece of moviemaking that shows he has more range as a writer and director than many wanted to give him credit for.
Turns out that author Elmore Leonard and director Quentin Tarantino are not the odd couple after all.
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