|
-== JACKIE
BROWN ==-
This Christmas, Santa's Got A Brand New
Bag
Six players on the trail of a half a million
in Cash.
There's only one question...
Who's playing who?
Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's
1995 Rum Punch, switching the action from Miami to LA, and altering
the central character from white to black. Ruthless arms dealer
Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), who lives with perpetually stoned
beach-babe Melanie (Bridget Fonda), teams with his old buddy Louis
Gara (Robert De Niro), just released from prison after serving four
years for armed robbery. ATF agent Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton)
and cop Mark Dargus (Michael Bowen) bust stewardess Jackie Brown
(Pam Grier), who was smuggling money into the country for Ordell.
Ordell springs Jackie, but when middle-aged bail bondsman Max Cherry
(Robert Forster) picks her up at the jail, he's attracted to her,
and they choose a romantic route with detours. Mistrust and suspicions
surface after Jackie pits Ordell and the cops against each other,
convincing Ordell that she's going to double-cross the cops. Tarantino
commented on the film's budget: "Jackie Brown only cost $12 million.
You can't lose. You absolutely, positively can't lose. And you don't
have to compromise." -- Bhob Stewart, All-Movie
Guide
Unlikely as it sounds, "Jackie Brown" is Quentin Tarantino's
idea of a nice film. Not that it's everyone's idea of nice: This hotbed
of industrial-strength profanity isn't headed for the Disney Channel
any time soon. But motivating the writer-director here is not his
usual impulse toward outrageousness but what has to be called a sweet
desire to pay tribute to two key influences in his creative life,
writer Elmore Leonard and star Pam Grier. This is Tarantino's first
film since "Pulp Fiction" won the Palme d'Or at Cannes 3 1/2 years
ago, a long enough time for numerous imitators to have clogged cinemas
worldwide with rip-offs of his cascading blood and brain matter style.
However, those expecting Tarantino to pick up where he left off will
be disappointed in "Jackie Brown." Instead of rearranging audience's
sensibilities, he's taken the typically twisty plot of Leonard's "Rum
Punch" and run it through his personal Mixmaster. The result
is a raunchy doodle, a leisurely and easygoing diversion that goes
down easy enough but is far from compelling. A fan of Leonard for
years, Tarantino also realized that by changing the race of "Rum Punch's"
female protagonist he could also turn this film into a tribute to
Grier. For those with short memories, she's the no-nonsense star of
over-the-top 1970s blaxploitation films like "Coffy," "Foxy Brown"
and "Sheba Baby" the director is an unabashed fan of. This decision
gives "Jackie Brown" a poignant feeling at times, especially in a
closing close-up of Grier's face that is in an unnerving way reminiscent
of the celebrated shot of Garbo at the end of "Queen Christina." But
tribute is a hard act for someone with Tarantino's sensibility to
master, and "Jackie Brown" casts doubt on whether he's the the right
director to make "nice" an involving quality. For one thing, at 2
hours and 40 minutes, "Jackie Brown" plainly takes longer than it
should to unfold. Along with that too-leisurely pace goes a lack of
immediacy, a sense that this is the kind of thing that Tarantino not
only might have done in his sleep but in fact has. Helping keep people
awake is Tarantino's trademark wall-to-wall profanity, which can be
spellbinding but this time around is so dependent on casual usage
of the N-word that fellow writer-director Spike Lee was moved to complain
publicly about it. Most of the hard talk comes from Samuel L. Jackson
as Ordell Robbie, introduced in an apartment in Hermosa Beach showing
a video called "Chicks 'n' Guns" to the very different Louis Gara
and Melanie Ralston. Melanie (Bridget Fonda) is Ordell's girlfriend,
a kittenish surf bunny whose ambition doesn't seem to extend past
getting high and watching TV. Louis (Robert De Niro) is an old pal
of Ordell's who's just gotten out of prison and is looking for a situation.
Ordell himself is a gun dealer, proud of his merchandise ("the AK-47,
when you absolutely positively got to kill every [expletive] in the
room") but ruthless and menacing to his employees when he needs to
be. One of those workers is Jackie Brown (Grier), a stewardess with
a fly-by-night airline that shuttles between L.A. and Mexico. The
government, in the person of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent Ray
Nicolette (Michael Keaton), puts pressure on her to turn Ordell in.
But Jackie, aided by been-around bail bondsman Max Cherry (Robert
Forster) would rather play both sides against each other and get a
crack at liberating Ordell's half-million-dollar stash. Though it's
Jackson who provides whatever energy "Jackie Brown" can manage, it
is a treat to see Grier, who has the intimidating physicality of a
sexy linebacker, be "too cool for school" and face down any troubles
the script throws her way. While Leonard's original novel was set
in the Miami area, Tarantino moved it to L.A., which means lines about
Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles and key scenes are set in the Del Amo
Fashion Center. Tarantino feels at home in the South Bay, maybe too
much so. He's relaxed so much he hasn't given this film more than
attitude, and even attitude can wear thin after a while. --Tarantino
Lets Attitude Show in 'Jackie' (KENNETH
TURAN TIMES FILM CRITIC)
PRODUCTION:
| Produced by: |
Lawrence Bender Productions
/ Mighty Mighty Afrodite Productions / A Band Apart / Miramax
Films |
| Language: |
English |
| Runtime: |
USA:151 |
| Distributed by: |
Cecchi Gori Group (Italy) /
Miramax Films [us] |
| Directed by |
Quentin Tarantino |
| Written by |
Elmore Leonard (novel Rum Punch)
Quentin Tarantino |
| Cinematography by |
Guillermo Navarro |
| Production Design by |
David Wasco |
| Costume Design by |
Mary Claire Hannan |
| Film Editing by |
Sally Menke |
| Produced by |
Lawrence Bender
Richard N. Gladstein (executive)
Paul Hellerman (co-producer)
Elmore Leonard (executive)
Bob Weinstein (executive)
Harvey Weinstein (executive) |
CAST (in credits order):
| Pam Grier |
Jackie Brown |
| Samuel L. Jackson |
Ordell Robbie |
| Robert Forster |
Max Cherry |
| Bridget Fonda |
Melanie |
| Michael Keaton |
Ray Nicolette |
| Robert De Niro |
Louis Gara |
| Michael Bowen |
Mark Dargus |
| Chris Tucker |
Beaumont Livingston
|
| Lisa Gay Hamilton |
Sheronda |
| Tom 'Tiny' Lister
Jr. |
Winston |
| Hattie Winston |
Simone |
| Denise Crosby |
Public Defender
|
| Sid Haig |
Judge |
| Aimee Graham |
Amy, Billingsley
Sales Girl |
| Ellis E. Williams |
Cockatoo Bartender
|
|
