JACKIE BROWN
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Quentin Tarantino's third directorial
effort is a well-made if surprisingly uncreative
crime drama based on Elmore Leonard's RUM PUNCH.
The busy Samuel L. Jackson this time plays a
scheming low- life and dealer in high-powered guns
to drug lords. A delivery of a half-million-dollar
payment sparks games of cross and double-cross.
The production is over-long and over-powered with
name actors, some in surprisingly small roles, but
at the end of the day it is a good, solid drama.
And by today's standards the violence the actually
fairly light. Rating: 7 (0 to 10), +2 (-4 to +4)
Very minor spoilers in a section after the review.
Tarantino has become a cult item after the success of RESERVOIR DOGS and the award-winning PULP FICTION. He is the director that everybody caught early in his career and on his way up and from whom everybody expects great things. That put a lot of pressure on him to make his third film be really something special. His public may be disappointed to discover that they now have to invest two hours and thirty-five minutes in his new film and in return they will get a plain, old-fashioned, unspectacular crime drama. This is just a good, hard-boiled crime film, perhaps with a somewhat convoluted plot. Most directors could be proud of JACKIE BROWN as only a third effort, but I suspect that it will fall well short of the expectations for the over- hyped Tarantino.
Ordell Robbie (played by Samuel L. Jackson) is an ambitious and vicious gun dealer working out of his Hermosa Beach pad owned by his girlfriend Melanie (Bridget Fonda). To Melanie life is eating, sleeping, getting stoned, getting it on, and watching TV. To most other people dealing with Robbie, life is short, or at least it is once they become inconvenient to Ordell. But Ordell wants to get out of the gun business and in general out of the business business. He thinks it is time to retire to Mexico with Melanie and his low- life, lower-IQ partner Lou (a role that wastes Robert DeNiro's talents). But before Ordell can retire he wants to get half a million dollars in payments up from Mexico. His courier is Jackie Brown (Pam Grier, still around after a quarter of a century of black exploitation films). Jackie is a stewardess for a cheap Mexican airline and supplements her meager income by running payments for Ordell. But this time it gets her into trouble. Jackie is arrested by ATF agent Ray Nicholette (Michael Keaton) and policeman Mark Dargus. That makes her inconvenient for Ordell, both she and Ordell know it. Her one edge is that Ordell does not know that she knows it. She strikes up a shaky partnership with the honest-seeming bail bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forster) whom Ordell uses professionally. Together they have to outsmart Ordell to stay alive.
It is difficult to believe that this Samuel L. Jackson is the same one who was in EVE'S BAYOU. Jackson is a powerful and versatile actor who has been getting a lot of work, but deserves the attention he gets. One actor who does not get the attention is Robert Forster, who is something of a poor man's James Garner. He has Garner's ease and grace in a role, but just does not have Garner's following. For a treat sometime see his HOLLYWOOD HARRY--not a great plot, but a fun performance by Forster. Moving down the list we get to Robert DeNiro, Michael Keaton, and Bridget Fonda. And what are they doing in this film? It is nice to see a familiar face in a role, but these are parts that should have gone to some deserving second-stringers who could have brought just as much to the film as the people cast. I suppose they may have wanted to work with Quentin Tarantino. But still, folks, let's move aside and give some other actors a chance to be seen.
The film is by far Tarantino's least violent film, as some of his fans will be happy to know. Violence is neither a plus nor a minus with me, but I do know of people who refused to see PULP FICTION because of its violence. Overall, Tarantino has made an acceptable film, even if it is over two and a half hours long. If it has less magic than his previous work, it certainly has competence. I rate it a 7 on the 0 to 10 scale and a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Spoiler.... Spoiler.... Spoiler.... Spoiler.... Spoiler.... Spoiler.... Spoiler....
Are you kidding? In a dressing room? Presumably some have discreet anti-shoplifting surveillance. I doubt that anyone who knew what they were doing would ever assume that a dressing room is completely private.
There is a humorous bit at the beginning that involved a cameo by Demi Moore. I wonder how realistic that was? I also wonder if the noise from Keaton's leather jacket was intended as a subtle joke.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
Copyright 1998 Mark R. Leeper
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