4/4  Jackie Brown Quick Review
This is not Tarantino's best, but it is still near perfect. Sam Jackson may do a better job in this role than he does in Pulp Fiction. The camera work is beyond perfection once again. The pacing could have used some work, but still see it!

5/5 Tarantino's Coming of Age.
  by Mr. Censored (Maine)
"Jackie Brown," Quentin Tarantino's third feature length film, finds the writer/director at perhaps his most straight-forward and mature. While he rejects the notion that he is maturing as a film-maker in an interview featured on the DVD, it is quite obvious that the man who created such cult classics as Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs was out to prove he wasn't merely a one-trick pony, and it paid off in one of his most character driven and rewarding efforts to date.

Adapted from the Elmore Leonard novel, Rum Punch, "Jackie Brown" is the story of an aging stewardess (Pam Grier) in trouble with the law who concocts a scheme to rip off an arms dealer (Samuel L. Jackson) of a cool $500,000. She of course needs the help of a bail bondsman (Robert Forster) whose midlife crisis takes a backseat to the crush he develops for her. On the surface, it appears to be just another heist film, but underneath all the layers, at its core, "Jackie Brown" is an unlikely love story from probably the last director you'd expect. While the job and the way it's carried out is a big part of the film, Tarantino knows well enough to allow his characters ample time to breathe, making it the sort of film where you forget for a while who you're watching and simply appreciate the unique personalities they bring to life.

It also helps, of course, that the film is filled to brim with a great cast of old and new, obscure and respectable. Robert De Niro has perhaps one of the most entertaining roles as an ex-con who keeps to himself, silently observing and judging the world he is getting reacquainted with. Bridget Fonda plays Samuel L. Jackson's sex-pot/pot-head surfer girl girlfriend with a dry sense of humor that bounces well off of De Niro's stone-cold demeanor. Grier and Forster, who were both dragged from the depths of obscurity only to find their careers slightly revitalized for the film are both in top form and go a long way in driving home the human nature of the plot. Michael Keaton, playing an ATF agent who would later appear as the same character in 1998's Out of Sight, is perhaps one of the film's greatest surprises, as he is in turns quirky and overly confident, while being clueless all the while.

While fans of Tarantino's more notorious fare will have a hard time seeing the brilliance of "Jackie Brown," it's a film that will no doubt please the palate of the viewer who craves rich characters, natural pacing and an engrossing plot, not to mention a killer soundtrack. Out of all of Tarantino's work, this is the one that is the most grounded in reality and, aside from Forster's Oscar nomination, deserved much more acclaim and credit than it was given. In a way, this is the cult classic in Tarantino's league of cult classics, and a film that certainly holds up time and time again.


5/5 A Fine Elmore Leonard Adapation
  by Zarathustra (Sacramento, CA USA)
It has been many years since I saw this 1997 film and I had forgotten how good it was. Some of my favorite actors (Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda, and the lead Pam Grier) are in the film and Robert Forster won an Oscar nomination for his role as bailbondsman Max Cherry. Leonard's lead in the novel Rum Punch was a white woman: he agreed that Tarantino's selection of Pam Grier, a fixture in many blaxploitation films, was the right person to play opposite Jackson. Coming between Pulp Fiction (1994) and Kill Bill (2003-4), this film has not gotten the attention it deserves.

4/5 This Black Sheep Delivers
  by Untitled (nowhere)
You know, it's kind of too bad that Jackie Brown doesn't get much recongition amongst so-called Tarantino fans (being a fan, by the way, does not mean liking everything automatically), but it's a worthy candidate and still a Tarantino movie. Tarantino is able to make great movies no matter what, and this movie is another testament to why I love this guys movies. Sure, he isn't entirely original, but his movies are entertaining, and you don't need to understand such hopelessly trivial "deep" themes to understand. Gah, _____ that. The reason you should watch movies is the entertainment value, that's what matters so much. Themes are there in real life, so you really don't need them in movies. Sure, themes and social commentary make good movies, but liking movies even though they have a lack of meaning doesn't (of course, it helps to know, however, many mindless movies are actually more boring than movies with subtle meaning).

Jackie Brown is supposedly Tarantino's homage to Blaxplotation films. I think that have absolutely no idea what that is. I do think that this is a bit of step up for Tarantino's film making skill, with more elaborate settings, with some stylistic devices, and even some use of CGI. Camera angles are pretty prevelant, and even more effective than they were in previous movies of his. The music itself is very good, there's plenty of songs everywhere, and quite soulful at that. The use of Cissy Strut, the opening of Across 110th Street (with a very careful homage to the Graduate), INside my Love that plays in that utterly classy bar. Overall, I think there is some more darkness in this movie for some reason. Many scenes are set at night, and the songs, such as Street Life and Strawberry Letter 22, are easily songs that fit with ease with an rainy urban landscape at night.

Despite plenty of quirks and the classic Chicks with Guns opener, there isn't as much dialogue in here that's exactly a blast to cite from beginning to end. IT's still great to listen to, but if your thinking it will be have dialogue after dialogue of conversations (example: Royale With Cheese, Butch and Marcellus, uh, garage storage). However, it still is pretty rich and expertly crafted. I'm not quite sure if the movie is rich in character development, and Jackie Brown is not exactly "mature", that's baggage, and nothing else. Sure, the slow pace is sometimes off putting, but Tarantino doesn't dwell into self indulgence like he did in Kill Bill Vol 2 and Inglourious Basterds (occasionly in Basterds). I think the slow pace lets you get to know some of these characters, all of them are pretty charismatic and let you know a bit of who they are with their presence. I think that's what Tarantino does to make you like their characters, give them personality. Tarantino doesn't need to show these characters in action, he knows how to do that with their presence alone.

Despite it's R rating, this isn't that bad of a movie, especially in the violence department. I think the total number of gunshots in this movie are equal or exceeded by Mr. White's cop shooting scene or the execution of Brett in Pulp Fiction alone. Sure, the violence is memorable in a Tarantino movie (forget the fact it's not "eXtReeme!". It's more fun than any of those pathetic "shocking" B movie makers that have their movies featured in gore magazines could ever do), but it doesn't need all of that when you got some of Tarantino's most memorabe characters, some good dialogue, settings, and great music. Bridget Fonda steals the scene, as a stoner beach bunny (often wearing nothing but short shorts and a bikini top) with a big mouth who takes huge hits from bongs and watches television all day. The main character played by still good looking Pam Grier (though not hot, she's in her fourties in this movie) is vulnerable yet strong, and Jackson's character is another Tarantino hit, even though he doesn't top his role as Jules Weinfield (then again, I don't think he ever will). De Niro is somewhat quiet in his role, so if you expecting something like his roles in Raging Bull or Taxi Driver, your out of luck. He still some huge chemistry, and his mall scene with Bridget Fonda does an excellent job with showing his irritation with Melanie (which ends pretty bad). Michael Keaton and Robert Forester play the earnest yet somewhat manipulative personas that make the whole movie twist and turn in various ways.

Yeah that's pretty much it. Don't be fooled by Jackie Brown's different approach and black sheep persona of the Tarantino canon, it's just one of his charms that his movies seem to be black sheeps when compared to certain others. In any case, ignoring this fine work would be kind of futile. Those who don't like Tarantino will not like it, but if you are a fan, you won't be disappointed. So get it.

B-

5/5 Quentin's under-rated flick
  by Dennis W. Wong
After the bravura success of "Pulp Fiction", Quentin Tarentino waited 3 yrs and made a turnaround with this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch" --and in the process, revived the careers of Pam Grier and Robert Forster who both were awarded with Golden Globe, SAG and Academy Award (Best Supporting Actor) nominations. Though the film is a little over-long, you'll be drawn in by the even deeper characterizations (even more than "Pulp Fiction")and well developed plot. In fact, as an actor, I've seen several scenes from this film enacted in Scene Study classes in L.A. which attests to the quality of this film. Another interesting aspect of this film is the near absence of violence and gore which were in Quentins previous films but again this is a plus rather than a minus. If you're a fan of noir and am not yet a Tarentino fan--you will be after checking this out!!

5/5 "I'm serious as a heart attack..."
  by Adron Gardner (USA)
Jackie Brown is Quentin Tarantino's best film. There is not a single note wrong here from beginning to end. Dogs was a rough start, Pulp was a crowd pleaser, but with Jackie Brown, there are characters that are more than pawns in a game of "Guess what movie I ripped off..."

The awesome cast is firing on all cylinders to give the movie a real backbone. Surprisingly only Robert De Niro's presence comes off out of place in his nearly wordless role.

The film works better on more levels than any other Tarantino. Why? Three main reasons;

He is working from a completely realized story from Elmore Leonard. Tarantino has never shown himself to be much with a singular story over 2 hours, Leonard's Rum Punch gave him a solid foundation to work from.

He is free of gimmicks of black and white suits, glossy guns or samurai swords. There are almost no way to quantify his filmic references here, but they are all completely in sync with the story and characterizations, not for flamboyance. The story and characters rule here.

Most importantly...

He is hopelessly in love with almost every character in this film and it feels as if he KNOWS each of these people. The personal touches for each of the players here are well done by the actors, but Tarantino simply worships them with his words, his camera and his soundtrack. This film could easily be called "Reverence."

More than 10 years on, Jackie Brown feels fresher and far more mature than a re-watch of his other films, which by comparison come off as wind up toys or forced. On the other hand, Jackie Brown is a true love song to Pam Grier, the 70s and Blaxploitation and movies in general.

But above all that, Jackie Brown is solid and just a damn good movie on any level. I doubt he'll ever make one as good. Few people could.