Hip, Cool, and Totally Tarantino
Jackie Has It In The Bag

There are those people in the world who love Woody Allen movies. They eagerly await each new release, convinced that the neurotic New Yorker can do no wrong. I'm like that with Quentin Tarantino. While his movies are not exactly family viewing, they appeal to me in a darker way. Watching one of his movies is like stepping into his world. I'm instantly on edge, a little frightened, and totally engrossed by what I see.

When I saw Jackie Brown, the new Quentin Tarantino film starring 1970s film star Pam Grier, I was willing to give it time to grow on me. Like other Tarantino films, it has an excess of foul language, hip bad guys, and some shocking violence. All of these things alone, however, do not begin to describe the coolness which is inherent in Jackie Brown.

Tarantino wrote the screenplay, based on the Elmore Leonard novel Rum Punch. In doing so, he changed the setting from Leonard's south Florida locale to his home turf of south Los Angeles. The characters, however, become a blend of Leonard's style and Tarantino's now-patented hip, smart, funny, and foul-mouthed bad guys. The story of Jackie Brown is not the traditional Tarantino faire. In fact, I was reminded of Get Shorty (based on another Leonard novel) as much as Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs.

The story follows a gun-runner named Ordell Robbie (played to the hilt by Samuel L. Jackson) who uses a stewardess (Grier) to carry cash for him between Mexico and L.A. Ordell's problems begin when Beaumont (Chris Tucker), one of his "associates," gets picked up by the cops. Ordell bails him out but ruthlessly executes him, fearing that Beaumont will turn on him. Unfortunately the cops had already got him to talk, and they bust Ordell's courier, Jackie Brown, the next time she enters the country. Aside from the $50K they find on her, the ATF agent (Michael Keaton) plants two grams of coke in her bag hoping it will scare her into playing ball.

The story becomes a complicated tale, interweaving double-cross after double-cross, and includes some unlikely characters which could only have come from the mind of Elmore Leonard. The money smuggling scam includes a bail bondsman named Cherry (Robert Forester) who is hopelessly smitten with the vivacious Ms. Brown, an ex-con named Louis Gara (Robert DeNiro), and a beach bunny (Bridget Fonda) who spends her days getting high and watching television.

Jackson is incredible. Like his role in Pulp Fiction, Jackson becomes Ordell, thinking, acting, and reacting as a true criminal would. He is ruthless, but not so stupid that he doesn't understand when business is business. DeNiro is at his most understated best as Louis. I found him compelling to watch for no reason other than his almost deafening silence. For a top-notch actor like DeNiro this seems at first like a terrible role, but he speaks volumes while remaining in the background.

Aside from the story, Tarantino has made a conscious effort to make Jackie Brown feel like a 1970s film. Don't misunderstand me. This isn't a 1970s nostalgia piece with disco, bell-bottom jeans and lava lamps. The film is set in 1995. Nevertheless, Tarantino uses the music of the soundtrack to remind us of that other time. Of course, Grier herself is another constant reminder (and cast as Jackie Brown for that very reason).

Cinematically, this is undisputed Tarantino. From the long opening montage following Jackie in the airport to the pregnant pauses in the dialog, one can see his imprint on the film. Even more interesting are the number of shots in which Tarantino chooses to use a single camera for a long shot. I'm thinking, in particular, of the scene when Jackie gets out of jail and the camera watches her walk out. There is no editing for the sake of time. Instead, the camera zeroes in on Grier and watches her slowly approach, undoubtedly in the same way as her bail bondsman.

The dialog is filled with obscenities and racial epithets which would probably get a person shot on the streets of Los Angeles, but it becomes so much a part of the character that one begins to think that they couldn't talk any other way. Like Tarantino's other films, the bad guys just seem to talk that way and one accepts it as a part of his world.

My only complaints about the film are the fact that in ran so long (I can't imagine how long Tarantino's director's cut will be), and the anti-climactic ending. I believe that I would have cut the last two scenes from the film in an effort to preserve some mystery as to the characters' resolutions.

MY RATING: 8 out of 10.

RATED: R
RUN TIME: 154 min.