Jackie Brown (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jackie Brown

Directed by	Quentin Tarantino
Produced by	Lawrence Bender
Written by	Quentin Tarantino, Elmore Leonard
Starring	Pam Grier Samuel L. Jackson Robert Forster Robert De Niro Michael Keaton Bridget Fonda Michael Bowen Chris Tucker
Editing by	Sally Menke
Distributed by	Miramax
Release date(s)	December 25, 1997
Running time	154 min.
Language	English
Budget	$12,000,000
IMDb profile

Tarantino's trademark trunk shot.

Jackie Brown is a 1997 motion picture directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film stars Pam Grier and Robert Forster, Robert De Niro, Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda, and Michael Keaton.

The screenplay is based on the novel Rum Punch by American novelist Elmore Leonard, although Tarantino made considerable changes to the story line and characters. Pam Grier plays Jackie Brown, a middle-aged airline flight attendant who gets coerced by ATF agent Ray Nicolette (Keaton) to help them bring down arms smuggler Ordell (Jackson) and his accomplices Louis Gara and Melanie (De Niro and Fonda). In true Tarantino form, this film has a substantial amount of violence and profanity. It has been criticized, as was Tarantino's previous film Pulp Fiction, for the frequent use of the word "nigger" in the dialogue. Also noteworthy was the casting of Grier and Forster in lead roles. Both were veteran actors, but neither had performed a leading role in many years. Jackie Brown revitalised both actors' careers, Grier's to a greater degree. De Niro and Keaton were major stars, but were cast in supporting roles. The film is in some respects a homage to earlier blaxploitation films, many of which also featured Pam Grier, and the movie's soundtrack is reminiscent of those earlier films as well. It received several major awards nominations, with Robert Forster earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and Samuel L. Jackson and Pam Grier nominated for Golden Globe Awards.

Jackie Brown was released on a two-disc Collector's Edition, with the first one being the movie, and the second one titled 'The Perks', with many special features for the movie.

1 Trivia
2 Differences between the novel and film
3 Cast
4 External links

[edit] Trivia

Quentin Tarantino has a cameo as the electronic voice on Jackie's answering machine.

The poster above is a direct reference to the poster of Foxy Brown; it even includes the same "brown sugar and spice" quote.

In the first mall scene, Max Cherry is seen exiting a movie theater while the music for the ending credits of the movie he just saw is playing. The music is the same music used in the ending credits of Jackie Brown.

The suit that Jackie buys is the same one that Mia Wallace wears in Pulp Fiction.

Jackie's car is the exact same car driven by Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction.

Tarantino's only brush with "real" crime was an arrest for shoplifting Elmore Leonard's novel The Switch, which marks the first appearance of the characters of Louis and Ordell.

Tarantino continued his love of "has-been" stars with the use of Pam Grier, although, it should be known that he had wanted to work with her for a long time.

Pam Grier is mentioned in Tarantino's mainstream directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs.

The intro titles to Jackie Brown are a careful homage to the intro titles to The Graduate. Where Dustin Hoffman passes wearily through LAX past white tiles to a sombre folk soundtrack, Pam Grier walks past the same spot years later to a soaring soul soundtrack (Across 110th Street by Bobby Womack) — even the tiles are multi-colored. This neatly illustrates the nature of the cultural change in Los Angeles in the intervening years.

Michael Keaton reprises his role as the character of ATF agent Ray Nicolette in the Steven Soderbergh film adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Out of Sight starring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez. Samuel L. Jackson also appears in the film.

In a homage to a Burt Reynolds film, the song Street Life by The Crusaders is used in a scene where Jackie is en route to the climatic set up in Del Amo Mall. This song also opened the Burt Reynolds film Sharky's Machine (1981).

In yet another homage to a film with actor/director Burt Reynolds, the scene where Ordell and Louis contemplate who took the money in the VW van, is linked to a comparative shot in the 1985 film Stick which is also based on an Elmore Leonard novel.

[edit] Differences between the novel and film

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The events in the novel take place in Miami, whereas the film is set in Los Angeles.
The main character is named Jackie Burke rather than Jackie Brown.
In the novel Jackie is caucasian, not African-American.
Jackie and Max Cherry have a much closer relationship in the novel, developing into a full-blown affair rather than simply a good understanding of each other and a kiss at the end, as was shown in the film.
The novel features a sex scene between Max and Jackie.
Ordell Robbie was described as a light-skinned black man.
Louis Gara has no moustache in the novel.
Melanie is older than portrayed in the film
In the novel, Ordell and Louis met at a bar in Detroit, not in prison. It was in that bar that they both discovered they had served time in the same prison, but on different occasions.
The reader learns that Max Cherry is separated and that Jackie has been married three times; in the film, the viewer knows only that Jackie has been married once before.
In the book Louis Gara actually worked for Max Cherry and didn't "clear out" until after stealing a gun from the office.
The film was different from most adaptations of Elmore Leonard's work in that it actually has somewhat less violence. In the book there is a scene where several of Ordell's "new-jack" henchmen are trapped in a warehouse full of weapons by ATF agents led by Ray Nicolette; they attempt to blast their way out with an anti-tank rocket launcher, but are too illiterate to read the instructions about how to operate it, and are captured. This would seem to be a scene tailor-made to Tarantino's sense of humor, but was not included in the film, perhaps for budgetary reasons or perhaps in an attempt to concentrate on the realistic and dramatic angles of the story.

[edit] Cast

Pam Grier as Jackie Brown
Samuel L. Jackson as Ordell Robie
Robert Forster as Max Cherry
Bridget Fonda as Melanie
Robert De Niro as Louis Gara
Michael Keaton as Ray Nicolette
Chris Tucker as Beaumont Livingston

The films of Quentin Tarantino
Directed: My Best Friend's Birthday • Reservoir Dogs • Pulp Fiction • Four Rooms • Jackie Brown • Kill Bill • Grind House • Inglorious Bastards Written: True Romance • Natural Born Killers • From Dusk Till Dawn