Jackie Brown pays homage to 1970s blaxploitation films, particularly Coffy and Foxy Brown, both of which also starred Grier. It is the only feature-length film directed by Tarantino that was based on another work.[3]
Jackie Brown was released in the U.S. on December 25, 1997 by Miramax. It received positive reviews and grossed $74.7 million worldwide on a $12 million budget. It earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Forster, and Golden Globe Award nominations for Jackson and Grier. The film revitalized the careers of Grier and Forster, neither of whom had been cast in a lead role for many years.
Plot
Jackie Brown, a flight attendant, smuggles money from Mexico into the United States for Ordell Robbie, a gun runner in Los Angeles. When Ordell's courier, Beaumont Livingston, is arrested, he hires bail bondsman Max Cherry to bail him out. To prevent Beaumont from talking to the police, Ordell kills him.
Acting on information Beaumont had already given them, ATF agent Ray Nicolette and LAPD detective Mark Dargus intercept Jackie with Ordell's cash and a bag of cocaine. After Jackie is sent to jail, Ordell hires Max to bail her out. Ordell arrives at Jackie's apartment, but she pulls out a gun she stole from Max's glovebox. She negotiates a deal with Ordell: she will pretend to help the authorities while smuggling in $550,000 of Ordell's money.
Ordell brings in Louis Gara, a criminal associate and former cellmate who has just been released from prison. Melanie Ralston, one of Ordell's women, attempts to convince Louis to betray Ordell and take the money for themselves. Louis tells Ordell, but Ordell replies that he is not concerned about her, given that he knows she’s not to be trusted completely.
Unaware of the plan to smuggle in $550,000, Nicolette and Dargus devise a sting to catch Ordell during a transfer of $50,000. Jackie plans to keep the $500,000 for herself. She recruits Max, offering him a cut. During a test run, Jackie smuggles in $10,000, with Nicolette and Dargus aware, to swap with Sheronda, Ordell's live-in girlfriend, at a shopping mall. After Jackie leaves, Max observes an unknown woman swap bags with Sheronda. He informs Jackie and she confronts Ordell, who states he used Simone Hawkins, one of his contacts, to secure his money as a backup.
On the day of the transfer, Ordell discovers that Simone has left town with the $10,000. He reluctantly recruits Melanie to perform the swap instead. Jackie enters a dressing room in a department store to try on a suit. Though she has told Nicolette the exchange will take place in the food court, she has told Ordell she will swap bags in the dressing room. The bag contains only $40,000; Jackie leaves the rest in the dressing room for Max. Jackie takes $10,000 and places it on top of the bag she gives Melanie as a bonus. Jackie runs to the food court and finds Nicolette, claiming Melanie burst into the dressing room and stole the money.
During the exchange, Melanie is uncooperative and in the parking lot after the exchange, she mocks Louis for forgetting where they parked. He loses his temper and kills her by shooting her in the chest and the stomach. Louis tells Ordell, who discovers that most of the money is missing. When Louis recalls seeing Max at the shopping mall, Ordell, furious, kills Louis by shooting him.
Ordell instructs Max to tell Jackie that Ordell will kill them if she does not return the money and that if she goes to the police, he will name her as an accessory. Max goes to Ordell's house, and tells him that Jackie, frightened, is waiting in Max's office with the money. Ordell holds Max at gunpoint as they enter his office. Jackie yells out that Ordell has a gun. Nicolette, Dargus, and Cherry's business partner Winston, who provided Max with Ordell’s location, hiding in the back, ambush him and shoot him dead. The charges against Jackie are dropped, and she plans a trip to Madrid. Max declines her invitation to join her. They kiss goodbye and he watches her drive away.
After completing Pulp Fiction (1994), Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary acquired the film rights to Elmore Leonard's novels Rum Punch, Freaky Deaky, and Killshot. Tarantino initially planned to film either Freaky Deaky or Killshot and have another director make Rum Punch, but changed his mind after re-reading Rum Punch, saying he "fell in love" with the novel all over again.[4]Killshot was later adapted into a film released in 2008, produced by Jackie Brown producer Lawrence Bender.
While adapting Rum Punch into a screenplay, Tarantino changed the ethnicity of the main character from white to black, as well as renaming her from Burke to Brown, titling the screenplay Jackie Brown. Tarantino hesitated to discuss the changes with Leonard, finally speaking with Leonard as the film was about to start shooting. Leonard loved the screenplay, considering it not only the best of the twenty-six screen adaptations of his novels and short stories but also stating that it was possibly the best screenplay he had ever read.[4]
Tarantino's screenplay otherwise closely followed Leonard's novel, incorporating elements of Tarantino's trademark humor and pacing.[3] The screenplay was also influenced by blaxploitation films, but Tarantino said Jackie Brown is not a blaxploitation film.[4]
Jackie Brown alludes to Grier's career in many ways. The film's poster resembles those of Grier's films Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974) and includes quotes from both films. The typeface for the film's opening titles was also used for those of Foxy Brown; some of the background music is taken from these films including four songs from Roy Ayers's original score for Coffy.[citation needed]
Tarantino wanted Pam Grier to play the title character. She previously read for the Pulp Fiction character Jody, but Tarantino did not believe audiences would find it plausible for Eric Stoltz to yell at her.[6] Grier did not expect Tarantino to contact her after the success of Pulp Fiction.[4] When she showed up to read for Jackie Brown, Tarantino had posters of her films in his office. She asked if he had put them up because she was coming to read for his film, and he responded that he was actually planning to take them down before her audition, to avoid making it look like he wanted to impress her.[4]
While Jackie Brown was in production, Universal Pictures was preparing to begin production on director Steven Soderbergh's 1998 film Out of Sight, an adaptation of Leonard's 1996 novel of the same name that also features the character of Ray Nicolette, and waited to see whom Tarantino would cast as Nicolette for Jackie Brown.[4]Michael Keaton was hesitant to take the part of Ray Nicolette, even though Tarantino wanted him for it.[4] Keaton subsequently agreed to play Nicolette again in Out of Sight, uncredited, appearing in one brief scene. Although the legal rights to the character were held by Tarantino and Miramax, as Jackie Brown had been produced first, Tarantino insisted that the studio not charge Universal for using the character in Out of Sight, allowing the character's appearance without Miramax receiving financial compensation.[citation needed]
Reception
Critical response
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives it an approval rating of 88% based on 96 reviews and an average rating of 7.60/10. The site's consensus is: "Although somewhat lackadaisical in pace, Jackie Brown proves to be an effective star vehicle for Pam Grier while offering the usual Tarantino wit and charm."[10]Metacritic gives the film a 64 out of 100 based on 23 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[11] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[12]
Roger Ebert rated the film four out of four stars, writing that "Tarantino leaves the hardest questions for last, hides his moves, conceals his strategies in plain view, and gives his characters dialogue that is alive, authentic and spontaneous."[13] He also ranked the film as one of his favorites of 1997.[14] Movie critic Mark Kermode for BBC Radio Five Live lists Jackie Brown as his favorite film by Quentin Tarantino.[15] Samuel L. Jackson, who appears frequently in Tarantino's films, named his character of Ordell Robbie as one of his favorite roles.[16]
Box office
The film grossed $39.7million in the United States and Canada and $35.1million in other territories for a total gross of $74.7million, against a budget of $12million.[17][2] In its opening weekend, the film grossed $9.3million, finishing 5th at the box office.[18]
Controversy
Jackie Brown has attracted criticism for its use of the racial slur "nigger", which is used 38 times,[19] the most in any Tarantino film until Django Unchained (2012) and The Hateful Eight (2015). During an interview with Manohla Dargis, Tarantino said: "The minute any word has that much power, as far as I'm concerned, everyone on the planet should scream it. No word deserves that much power."[20] The filmmaker Spike Lee criticized the film's use of the word,[21] and said: "I'm not against the word, and I use it, but not excessively. And some people speak that way. But, Quentin is infatuated with that word. What does he want to be made–an honorary black man? And he uses it in all his pictures: Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs... I want Quentin to know that all African-Americans do not think that word is trendy or slick." Lee took his concerns to the film's producers, Harvey Weinstein and Lawrence Bender.[19]
Songs by a variety of artists are heard throughout the film, including The Delfonics' "La-La Means I Love You" and "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)", Bill Withers' "Who Is He", The Grass Roots' "Midnight Confessions", Johnny Cash's "Tennessee Stud", Bloodstone's "Natural High", and Foxy Brown's "(Holy Matrimony) Married to the Firm". There are several songs included that were featured in blaxploitation films as well, including Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street", from the film of the same name, and Pam Grier's "Long Time Woman", from her 1971 film The Big Doll House. The original soundtrack also features separate tracks with dialogue from the film. Instead of using a new film score, Tarantino incorporated Roy Ayers' funk score from the film Coffy.
A number of songs used in the film do not appear on the soundtrack, such as "Cissy Strut" (The Meters), and "Piano Impromptu" (Dick Walter).
Home media
The Special Edition DVD, released by Buena Vista in 2002, includes an introduction from Tarantino, an hour-long retrospective interview, a subtitle trivia track, and soundtrack chapter selection, a half-hour making-of documentary ("How It Went Down"), the entire "Chicks Who Love Guns" video as seen in the film, many deleted and alternate scenes, including an alternate opening title sequence, Siskel and Ebert's review, Jackie Brown appearances on MTV, TV spots and theatrical trailers, written reviews, and articles and filmographies, and over an hour of trailers for Pam Grier and Robert Forster films dating from the 1960s onwards.[4] The box also includes a mini-poster of the film, similar to the one above, and on the back of that, two other mini-posters–one of Grier, the other of Forster, both similar to the album cover.
Although the Special Edition DVD's back cover states that the film is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, it was actually shot with a 1.85:1 ratio, the only Tarantino-directed film to date shot in such a format with the exception of his segment in the film Four Rooms, "The Man from Hollywood".
On October 4, 2011, Miramax released Jackie Brown on Blu-ray Disc along with Pulp Fiction. The film is presented in 1080p HD in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. The disc was the result of a new licensing deal with Miramax and Lionsgate.[24]
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue including a pervasive use of profanity, and references to popular culture.
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary. It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence in Los Angeles, California. The film stars John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman. The title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue.
Kill Bill: Volume 1 is a 2003 American martial arts film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Uma Thurman as the Bride, who swears revenge on a group of assassins and their leader, Bill, after they try to kill her and her unborn child. Her journey takes her to Tokyo, where she battles the yakuza.
Pamela Suzette Grier is an American actress and singer. Described by many as cinema's first female action star, she achieved fame for her starring roles in a string of 1970s action, blaxploitation and women in prison films for American International Pictures and New World Pictures. Her accolades include nominations for an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Satellite Award and a Saturn Award.
Foxy Brown is a 1974 American blaxploitation film written and directed by Jack Hill. It stars Pam Grier as the title character who takes on a gang of drug dealers who murdered her boyfriend. The film was released by American International Pictures as a double feature with Truck Turner. The film uses Afrocentric references in clothing and hair. Grier starred in six blaxploitation films for American International Pictures.
Coffy is a 1973 American blaxploitation film written and directed by Jack Hill. The story is about a black female vigilante played by Pam Grier who seeks violent revenge against a heroin dealer responsible for her sister's addiction.
Rum Punch is a 1992 novel written by Elmore Leonard. The novel was adapted into the film Jackie Brown (1997) by director Quentin Tarantino.
Sheba, Baby is a 1975 American blaxploitation action film directed by William Girdler and starring Pam Grier and Austin Stoker.
BaadAsssss Cinema is a 2002 TV documentary film directed by Isaac Julien. Julien looks at the Blaxploitation era of the 1970s in this hour-long documentary.
Jack Hill is an American film director in the exploitation film genre. Several of Hill's later films have been characterized as feminist works.
Get Christie Love! is an American crime drama TV series starring Teresa Graves as an undercover female detective which originally aired on ABC from January 22, 1974, until April 5, 1975. The starring television role made Graves the second African-American female lead in a U.S. network drama, after Diahann Carroll in Julia. The series is based on Dorothy Uhnak's crime-thriller novel The Ledger.
Black Mama White Mama, also known as Women in Chains, Hot, Hard and Mean and Chained Women, is a 1973 women in prison film directed by Eddie Romero and starring Pam Grier and Margaret Markov. The film has elements of blaxploitation.
Mia Wallace is a fictional character portrayed by Uma Thurman in the 1994 Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction. It was Thurman's breakthrough role and earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The character became a cultural icon.
Women in Cages is a 1971 women in prison sexploitation film directed by Gerardo de León and starring Jennifer Gan, Judy Brown, Roberta Collins, and Pam Grier. Co-produced by Roger Corman, it was prominently featured in the Planet Terror portion of the 2007 film Grindhouse. Grindhouse director Quentin Tarantino said of the film, "I'm a huge, huge fan of Gerry de Leon.... the film is just harsh, harsh, harsh." He described the final shot as one of "devastating despair".
Jackie Brown: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture is the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's motion picture Jackie Brown. It was originally released on December 9, 1997. The soundtrack uses a variety of music genres, including soul. The soundtrack also includes dialogue from the motion picture and a lack of typical film score, similar to the other soundtracks of Tarantino films.
Ebony, Ivory & Jade is a 1976 film by director Cirio Santiago, made in Manila, Philippines. A relatively well-budgeted martial arts feature by Santiago's standards, the film was seen mainly in US drive-in movies, where it was first released as She-Devils in Chains. It has also been released as American Beauty Hostages, Foxfire, and Foxforce.
Carolyn Ann Stewart, known professionally as Carol Speed, was an American actress, singer-songwriter and author. Speed was best known for her roles in films during the 1970s blaxploitation era, most notably starring as Abby Williams in the American International Pictures 1974 blaxploitation horror film Abby (1974).
Blaxploitation is an ethnic subgenre of the exploitation film that emerged in the United States during the early 1970s, when the combined momentum of the civil rights movement, the Black power movement, and the Black Panthers spurred black artists to reclaim power over their image, and institutions like UCLA to provide financial assistance for students of color to study filmmaking. This combined with Hollywood adopting a less restrictive rating system in 1968. The term, a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation", was coined in August 1972 by Junius Griffin, the president of the Beverly Hills–Hollywood NAACP branch. He claimed the genre was "proliferating offenses" to the black community in its perpetuation of stereotypes often involved in crime. After the race films of the 1940s and 1960s, the genre emerged as one of the first in which black characters and communities were protagonists, rather than sidekicks, supportive characters, or victims of brutality. The genre's inception coincides with the rethinking of race relations in the 1970s.
Life of Crime is a 2013 American black comedy crime film written and directed by Daniel Schechter, based on Elmore Leonard's novel The Switch (1978), which includes characters later revisited in his novel Rum Punch (1992), which was adapted into the Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown (1997). Life of Crime was screened on the closing night 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, on the opening day of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, at the 2014 Traverse City Film Festival and released in theaters on August 29, 2014 by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions.
QT8: The First Eight is a 2019 American documentary film co-produced and directed by Tara Wood. The documentary chronicles the life of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, from his start at Video Archives up to the release of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). The film features interviews from the frequent collaborators of his films.
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