Jackie Brown is a 1997 crime drama about an air line hostess who must out smart the cops and a dangerous gun runner out of a lot of money.
THE STORY: When Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) gets arrested by two detectives (Michael Bowen and Michael Keaton) for having a large amount of money and drugs on her, she gets the unwanted attention of Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), who is afraid she will snitch on him to the feds. It’s after she meets bail bondsman Max Cherry (Robert Forester) that she comes up with a plan to steal half a million dollars.
THE RUNDOWN: When Jackie Brown was released in December of 1997, it met with mixed reviews. Naturally, many were expecting the same wild ride they had when they watched Pulp Fiction. While this does include some memorable dialog and great characters, it’s a bit more quiet than Quentin Tarantino‘s other features and a maybe more mature, too. The movie proved that he could adapt a novel, this one from Elmore Leonard (based on the novel Rum Punch) and still have it be in the same universe as his earlier films. While it was marketed as a con movie when it was first released. the more you watch it, the more the con becomes less and less important. We become engaged in the relationship between Jackie and Max while also enjoying the banter between Ordell and his partner Louis (Robert DeNiro). Everyone in this movie is top notch, but the stand out is Pam Grier who, after this movie. should of been cast in a ton more things. When you go back and watch her earlier films, you can see what a powerful presence she delivers into every role she’s taken. Even though Jackie Brown may not have the iconic quotes sprinkled about in Tarantino movies, this is still a great movie that deserves a watch (again).
THE MOMENT: SPOILERS Here’s a movie where the last shot is equally as important as the opening one and Jackie Brown makes both impactful. Let’s compare. When we first see Jackie, she’s strong, stoic and doesn’t move an inch, at least on her own, riding the moving walkway at the airport. It’s like she is so bad ass, the world moves for her. She doesn’t need to walk because the ground will help her get to where she is. As the opening credits get near the end of their run, we discover that Miss Brown is on her way to work as an airline hostess at some low-rent airline. This moment straight-forward confidence is who she is and the reveal of her job is the reality where that puts her. The opening credits do a great job in establishing this, saying that this woman, while being proud, smart and beautiful will also have to endure much she would rather not. The airline being one thing and then Ordell another.
The ending of the movie mirrors the opening in that we are back to a stoic image of Jackie. However, instead of a profile shot of her, we get her face. In the opening, she has her makeup done and looks like a queen on the move, yet at the end, after the trauma of everything she has been through, she’s not so much. Her hair is down, she has no make up and for the first time in a long time, is able to relax. Throughout the whole movie, Jackie has to be one step ahead of everybody else or else face the very worst. So when we see that she actually got away with this con. It means a big deal.
We also get a replay of the song ‘Across from 110th Street’ by Bobby Womack. This isn’t without meaning. The lyrics of the song talk about how living in the ghetto was not an easy thing and sometimes you just have to do whatever it takes to survive. So far so right. There is this is one line when it mentions pimps trying to catch a woman who’s weak, and this surely reflects on Ordell. There’s another line that says, “I’m not saying what I did was alright, trying to break out the ghetto was a day to day fight,” and we feel the sting of Jackie’s struggle to earn her way. The tone of the song at the start is very empowering and it cooly cast a sheen on a woman who may have gone through that in the past but is now successful. When we see that she is only at the start of her journey and we witness all that she goes through, the same song shifts, and so too does it’s powerful message. When we see her mouthing the lyrics, it not only shows that she understands this but recognizes that she has literally lived through them. This is great stuff.
WHY IT MATTERS: We have seen Jackie go through almost the impossible and it would have been a major disservice to this character if she’s ended up back at some bar laughing it up with Max about the money she ripped off. Sure, before she drives away, she does ask Max if he would like to join her, but he declines, and it’s while she’s driving away she is thinking about everything that led to this particular moment. We all have them at one time or another. Certain choices that led to other certain choices, and than BOOM. You are where you are. Jackie made choices and the result was, well, not good, but because so, she is where she is she. This is a great movie moment.