Jackie Brown is always starting over; fearing her middle-aged life has become grounded under the weight of a few ounces of cocaine and $50,000 cash. Desperate, she schemes to play the Feds against the gunrunning criminal Ordell Robbie and come out with nearly half a million dollars: enough money to retire and buy a future of moderate comfort and relaxation. Director Quentin Tarantino begins with a wonderful tracking shot of the lovely Jackie Brown (gracefully portrayed by Pam Grier) as she prepares for work, gliding along the airport terminal like a bored Benjamin Braddock; the camera seems to caress her beautiful visage and alluring profile while Bobby Womack’s funky score sets the film’s tempo. Tarantino eschews his elliptical narrative patterns and tells a straightforward story, though he uses split-screen to great effect and shows us the final money exchange from three different points-of-view. Samuel L. Jackson imbues his character Ordell Robbie with the perfect balance of homicidal energy and human emotion, showing a tainted affection for his “little surfer girl”. Robert DeNiro as Robbie’s accomplice is thankfully minimal, allowing him to be a mostly silent partner. The revelation is the gifted performance by Robert Forster whose face is a roadmap of a hard life: he is able to infuse a strict humane morality and unassuming desire into Bail Bondsman Max Cherry (great name!), and we must believe in his breech of ethical conduct for the plot to work. Tarantino smartly focuses upon Jackie and Max instead of utilizing slick editing techniques and shocking gore and tells a believable and touching romance without a single sex scene or exploitive skin shot.
The soundtrack pumps the film with synergistic energy, communicating emotions through R&B classics and punctuated rhythms: from the sweet soulful Delfonics to the sweaty nights of Harlem in Womack’s vibrant Across 110th Street…and even the gravel voiced poetry of Johnny Cash. Based upon the Elmore Leonard novel RUM PUNCH, the plot has one divisive fault: when Beaumont is arrested for possession of drugs and a firearm while on probation, this would be a non-bailable offense as a detainer would be placed against him. The story doesn’t work without setting him up for the fatal fall, a precursor to Jackie’s likely future. But stranger things have happened in an overburdened Court System, so this isn’t necessarily an impossible event…just very unlikely. Finally, Jackie and Max share a brief kiss before going their own way: for Max, it’s life as usual and for the fiercely independent Ms. Brown…her heart has become as savory as a Cherry.
Final Grade: (A)
