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Jackie Brown, the third film in Tarantino’s filmography, is probably his most underappreciated gem.
In fact, when we ranked all of his movies, we put it above films like Reservoir Dogs, Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight (though, as a Hateful Eight diehard, I don’t know if I’d put it above THAT). Even so, whenever you discuss Tarantino movies with somebody else, they’ll likely leave Jackie Brown out of the discussion. Or, you’ll bring it up, and THEN they’ll say, “Oh, oh. Yeah, yeah. Great movie. Great movie.”
Why is that? Sure, it did come out after what is arguably Tarantino’s best film, Pulp Fiction, which didn’t do it any favors. However, Jackie Brown is so good, and more importantly, so different from its predecessor that you would think it would stand out more. It doesn’t, but here’s why it should.
First Off, It’s The Only Tarantino Film Based Off Of Somebody Else’s Story
Believe it or not, but I’ve actually written articles on every Tarantino movie (yes, that includes the even less discussed Death Proof). And, one thing I can say with certainty is that Jackie Brown feels unlike any other Tarantino film.
I mean, you would never mistake it for anybody else’s work. There’s just something about the characters, the story, and even the pacing, however, that make it feel unlike any of his other movies (especially the frenetic Kill Bill, which was the film that followed it).
When I first watched Jackie in the early 2000s, I didn’t understand why it felt so different. It actually wasn’t until later that I learned it was based off of the novel Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard, who was the author behind other popular stories like Out of Sight, and Three-Ten to Yuma. Once I knew that, it made perfect sense, because it just moves differently.
The story of a flight attendant who smuggles money and gets mixed up in a crime sting to bring down her boss, Jackie has a slower tempo than his other films. In fact, in a lot of ways, we’re just sitting with characters, and getting to know them. It’s for this reason that I think some might call the movie “slow.” It’s not slow! It’s tone-setting, which makes it feel wholly unique in Tarantino’s incomparable filmography.
It Tips Its Hat Toward Blaxploitation Films
I love blaxploitation films, and so does Tarantino. In fact, as the story goes (on the Jackie Brown DVD special, Jackie Brown: How It Went Down) when Pam Grier auditioned for the part, Tarantino had posters of some of her movies on his wall. When she wondered if he put them up because she was coming, he actually replied that he was going to remove them just because he didn’t want her to know what a fanboy he was.
It makes sense. Django Unchained (which is one of the most satisfying movies I’ve ever seen as a Black man) is pretty much a blaxploitation film at its heart, and you can tell that the director loves the sub-genre. However, even though Jackie tips its hat to those films, it’s not really a blaxploitation movie at all. It merely pays homage to it.
For example, in the novel, the protagonist is actually white and named Jackie Burke rather than Brown. Tarantino was also highly influenced by Grier movies like Coffy and Foxy Brown, going so far as to even include some background music from Coffy to give it that ‘70s vibe.
It’s for all these reasons that even though it’s not a blaxploitation film, you can tell that much of the movie’s beating heart has the sub-genre’s blood coursing through its system, which also makes it feel unique.
Jackie Brown Herself Is Probably Tarantino’s Most Unsung Protagonist
A lot of people immediately think of The Bride, a.k.a. Beatrix Kiddo from the Kill Bill movies (which, just throwing it out there, Vol. 2 is greater than Vol. 1) when they imagine cool female protagonists, but I’d argue that Jackie is way more of a badass.
For one thing, early on in the film, she pulls out a gun on her gun-running boss, who is terrifying, I might add. For another thing, she double crosses the agent and detective who want to trap her boss in order to make off with $500,000 of her boss’s money.
I mean, if that isn’t badass then I don’t know what is! I love Beatrix, and I love martial arts movies, but, the thing about Kill Bill is that the whole story revolves around her being tough and seeking revenge. Here, our heroine is very much afraid, but her desire to get ahead pushes her to succeed.
She’s a normal person, but somebody who acknowledges her situation, and decides that she is willing to double cross people who could easily kill her. I think that makes her special when it comes to Tarantino’s protagonists.
Unlike His Other Films, Jackie Brown Really Takes Its Time
I alluded to this earlier, but Jackie doesn’t move like Tarantino’s other movies. This might be why it’s sort of developed a cult status amongst both fans of his work, and also from people who don’t even like his films.
I’ve heard some people call this movie, “boring,” but I think I prefer what the critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes calls it, which is “somewhat lackadaisical,” because that is by design. When we see characters like Louis, played by Robert De Niro just sitting and watching TV, it’s purposeful. This is because when he eventually shoots Melanie (Bridget Fonda) in the parking lot, it hits you like a sledge hammer.
What I mean is, all of the “lackadaisical” pacing is meant to lull you, so that when something major does happen, it’s punctuation, like an exclamation point. In that way, what this movie likes to do is disarm you, and it works!
Plus, the film still has Tarantino’s trademark style, so the dialogue is always engaging (even if there ARE a lot of N-words). In that way, I kind of wish he made other movies from somebody else’s story (like that R-rated Star Trek movie that we’ll likely never get). Perhaps for his still-undecided final movie?
In The End, It’s One Of Tarantino’s Best Films That People Rarely Talk About
Lastly, one of the reasons why I love Jackie Brown so much is because it’s a quality movie, but people often neglect it. In this way, it still kind of feels like that undiscovered gem, even though it came out all the way back in 1997.
It’s also his last film that I feel doesn’t LOUDLY present itself as a Tarantino film. What I mean is, once Kill Bill came out, I feel like QT went full tilt into making TARANTINO MOVIES. I’m talking about flicks that unabashedly put his fanboying on full display (be it for the martial arts genre, spaghetti westerns, action war flicks, etc).
It might be because Roger Avary helped with Reservoir Dogs (the perfect debut picture!) and Pulp Fiction, and that Jackie is based off of an Elmore Leonard book that kind of makes this feel like the last of a trilogy of flicks before QT went full blown Tarantino-esque.
It feels subtle, patient, and engrossing. I love all of his films, but kind of miss this version of the director before he started making movies like Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds, and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. Like I said, Jackie Brown doesn’t feel like any other Tarantino film, and as a huge fan, I mean that in the best sort of way.
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