What happens when you take away the gratuitous violence, flagrant obscenities, bloody climaxes, and postmodern glamor in aQuentin Tarantinofilm? On the surface, the answer would be a Tarantino movie without his personal touch, a boring one, for that matter. However, when Tarantino toned down his well-defined tropes and formalist flair for his third feature,Jackie Brown, critics and audiences were muted, longing for more punchy dialogue and Mexican standoffs. Today, his 1997 crime drama, a riff on the blaxploitation starring the genre’s queen,Pam Grier, is recognized as one of hiscanonically great films, perhaps his most mature and nuanced outing as a writer-director. Among its stellar ensemble cast, includingSamuel L. Jackson,Michael Keaton,Bridget Fonda, andRobert De Niro, it isRobert Forsteras weathered bail bondsman Max Cherry who steals the showplaying an avatar of the director and gives the finest performance in any Tarantino picture.
Robert Forster’s Career Comeback as a Weathered Bail Bondsman in ‘Jackie Brown’
Thanks to the seismic cultural footprint left by the groundbreakingPulp Fiction, Tarantino had carte blanche when writing and directing his follow-up. He could’ve gotten every A-lister to accept a role inJackie Brown, anadaptation of theElmore Leonardnovel,Rum Punch, but instead opted for a sentimental favorite in Pam Grier, a relic of the 1970s who was seldom offered enticing roles at the time, for the titular role. For Max Cherry, the veteran bondsman looking for an escape from his listless life, Tarantino, who established himself as a legacy reviver followingJohn Travolta’s comeback,went even more off the beaten path with the late Robert Forster, another emblem of B-movies from the ’70s and ’80s who was viewed as a has-been.Forster, who later starred as the “Disappearer” in theBreaking Baduniverse and Frank Truman inTwin Peaks: The Return, never flirted with prestigious acclaim until he wasgiven the role of a lifetime, which nabbed him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. However, an Oscar nod doesn’t fully quantify just how soulfully mesmerizing his work is inJackie Brown.
In the film, Max Cherry bails out Jackie Brown, a flight attendant moonlighting as a drug courier for Ordell Robbie (Jackson). It doesn’t take Max very long to take a liking to Jackie, as they both feel out of place in a world that belittles them. While a contemporary piece,the film oozes with ’70s aesthetic and iconography, speaking to the culture clash that drives their malaise.Despite being a diligent bondsman, Max agrees to participate in Jackie’s money exchange that would have her stealing half of a million dollars from under Ordell’s nose.Jackie Brown, compared to the rest of Tarantino’s filmography, is light on plot, and theend result of the money exchangeis inconsequential to the character implications. Max views Jackie as a kindred spirit, both of whom are used as pawns for Ordell.Their unlikely romance is born out of their weariness towards the mundanity of aging and the anxiety of wasting one’s life.When casting, Tarantino likely ruminated over why Forster never became a major star in Hollywood, and he imbues that poignant reflection into Max, someone who feels like he’s past his prime in every walk of life.
Max Cherry’s Love For Pop Culture in ‘Jackie Brown’ Makes Him the Perfect Avatar for Quentin Tarantino
Forster, in a subtle performance with earth-shattering emotional resonance, wears his rapid aging on his face. Max, tired of chasing after criminal offenders,represents someone annoyed that he’sstuck in a Quentin Tarantino movie.Despite this clash between his disposition and profession, Max reflects Tarantino’s interests and sensibilities to a tee. If it were up to him, Max would go about life unbothered as he browses through the record store, reads paperback books, and attends Sunday matinées at the multiplex. Tarantino’s idiosyncratic style is heavily defined by characters who obsess over pop culture and media like everyday people, and inJackie Brown, the bond between Max and Jackie is built upon their mutual affection for The Delfonics. Max, like Tarantino, expresses a glowing fondness for Black culture. He gazes at Jackie with the same level of awe that a teenage Tarantino likely had when watchingCoffyorFoxy Brownfor the first time.
While Tarantino’s complicated history with Black culture and appropriation often reaches fetishized territories, he displays incredible restraint inJackie Brown, in large part due to Robert Forster’s remarkable performance.Although he is shown to be a romantic, the actor plays every scene with a measured poise.Blending street-wise shrewdness with gentle vulnerability, Forster is thecrown jewel of Tarantino’s masteryof exploiting an untapped resource. Max Cherry does not have an insatiable thirst for vengeance like The Bride, nor is he trying to rewrite history like the Basterds. All he needs is the comforting assurance that his life has not been a waste.
Jackie Brown
