The beauty ofQuentin Tarantino’s filmography is that there is no poor choice regarding your favorite of his work. WhilePulp Fictionstill holds the most sway among the public, one could feasibly make a case forDeath Proof, perhaps his least-seen picture, as his most daring and inspired work. However,Jackie Brown, Tarantino’s highly anticipated follow-up toPulp Fiction, has become a favorite for the cinephilia crowd. Due to its literary roots, fixation on character, and sense of “maturity” on the writer-director’s part,Tarantino’s homage to Blaxploitation and ’70s crime films has become a fashionable film to pick as your favorite.Over 25 years since its release, it has aged as well (if not better) as any Tarantino film. One of the stars ofJackie Brown,Michael Keaton, would agree, calling Tarantino’s pulpy and humanist film simply “great.”
Quentin Tarantino Pays Homage to Blaxploitation in ‘Jackie Brown’
Quentin Tarantino burst onto the scene in the early 1990s, quickly becoming the face of the decade’s independent revolution withReservoir DogsandPulp Fiction. His knack for paying homage to genre films of the past combined with a defined sense of authorship made him a director worth obsessing over. He was theoretically allowed to go in any direction following the triumph ofPulp Fiction, but in typical Tarantino fashion,he went slightly off-kilter, adapting someone else’s work and giving it ever-so-slight revisions, enough to make it a unique Tarantino creation. Based onElmore Leonard’s novelRum Punch,Jackie Brownfeatures a rich ensemble cast, but two of its stars —Pam Grieras the titular flight attendant/drug courier, andRobert Forsteras bail bondsman Max Cherry — represent the apex of Tarantino’s casting sensibilities. Seen as cast-offs from the 1970s, sparks fly between Grier and Forster, whoshine as aging, directionless people in their middle age.
In this deep cast that includes Tarantino stapleSamuel L. Jackson,Bridget Fonda, andRobert De Niro, is Michael Keatonas Ray Nicolette, the ATF agent who arrests Jackie and uses her to coordinate a sting operation on her employer, Ordell Robbie (Jackson). Keaton, reclaiming his glory days with therecent release ofBeetlejuice Beetlejuice, is an actor synonymous with career peaks and valleys. In 1997, years afterwalking away from Batman, Keaton was on a relative downswing. Tarantino, who has revived more acting careers than anyone,provided Keaton with a soulfully understated and charming performanceas the earnest federal officer, who later made a cameo in another Elmore Leonard adaptation,Steven Soderbergh’sOut of Sight.
Michael Keaton Praises ‘Jackie Brown’s Beautiful Simplicity and Artistic Direction
“Jackie Brown’s great!” Michael Keaton (orMichael Douglas Keaton, rather) exclaimedin a video forWired.“All of [Tarantino’s] movies are great, but [Jackie Brown] broke everything down to the simplest form: telling just a really simple narrative,“the actor explained, praising the aesthetic and classic R&B and soul soundtrack in the film. Keaton’s concise analysis of the film distills its brilliance. WhileReservoir DogsandPulp Fictionwere flashy, heightened riffs on genres that deconstructed tropes andplayed for unforgettable shock moments,Jackie Brownshows Tarantino at his most humanist. “Just because you are a character, doesn’t mean youhavecharacter,“Harvey Keitel’s Winston Wolf proclaimed inPulp Fiction. It seemed as though Tarantino took his own line as advice, as the characters inJackie Brown, from Jackie, Max, Ordell, Ray, areemblematic of Tarantino’s fascination with pastiche ’70s figures, but they are fleshed out with intimate details and nuances.
Quentin Tarantino’s Most Frequent Collaborator Isn’t Samuel L. Jackson, Actually
Tarantino credits this person is his “only, truly genuine collaborator.”
While the plot ofJackie Brown, paying tribute to Leonard’s work, is novelistic in its richness, it ultimately serves as background noise, as theheart of the film is about character relationships.The money exchangethat pits these characters on opposite sides of the law against each other is inconsequential compared to the more daunting issues regarding Jackie and Max’s sense of being lost to time. Whether it’s true or not, they see the opportunity to walk away with tens of thousands of dollars in cash as a chance to make something worthwhile of their lives after years of being thankless servants as flight attendants and bondsmen.
Labeling Tarantino’s work onJackie Brownas his most “mature” effortseems like a back-handed comment towards the rest of his filmography, but rather, it’s meant to signifyTarantino’s using these icons of ’70s genre cinema to explore their lives away from the genre milieu with emotional clarity, where he ponders how their lives would pan out once they got too old to be partaking in drug running. Tarantino’s restraint from fetishizing Pam Grier, a sex symbol in her prime, is nothing short of a miracle.Jackie Brownhas grown from becoming an overlooked gem that couldn’t live up to the immeasurable hype followingPulp Fictionto perhaps his finest achievement as an artist. Somehow, with only his third film, Quentin Tarantino made a romantic, late-period reflection on life and his entire career with a seasoned touch.
Jackie Brown
Jackie Brownis available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
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