If you’re getting ready for Quentin Tarantino to put out his tenth and final film, then you’ll be beyond excited to know that Jackie Brown is currently streaming on free services.
Though we still don’t know when The Movie Critic will be completed or make its theatrical rounds, it’s worth noting that the Pulp Fiction director only has nine other films that you need to plow through to get all caught up on his filmography.
And if we had anything to say about it, Jackie Brown should be at the top of the list.
Jackie Brown is Quentin Tarantino’s third feature-length film and pays homage to the blaxploitation films of the ’70s like Coffy and Foxy Brown. Though the influence is clearly apparent, the director asserts that it is not, in fact, a blaxploitation film. When you consider that the film’s titular character is portrayed by Pam Grier, who starred in both Coffy and Foxy Brown, it’s clear that Tarantino has immense respect for the genre and wanted to take his own approach while maintaining his unique voice.
On its surface, Jackie Brown is a classic crime story involving a flight attendant, a bag of money, and a healthy amount of deception. Grier’s Brown finds herself at odds with a Los Angeles gun runner named Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), and decides that instead of cooperating with him, she’d rather steal $500,000 from him.
The story gets complicated when Ordell brings in a former associate, Louis Gara (Robert De Niro), on the action. Louis is accompanied by one of Ordell’s women, Melanie Ralston, who suggests they should take the money and run. Meanwhile, Jackie Brown is cooking up a plan to misappropriate the funds and leave town.
While we’re getting filled in on the various criminal activities that are taking place in Jackie Brown, ATF agent Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) and LAPD detective Mark Dargus (Michael Bowen) are orchestrating a sting operation to catch Ordell trying to smuggle the money. For as many moving parts that Jackie Brown has within its 154-minute runtime, the pacing never lets up, and the story never gets muddled by too many extraneous details.
Elmore Leonard, who wrote the novel the film is based on (Rum Punch), was beyond impressed with Tarantino’s adaptation. Not only has Leonard gone on record saying that Tarantino’s adaptation was the best out of the 26 other adaptations of his novels and stories, but it was also actually one of the best screenplays he’s ever read.
And since we’re talking about a Quentin Tarantino film, it goes without saying that the dialogue is clever, funny, and a little jarring. But what makes Jackie Brown such a great film is its staying power.
Critics and fans overwhelmingly agree that it gets better with each re-watch and even holds up better than Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, which is high praise if we’ve ever heard it. Not only did Roger Ebert rate the film with a perfect four out of four stars, but Jackie Brown garnered an 88 percent critical score against an audience score of 85 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
If you’re currently gearing up to work through Quentin Tarantino‘s filmography ahead of The Movie Critic’s release, then you should get started sooner rather than later. Don’t say we didn’t warn you, but when you land on Jackie Brown, you’ll probably want to watch it about 10 times before moving on to the Kill Bill saga.