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'Jackie Brown' Is So Down

Quentin Tarantino Masterpiece Has Been Lost in the Shuffle

By Rich MonettiPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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Miramax Films  Poster

Pam Grier takes on some serious legends in Jackie Brown. Samuel L. Jackson menaces, Robert De Niro boils over and Michael Keaton hems in on the legal end. Nonetheless, this fearless anti-heroine outmaneuvers the trio and shows who should have gotten the moniker of Wonder Woman in the 1970s. But let’s wait a minute. She has a long sordid association with known felons and dupes her way into half million dollars of blood induced, drug money. Should we really celebrate her? Hell yeah.

All of us hoping for Pulp Fiction II, there was way too much grit and reality to relive the 1994 flight of fancy. Instead our three year wait for a Tarantino follow up made us stare Jackie in the face and contemplate questions of desperation, unfilled dreams and feminine empowerment.

She Looks the Part

Still, Jackie mostly looks the part of the latter. A $13,000 a year stewardess job doesn't show on her face either. The same goes as Michael Keaton tries to squeeze her after catching Jackie with $50,000 in her bag. "You're 42 years old, you can't start over,” he hits her exactly where she lives.

But how did such a fate befall this urban American Amazon? In a fairer world, Jackie would be a highly placed corporate executive whose fearlessness analytics would have competitors clearly in the sites of her rearview mirror. Instead, she is stuck at the meager end of the 9-5 world and little show for it.

Of course, there have been advances, but the whole 70s vibe forces you to acknowledge that they haven't yet reached her neighborhood.

She wasn’t settling for a man stuck on the same parallel either; one who likely would have sent her to even further back.

A Good Man Makes His Play

The closest she comes is Max Cherry. A character actor whose résumé alludes back to the time period too. Robert Forster is a good guy in a dirty business and simply lets the depravity of the setting go on around him. But Jackie’s disposition makes him realize that playing it straight hasn’t gotten him much further.

Her refusal to accept the exploitation that still lingers does a number on his cognitive dissonance too. “I thought you might like to have a drink,” sounds like a question that he’s never asked a client before.

The Bad Guys Make Their Play

Does he also intentionally let his guard down knowing that Samuel L will soon be lurking? Hey, she’s Jackie F…in Brown.

Nonetheless, her poker face does reveal a chink when Keaton lays out what the legal system holds in store. Sorry, Jackie doesn’t let him get the better of her and plays the only hand befitting her obstinance. "I want a lawyer," she knows to take it one step at a time.

Still, Jackie can't help but power down as the justice system puts it right back in her face. But even Wonder woman must recharge in her fortress of solitud-ess.

She better because Jackson doesn't counter with any of the procedural amenities of the fourth or fifth amendment. His ruthlessness comes without the wisecracks too.

Jackie Brown Is Up to It

Don't worry, Jackie ain't laughing and goes for the cock block when Jackson tries to put the gangster version of the squeeze on her. “Is that what I think it is?”

He suddenly has a sense of humor about the gun pointed at his dick.

A little time to think, and Jackie prepares a web to suck the life out of every deserved bad dude in the way. The way that Tarantino literally shows the unraveling from all angles reveals just how trapped they are.

At the same time, Max Cherry certainly picked the right time to go off the rails and put the spoils of his hard work to the better use.

He’s also smart enough to step back, go back on the up and up and let victory take a path back to him. Unfortunately, it’s Jackie who’s been left dangling.

She remains a footnote between all the other greatness that Tarantino has accrued. But we should celebrate nonetheless—especially since Jackie is no one we should be messing with.

For more of my work: My Movie Reviews Facebook

Rich can be reached at [email protected]

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About the Creator

Rich Monetti

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