Ask any Quentin Tarantino fan Jackie Brown. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie – it’s just a criminally underrated one.
To paraphrase Aldo Raine, Tarantino’s adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel Rum Punch starring Pam Grier and Robert Forster just might be his masterpiece. Here are 10 reasons Jackie Brown is Quentin Tarantino’s underrated masterpiece.
Quentin Tarantino And Elmore Leonard Go Hand-In-Hand
Leonard’s work has always been Tarantino’s strongest influence, so the two artists’ styles go hand-in-hand.
It’s great to see Tarantino tell a Leonard-inspired crime story, but it’s even better to see him tell one of Leonard’s own crime stories. Leonard reportedly declared Tarantino’s script for Jackie Brown the best screenplay he’d ever read.
Nuanced Performances
Usually, Jackie Brown feel more like real people.
The actors give more nuanced performances than we’re used to seeing in a Tarantino film. Robert De Niro hardly speaks a word throughout the entire movie, but through the power of his performance, we still get a well-rounded conception of his character.
Outside-The-Box Casting
Quentin Tarantino tends to cast based on type, and for a deeper, more emotionally complex character here than in any of her previous films.
Michael Keaton, then known as the kind of gangster he usually plays.
Not A Lot Of Tarantino’s Hallmarks
What sets Jackie Brown is a Tarantino film, but it’s not as on-the-nose with reusing established tropes.
Instead, it utilizes new techniques, like the same sequence shown from the perspectives of three different characters in the movie’s thrilling climax. It has Tarantino’s trademark long dialogue scenes, but there are no unwieldy monologues, focusing instead on conversation that facilitates character development.
Inventive Cinematography
Quentin Tarantino’s go-to cinematographer is usually Robert Richardson, while his first two movies were shot by Andrzej Sekuła. But usually Guillermo del Toro’s go-to guy.
Navarro’s style involves switching between sharp imagery and less well-defined shots, depending on the mood of the scene, and he brought some inventive photographic techniques to the shooting of Jackie Brown. A gorgeous example of this is the long crane shot that follows Ordell driving around to a secluded spot to kill Livingston.
A Well-Balanced Ensemble
When a narrative is told from a few different perspectives, it can be difficult to maintain the right balance between all of those perspectives. The director ends up focusing on one or two characters more than the rest and the less represented characters end up coming off as forgettable or underdeveloped. But Jackie Brown has no such issues.
Despite the fact that it’s named after one character, the rest of them get just as much attention, as Tarantino strikes the perfect balance with his ensemble cast. The storytelling is also pretty unbiased, allowing us to draw our own conclusions about who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.
The Soundtrack Suits The Film's Tone
Quentin Tarantino is known for his soundtracks, selecting classics from his own personal record collection during the writing stage to score each of his films. And while Jackie Brown suits the tone of the movie better than any of his others.
An assortment of soul, funk, and R&B hits from the legendary likes of Bobby Womack and Peace, Johnny Cash, the Grass Roots, Bill Withers, and the Brothers Johnson, the Jackie Brown soundtrack plays perfectly over the movie’s scenes, which are some of the quietest and most thoughtful of Tarantino’s career.
Jackie And Max Develop A Real Relationship
A lot of the couples in Tarantino’s movies feel like idealized silver-screen couples as opposed to real-life couples. Django and Broomhilda are hopelessly in love with each other because it serves the story, but exactly why they love each other isn’t really explored. Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace Jackie Brown seem to develop a real relationship. Pam Grier and Robert Forster’s chemistry is incredible.
In the film’s final moments, as Jackie asks Max to come to Spain with her and he refuses, so they have to bid each other farewell, we feel a real emotional connection between them.
The Characters Are Actually Smart
The downfall of a lot of movies is characters making stupid decisions. Some writers will underestimate their audience’s intelligence and Jackie Brown, a handful of characters are all trying to stay one step ahead of each other... and they do.
At the end of the movie, as Ordell realizes Jackie has stolen all of his money, we see the thought process in Samuel L. Jackson’s facial expressions alone. He was outsmarted by her, and then he was smart enough to figure it out. Smart characters make smart movies.
Unexpected Plot Turns
Quentin Tarantino is great at delivering unexpected plot turns, like having Vincent Vega accidentally shoot Marvin in the face or killing off Adolf Hitler in a historically inaccurate manner. However, some of his endings are predictable. In Django Unchained, Jackie Brown – especially in its third act – the plot turns are always unpredictable. Just when you think you know how a scene is going to play out, something completely unforeseen happens that changes everything. That’s great storytelling.
