Top 3 Reasons Why ‘Jackie Brown’ is Quentin Tarantino’s Best Film

People yell about the time-jumping pace-keeping as well as the rich and prosperous Mr Butch in ‘Pulp Fiction’. They cheer on Uma Thurman in the Kill Bill duology.  But ‘Jackie Brown’ is by far Quentin Tarantino’s best film ever.  Before you yell ‘heresy!!!’, just check out the 3 reasons why.

1) Confirms that QT can actually direct without ‘Look At Me’ pyrotechnics.
The non-linear element of ‘Pulp’ really wowed audiences and Hollywood alike.  The blood and gore from ‘Kill Bill’ got a lot of oohs and ahhs.  But ‘Jackie Brown’ showed that he could tell a story without the gimmickry of either of those outings.  All the characters seem like everyday people who just happen to be involved in a weird ’stitch in time’ nonsense, and that after the credits roll, they will go on about their lives without us intruding any further.  Now THAT’s a serious storytelling achievement – to create virtual people who we ask about after the film ends.  Wondering about what Max Cherry’s doing after you’ve left the cinema isn’t a sign of dementia: it’s a mark of directorial genius.  And at the same time, QT does the Most Difficult: delivers a plot-driven story with characters of depth, who could threaten the effort by making it character-driven.  QT clearly restrained the impulse to do so, and does it like a master in this film.

2) Evidence that QT can direct actors and compensate for (very) weak leads
We all know that ‘Jackie Brown’ was QT’s love letter to Pam Grier and her contribution to the blaxploitation movie genre of the 70s. But not everyone appreciated that Ms Grier’s acting talents weren’t on par with her considerable physical appeal.  That QT took the time to adapt the excellent ‘Rum Punch’ by Elmore Leonard by de-emphasizing Jackie Burke – the book’s protagonist – and shifting the focus to the book’s supporting character of Ordell Robbie says a lot about QT’s ability to assess his troupe and do what he needs to in order to give justice to the story being told. And by doing so, Sam Jackson’s Ordell became one of the most subtly yet deeply menacing characters to hit the screen in a very, very long time.

3) Spot-on acting – in spite of QT?

One of the problems with many of QT’s flicks is that the acting seems to be, well, ’staged’.  I understand that QT is notorious for his directorial style with getting his actors to say certain phrases a certain way.  It’s a thread you can see in all his films.  But for some reason only fathomable via astrologically divined rumination, the acting in ‘Jackie Brown’ seems relaxed, not pre-set to ‘Stun’ gun levels, and the most natural you’ll ever see in QT’s catalogue to date.  Robert Forster seemed to come out of nowhere in this one, and Robert De Niro is a revelation; given this performance was during his mugging phase (which is still going strong as of 2010), it’s amazing that his Luis Gara just seems to be in the background as a walking bag of laundry.  The scene where he untangles the phone cord – while obviously high on his last hit of whatever – still works as a tool for us to laugh at this just-unjailed nimrod still getting used to getting high out in the open. What a cool-ass turn!  The Ray Nicollette character rendered so frenetically by Michael Keaton is frustratingly unsung – he gave quite possibly the most ‘Tarantino-esque’ performance in all of the QT’Verse to date – absurd yet serious – and got no credit. It’s just not right.

And Sam Jackson? Please: Fuggedaboudit – his Ordell Robbie is clearly his career-defining performance. Talk about Mr Glass from ‘Unbreakable‘ all you want (one of my top 10 flicks, btw) : Ordell is Jackson’s masterpiece.  Meet me outside during recess if you want a showdown about it. The way Ordell doesn’t ooze evil while he goes about expediting it is just – well, in the words of Chris Tucker’s Beaumont Livingston – Jackson ‘throws a n**** off-guard’ with the way he does it. In ‘Jackie Brown’, Jackson’s Ordell is a textbook example of someone who isn’t intellectually smart but is cunning enough to see his way through a lot of complicated stuff which would stump someone far more intelligent than he – which makes him all the more dangerous. None of this character complexity was in ‘Rum Punch’, but it’s here in blazing testament to QT’s stewardship.

All I ask is that QT stops this ‘Basterds’ nonsense and does another plot-driver like this one. If he doesn’t, then is it because he can’t? <drops the microphone waiting for QT to answer back )) >

Tagged as: Cinema, Film, Jackie Brown, Michael Keaton, Movies, Pam Grier, Pulp Fiction, Robert De Niro, Robert Forster, Samuel L Jackson, Tarantino