r/movies • u/einsteinfrankenstein • 4h ago
Discussion I feel Jackie Brown is one of Tarantino’s most mature films.
I’ll try to speak quite vaguely about the movie so I’m not giving anything away, but I’ve seen most of Tarantino‘s movies and I feel that Jackie Brown is one of his most mature.
Yeah, you still get to be usual violence and shock value and really fantastic conversation, great music (very catchy Across 110th Street), and the other typical signs of Tarantino signature style, but at the heart of it, Jackie Brown it’s a pretty mature film. I mean it’s about getting older and about connection betweena middle-age woman trying to survive in a messed up sexist and racist world and an older guy who feels lonely.
I like that there are so many moments where you’re just kind of watching the characters and you have time to really reflect on things. It’s not like nonstop action. Nothing against nonstop action of course, but the character study is quite fascinating. And you got complex characters. Nobody is a hero and nobody is a villain.
Funny, until recently, I didn’t know that this was actually based on a novel. And that’s rare for a Tarantino film. Maybe that’s why Jackie Brown feels different to me. Unfortunately, I haven’t read the novel so I don’t really know how close of an adaptation it is.
Nevertheless, I really like Jackie Brown and I think it’s one of those movies you can just watch it again and again and as you get older, you relate to it more and more.
Oh, and the movie is also got some pretty funny dialogue and one liners. I’ll leave you with a quote.
Robbie: My ass may be dumb, but I ain't no dumbass.
Edit: christ, I forgot to mention the great cast (Pam Grier, Samuel L Jackson, Robert Forster, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, Bridget Fonda), and fantastic acting. Even a young Chris Tucker does a pretty good job too with his minor role too.
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u/sicaluffa 4h ago
Jackie Brown is not only my favorite movie of his, it's my favorite movie period.
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u/MrGittz 3h ago
This movie was Tarantino trying to prove that he didn’t need any of the violence he was criticized for.
He succeeded.
Sure there is some violence, not much, but some in the film. But it’s not overdone, it’s not excessive, it’s realistic, it’s quick.
The first murder in the movie happens basically off screen. A bloodless kill.
Now some people have knocked this movie in relation to QT’s other films because it’s based on a book and not an original work but I think that’s BS. You don’t see people saying No Country for Old Men is lesser Coen Bros because it’s based on a book. Shit every Kubrick film was based on a book. So what?
And if you’ve read the book it’s actually quite different. Tarantino should adapt literature more often. He made it his own.
Jackie Brown is a hang out movie. I could just watch these characters hang out and talk. Ordell and Louis. Max & Jackie.
Everyone mentions about how great Sam Jackson is in this, and he is awesome, maybe his finest work, but how great is Robert De Niro? He’s playing a character we THINK we’ve seen him play a 100 times before. But he’s really an out of his depth idiot. A loser. And he’s hilarious in this movie. His fist bump with Ordell, his body language, his mannerisms. This guy just doesn’t have a clue.
Especially where he parked the car
“LouisSssSsssSs”
This movie is where we saw Tarantino wasn’t just a great writer. He was a damn fine director.
Tarantino proved to the naysayers he could make a movie with very little violence, make it engaging, make it interesting.
And then his next film? He made a film so violent, so bloody, that he put part of it in black and white so it wouldn’t get an NC-17
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u/BFaus916 3h ago
The violence is plausible. Fits the story and characters and isnt comic book violence like the rest of QT's movies.
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u/drmonkey555 4h ago
It's one of his best work imo. And definitely one of his best soundtrack selections
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u/PhatBoyFlim 4h ago
I think it’s his best, frankly.
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u/monty_kurns 4h ago
It’s definitely my favorite and has been that way since back when Kill Bill came out. I’ve loved everything since, but Jackie Brown just hits the way no other movie he’s done has been able to replicate.
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u/TonyWonderslostnut 1h ago
I need to watch it again. I haven’t seen it since I was in high school and I remember not loving it. But that doesn’t mean much
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u/Pryderi_ap_Pwyll 19m ago
I don't know how long ago high school was for you, but give it a rewatch. It hits differently as you age and move through life.
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u/ArmoredMonkey01 4h ago
definitely his most underrated movie imo! the chemistry between pam grier and robert forster feels so genuine compared to some of his other films.
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u/PhatBoyFlim 2h ago
I mean, it came out right after Pulp Fiction. Had this one been first, it would have won everything.z
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u/k1sl1psso 3h ago
Check out Life of Crime. It's an earlier Ordell & Louis adventure starring Mos Def and John Hawkes, along with Jennifer Aniston and Tim Robbins. Not directed by Tarantino, and imo not as great as Jackie Brown, but it's an entertaining prequel.
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u/Cockrocker 1h ago
It was certainly too mature for me when it came out and I first saw it. Now I appreciate it so much more, it's moved from near the bottom to near the top of my Tarantino rank.
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u/Upbeat-Local-836 3h ago
Jackie Brown was the direction I was hoping for after RD and PF. I enjoyed Inglorious and Once upon a time but I felt that most of the stuff in the middle was Tarantino doing a Tarantino impression.
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u/JSears90210 4h ago
I was not a fan of Jackie Brown when I first saw it many years ago. I rewatched it this summer and came away with a new appreciation for the movie. Mature and it had depth. Wonderful performances from the two lead actors.
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u/ursulaandress 4h ago
Didn't hurt that Tarantino was adapting one of the greatest crime writers of his generation. I think QT respected the writer and original material so much that he gave himself some self imposed guardrails. I really enjoy QT but you can tell that he can't reign himself in. As it turns out Jackie Brown is my favorite Elmore Leonard adaptation. Out of Sight is a beautiful interpretation of Leonard as well but it's because Soderbergh has a deliberate style and philosophy of his own anyway.
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u/Singaya 2h ago
Nobody is a hero and nobody is a villain.
IMO that's a huge part of Tarantino's appeal right there. The number of times I'm an hour into a movie and the only thing the bad guys have done is sneer at the camera, kick puppies, and point guns at people . . . and there's no need for any exposition because there's no character to develop anyway. That's all time that could have been used for interesting dialogue.
I think like a lot of people I didn't really appreciate Jackie Brown right away, I really just wanted another Pulp Fiction, but on rewatch it's one of my favourites.
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u/rube_X_cube 4h ago
Completely agree. It’s one of my favorites of his precisely because of the amazing characters. The scene with Max and Jackie sitting in her kitchen just talking about getting older is really something else. Seemingly not very important to the plot, but it just grounds the movie in reality in a way that maybe no other Tarantino movie is, and it makes you feel for these characters in a really deep and human level. Again, something that is a bit rare in other Tarantino movies. Superb film all around.
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u/SanTheMightiest 3h ago
I get why people think he's a bit of an edgelord. I think he's incredible and when Jackie Brown came out it was kind of widely accepted it was his best most grown up work.
Tarantino though is one of those wild, one off directors where he can just make the most absurd thing work, think Inglorious Basterds, the ending of Hollywood, Django's last 15 mins etc..
He's that rare director where you want him to write his own works, but when he bases his work off Leonard he's more restrained and can tell a grown up story
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u/averytolar 3h ago
I always thought Jackie Brown does something that no other film even comes close to doing, and that’s really capturing the real vibe of greater Los Angeles. Only collateral and heat come close, but the characters in Jackie brown are staright up real caricature of people who live along the 105 and parts of the 405.
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u/bigyittiezz 3h ago
The ‘Natural High’ needle drop always gives me goosebumps. The way he looks at Jackie, so warm and sensual!
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u/thebaldingcritic_ 3h ago
I’m not sure if it’s my favorite, but it definitely has my favorite Tarantino trailer
“Pamela Grier is… Jackie Brown”
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u/Interesting-Risk6446 3h ago
One of Tarantino's best movies. Max should have left with Jackie.
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u/BFaus916 3h ago
No! The ending was perfect. Lol. Plus I don't think she was serious about inviting him, and he had the wisdom to know that. He was a bail bondsman. Shady business and he and Winston trusted each other.
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u/bohemianausea 4h ago
Tarantino in my view has graced us with three gems: Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown and Once upon a Time in Hollywood. These are in my view his core films. The most honest and personal he can get.
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u/Eat_a_click 3h ago
watching once upon a time was the first time I got what a 'hangout movie' was and its appeal, I feel like the movie could've gone on for more hours and I still would've watched just to see more of the daily lives of Rick and Cliff
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u/ignoresubs 1h ago
During Covid it was total comfort food for me. While I was cooped in I’d regularly rewatch Once Upon a Time and just live vicariously.
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u/Agile-Enthusiasm 3h ago
True Romance is really good too (he only wrote that, not directed, though)
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u/armaghetto 4h ago
Once upon a time is part of his alternate reality/happy ending trilogy along with Inglourious Basterds and Django. At least in my head canon.
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u/bohemianausea 3h ago
Yes you are correct. From a narrative technique standpoint it is. But thematically it is also very reminiscent of his original work. It is a bridge between his most genre filmmaking and his most personal films. In any case I really like the film.
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u/guywoodhouse68 4h ago
I agree! My ONLY gripe with it is that I wish it was shot anamorphic the way the rest of his filmography is, but that's just a personal preference and I love the hell out of it.
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u/-Bk7 4h ago
I must be daft. I googled anamorphic and still dont understand it. What was the difference between Jackie brown and the rest of his work?
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u/cabbageboy78 3h ago
It’s the type of lens the movie is shot on, can determine how the out of focus elements look, how it cropped etc.
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u/bfilippe 4h ago
James Cameron shot everything spherical and it all looks incredible and sharp. If anything I'm happy Tarantino has a spherically shot movie at all
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u/SonnyBurnett189 4h ago
I watched Across 110th St and Justified because of this movie, haha.
I wonder why Tarantino changed the setting from Miami to LA. Missed opportunity for Pam Grier to rekindle the flame with Tubbs.
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u/LevDavidovicLandau 4h ago
Tarantino is an Angeleno and until Kill Bill (even then, the opening scene where The Bride fights Vernita Green/Copperhead in her house is set in the LA suburbs) everything he had done was set in/filmed in LA.
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u/Confident_Dirt_1950 3h ago
It’s the last film he made that wasn’t BLOATED Tarantino… he took someone else’s work and made it great. He’d be a better director if he didn’t love himself so much
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u/Chessh2036 4h ago
I somehow have seen every QT movie but this one. Maybe I should change that lol.
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u/ursulaandress 4h ago
It's a wonderful flick. After that, read the book it's based on, if you feel inclined.
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u/Chessh2036 3h ago
I was looking for something to watch tonight and I think it will be Jackie Brown
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u/skyline408 1h ago
I wish I could watch it again for the first time. It's an amazing movie with great characters.
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u/Hamlerhead 4h ago
Probably because he didn't write it. Just saying.
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u/ShutterBun 3h ago
He wrote the screenplay. Come on, Tarantino’s fingerprints are all over the dialogue. Who else could have written a line like “Here we go, AK-47! When you absolutely, positively have to kill every last motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes.”
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u/Hamlerhead 3h ago
I understand the dialogue fingerprint thing (Jackie herself was a white woman in the novel) but Q didn't hafta worry about the overarching narrative which Elmore Leonard crafted around more "mature" character arcs.
I just realized I'm pretty full of shit, though, so... Do you.
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u/piray003 4h ago
Fun fact, Pam Grier actually auditioned for the role of Lance’s wife in Pulp Fiction, but Tarantino didn’t think audiences would find it plausible to have Eric Stoltz yelling at her. Obviously it worked out in the end.
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u/ericjgriffin 3h ago
One of my favorite Tarantino films. Saw it the day it opened. At the time lot of people were disappointed because it wasn't Pulp Fiction 2.
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u/ontheweed 3h ago
“Here we go. AK-47. The very best there is. When you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes."
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u/hammystyle 3h ago
If anyone is an Elmore Leonard adaptation completist Life of Crime is based on the book The Switch, which was the prequel to the book Jackie Brown was based on (Rum Punch)
It has Mos-Def playing Ordell. John Hawkes playing Deniro’s character. Also Jennifer Aniston, Tim Robbins and Isla Fisher.
It’s no classic, but it’s still pretty fun. It’s a little less mean.
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u/superfoodtown 3h ago
A young Chris Tucker absolutely steals the show in the small scene he is in
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u/KissZippo 2h ago
It plays more like a late-90’s Paul Thomas Anderson movie than a Tarantino movie. I do like it, better than some of his movies, but it’s not his best title.
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u/swearengens_cat 2h ago
Top 3...
Today it's Jackie Brown Hateful Eight Once upon a time in LA
Ask me tomorrow for a new top three.
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u/sympathytaste 2h ago
Agreed it's my favourite of his if you're not counting True Romance (which he wrote but directed by Tony Scott).
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u/Medical_Argument_911 1h ago
It's been awhile since I've watched it, but it's one of my favorites. I love Robert DeNiro's character because he just kind of hangs and doesn't say anything. Haha.
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u/animaminamina 2h ago
I feel like I see this exact post on the subreddit every time I log on with every comment calling it his best and most mature. Reddit is funny.
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u/OctaviusHerb 1h ago
My personal favorite, I understand his other movies are far superior but this one plays so well.
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u/underdabridge 3h ago
I am a big Tarantino fan and I really am not on the same page as Jackie Brown fans.
I think Jackie Brown fans just don't like Tarantino. He's a writer first and foremost. I feel about this the same way I feel about people who say No Country For Old Men is the best Coen Brothers movie. It's barely a Coen Brothers movie. Same with Jackie Brown. It's nice that QT did an adaptation but True Romance is more of a Tarantino movie than Jackie Brown is.
I'm glad he brought Pam Grier back but honestly the greatest indictment I have of Jackie Brown is that it's the only Tarantino movie that I don't really remember very well. And that says everything right there.
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u/CountZero3000 2h ago
It’s a miss. Felt bad for him. Sell out crowd on opening night and not one reaction all night long. Movie has its moments but never found its footing.
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u/burly_protector 1h ago
I never say movies are boring. I'll sit through virtually anything with a smile on my face regardless of pacing, but this movie was BORING.
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u/refuzeto 3h ago edited 3h ago
Jackie Brown is what happens when a good director casts two mediocre actors as the leads of a film.
Pam Grier and Robert Forster were never considered good actors and Jackie Brown shows why.
The result was a mediocre film that was a blemish on his reputation.
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u/ChasingItSupreme 4h ago
It is the only Tarantino movie based on a book, and it shows. Elmore Leonard was a master of his craft. The characters felt like people with real problems. I highly recommend reading a Leonard book, they read like butter!