Six players on the trail of a half a million in Cash. There’s only one question… Who’s playing who?
Jackie Brown movie storyline. The middle-aged stewardess Jackie Brown smuggles money from Mexico to Los Angeles for the arms dealer Ordell Robbie. When she gets caught by the agents Ray Nicolet and Mark Dargus with ten thousand dollars and cocaine in her purse, they propose a deal to her to help them to arrest Ordell in exchange of her freedom.
Meanwhile Ordell asks the 56-year-old Max Cherry, who runs a bail bond business, to release Jackie Brown with the intention of eliminating her. Jackie suspects of Ordell’s intention and plots a complicated confidence game with Max to steal half a million dollars from Ordell.
Jackie Brown is a 1997 American crime thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film is an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s 1992 novel Rum Punch. It is the first (and to date, only) film that Tarantino has adapted from a previous work, and stars Pam Grier in the title role. The film pays homage to 1970s blaxploitation films, particularly the films Coffy (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974), both of which also starred Grier in the title roles.
The film’s supporting cast includes Robert Forster, Robert De Niro, Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda, and Michael Keaton. It was Tarantino’s third film following Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994). Grier and Forster were both veteran actors but neither had performed a leading role in many years; this film revitalized both of their careers. The film garnered Forster a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and Golden Globe Award nominations for Jackson and Grier.
About the Story
Jackie Brown is a flight attendant for a small Mexican airline. To make ends meet, she smuggles money from Mexico into the United States for Ordell Robbie, a black-market gun runner living in the Los Angeles metropolitan area under the ATF’s close watch, forcing him to use couriers. Ordell learns that another of his couriers, Beaumont Livingston, has been arrested. Assuming that Livingston will become an informant in order to avoid jail time, Ordell arranges for bail with bondsman Max Cherry, then coaxes Livingston into a car trunk and murders him.
Acting on information Beaumont had already shared, ATF agent Ray Nicolette and LAPD detective Mark Dargus intercept Jackie as she returns to the United States with Ordell’s cash and some cocaine that Brown was unaware was stashed in her bag. Initially refusing to cut a deal, she is sent to jail which alerts Ordell that she might also be a threat to inform.
Having received payment from Ordell, Max picks up Jackie from the jail and begins to develop an attraction to her. Ordell arrives at Jackie’s house intending to murder her but she surprises him by pulling a gun surreptitiously taken from the glove compartment of Max’s car. Jackie negotiates a deal with Ordell to pretend to help the authorities while smuggling in $550,000 of Ordell’s money, enough to allow him to retire.
To carry out this plan, Ordell is counting on Melanie Ralston, an unambitious, stoned surfer girl with whom he lives, and Louis Gara, a friend and former cellmate. Unaware of Jackie and Ordell’s plan to smuggle in $550,000, Nicolette and Dargus devise a sting to catch Ordell during a transfer of $50,000. Unbeknownst to all, Jackie plans to double-cross everyone and keep $500,000 for herself. She recruits Max to assist with her plan and offers him a cut.
In the Del Amo Mall on the day of the transfer, Jackie enters a dressing room to try on a new suit. She has told Ordell that she will swap bags there with Melanie, supposedly passing off the $550,000 under the nose of Nicolette, who has been told that the exchange is to take place in the food court. Instead, the bag she gives Melanie contains only $50,000 and the rest is left behind in the dressing room for Max to pick up. Jackie then feigns despair as she calls Nicolette and Dargus out from hiding, claiming Melanie took all the money and ran.
Box Office and Awards
The film grossed $39.7 million in the North American[10] and $35.1 million in other territories for a total gross of $74.7 million, against a budget of $12 million. The film grossed $9.2 million in its opening weekend, finishing 5th at the box office.
Grier and Jackson were nominated for Golden Globe Awards (Grier for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and Jackson for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy). Forster was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film was also nominated for the prestigious Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics. In 2008, the film was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, ranking in at #215. At the 48th Berlin International Film Festival, Jackson won the Silver Bear for Best Actor award.
Jackie Brown (1997)
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, LisaGay Hamilton, Aimee Graham, Michael Bowen
Screenplay by: Quentin Tarantino
Production Design by: David Wasco
Cinematography by: Guillermo Navarro
Film Editing by: Sally Menke
Costume Design by: Mary Claire Hannan
Set Decoration by: Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
Art Direction by: Daniel Bradford
Music by:
MPAA Rating: R for strong language, some violence, drug use and sexuality.
Distributed by: Miramax Films
Release Date: December 25, 1997
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