Jackie Brown is QT’s most mature, best written film and it’s not even very close.
Don’t get me wrong, I adore Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and his other works. But Jackie Brown is the most character driven of them all.
I didn’t like it when I first watched it (I was a teenager when it came out) but after subsequent viewings it’s become my favorite of his. I would call it his best directed work.
I wish Tarantino would make another crime thriller. I miss the modern, gritty settings in Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown.
Just superb atmosphere.
Casting Lawrence Tierney in Reservoir Dogs was fucking genius
https://youtu.be/T2ohXTtJP7A
Edit: Here's another good story about his legendary Seinfeld appearance
https://youtu.be/W9T7En0N2bg
[The Simpsons crew didn't have an amazing time working with him on the Christmas episode where Bart steals Bonestorm.](https://www.avclub.com/simpsons-writer-josh-weinstein-has-some-wild-stories-ab-1845913333) Tierney didn't get the jokes and they had to record weird filler dialogue around some of his lines and edit it out later.
He's done enough gritty crime movies I always like when he tries something different, his last movie is the end of his 'revisionist history' trilogy he's said in an interview. So who knows what he's planning on doing but I did love 'once upon a time in Hollywood '
He's mused a few times about writing and directing a Star Trek film. I don't think it will happen, but the way he talks about it makes me think he has a script or treatment he's already worked on. I'd give my right testicle to read what he has in mind.
I thought somebody who's read it said it's based off the gangster episode from the original series? I could be wrong though. I do know Karl Urban read it and was quoted as saying it's "bananas"
[Here's the Variety](https://variety.com/feature/quentin-tarantino-star-trek-explained-1235184059/) article quoting the screenwriter who worked with Tarantino on the script. Good read.
His point is the recent films are focused on action and tech while classic Star Trek was character driven. Tarantino correctly said the most highly regarded ST episode was City on the Edge of Forever, in which Kirk and Spock go to 1930s NYC to stop McCoy from changing time for the worse. We don't see much of Enterprise nor crew. Special effects are limited as they don't matter much. Thats the kind of script he feels the films today need. Lets make a great film with a memorable script without the limitations of 1960s censorship, a small TV budget and 1960s special effects people will remember decades later.
TBF, since the first post-TNG film, they've all been action films.
Idk that Star Trek needs to be character driven, per se, but it certainly should be driven or influenced by high-level moral debates, ethical conundrums, and critique/analysis of societal progress.
That is definitely one theme, but I notice that from Kill Bill onward his films usually have an over-the-top slapstick-ey gory violent quality to them. Even Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, which was pretty restrained most of the film, ended in that fashion. A film like Jackie Brown would have been completely different that way, and I'd be curious to see a turn away from the goofy splatter even if it doesn't mean "crime thriller".
Mind you, I think QT himself considers it a hallmark of his filmmaking now and that his audience comes to expect it.
And he was just 34 by then, I agree that it's the culmination of a lot of trial and error and you can tell that he's experimenting with grittier, more realistic takes on some actions and topics, for example all gun violence and gore happens in the distance but it is always affirmative and deadly.
I have this thing about listening to my favourite movies like an audiobook and Jackie Brown & Hateful Eight are my favourites. There's a lot happening visually of course, but the audio is also very complete
First: Inglorious Basterds
Second: Django Unchained
Third: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Some people would argue that Hateful Eight belongs on that list but I feel like Hateful Eight takes place in a complete vacuum, could be revisionist, could also not be.
Django unchained (slave rising up killing the slave owner) The inglourious bastards (killing Hitler, Goebelles et al) and Once upon a time in Hollywood (Sharon Tate lives)
Jackie Brown is by far my favourite Tarantino film, brilliant from top to bottom, with killer performances all around, but especially Pam Grier and Robert Forster.
I agree fully! I would describe Jackie Brown as his *warmest* film, very much thanks to the chemistry between Forster and Grier (and the script that allowed it). A performance that stands out to me is Samuel Jackson’s. That last moment in the car (I think, been a while since I saw it) before they go into the bail bonds office, where Ordell says something in the order of “this better not be a trap, or I’ll kill you”, is so loaded with vulnerability. Ordell’s a great villain who so far has come out on top thanks to his smarts, but it’s almost like he realises that he’s been bested by Jackie’s plot already. He’s a crook with a bunch of flaws as far as movie crooks go, and I absolutely love how Jackson portrays it.
also visually he's sequentially placed in worse and worse scenarios and locations - which go hand in hand with his loss of power and grip upon the situation.
Starts out chilled out in a beach-side house, lot's of white, lot's of cool all around. Progressively has to kill his (closest) friend, go in the mess of a house Sheronda keeps and ends up dead on the bail bonds uncomfortable office room, no smooth hat, shitty clothes.
In the end it's not like I'm sorry for him, but man Samuel LJ really has a wayy of making even the worst people look tridimensional
By far my favorite movie by him. The music, dialog and story itself are really great. Totally not flashy so I can understand why most people miss it, but damn is it good.
I’m of a similar opinion and also as a teenager Jackie Brown was the first Tarantino film I saw at the cinema, I liked it but I didn’t love it. It felt like it lacked some of the pizzazz and maybe action for me at the time. I saw it again a few years later and my opinion of it improved significantly. Coincidently I recently had a bit of a QT session and rewatched Reservoir dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown and Inglorious Basterds over a week or two, and it reshuffled my personal order how I’d remembered them. JB is now top.
I try to watch it every 5 years or so. I get more and more out of it at each life stage. Also didn't care for it quite so much as a teenager, but now in my mid 30s it hits differently. Can't wait to see how I feel about it in my 50s.
Just wanted to say to you, that I couldn’t agree more. Jackie Brown is without question the best film Tarantino ever made. Fucking A. Feel like I could have wrote your comment verbatim. So…gunna be getting that gold.
Update: Platinum.
I'm with you. I didn't like it after seeing Pulp Fiction first, and being young on first watch. After subsequent rewatches though, it really was a fantastic movie. Pulp is my favorite, but JB was his best.
I agree. I think what makes it QTs best film is that there’s a love story at the heart of it. Really adds another dimension to his films. True Romance is the other QT script to feature it.
That was by and large Quentin's best Film. I cannot stress this enough. Jackie Brown was a phenomenal fucking movie.
It also made me fall in love with all my mother's music again
Turner Classic Movies has a podcast called The Plot Thickens. This most recent season was about Pam Grier and it was such a good listen! She’s lived an incredible life!
Before Dr. King Schultz, this was easily his best character work. Max Cherry was the most human character he had directed. He is getting old. He has overcame a common fear in men, losing his hair. He fell in love late in life. This was an excellent character piece on both Leonard and Tarantino.
The losing his hair bit was a callback to Forster's earlier role in the movie, Alligator (1980). Forster's character has a few scenes discussing hair loss treatments.
This is how he looked in that movie
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0rTOn2ElXcQ/XbnMAaS5P-I/AAAAAAAAJ5I/eInJAvia99Ij5_Z5DnLuK14fiH5C6gJeACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/RF%2BAlligator.jpg
What I love about their relationship is that there's an attraction between them, but in the end they're just friends who help each other out.
Audiences are conditioned to expect every single movie to have a romantic relationship, even if it doesn't fit and has to be "shoehorned" into the plot. In a way it's a sad commentary on the movie industry that having something as simple as a platonic relationship between a man and a woman is actually subverting expectations. How did the bar get so low??
I don't even think it's that there isn't a romantic connection because there definitely is a spark, it's that >!the two of them are pulled in different directions. Jackie is free from her dead-end job and from her side gig of running gun money, but Max can't commit to doing the same and stepping away from his work, even with no other attachment to LA. The scene specifically cuts on him being pulled out of focus to show the uncertainty of his future as Jackie goes off to live her life.!<
I met Robert Forster at the Cinecon film festival in 2018. Shook his hand and told him this was my favorite performance. He was so humble and appreciative. Always thought a sequel movie about Max Cherry and Winston and their bail bond exploits would’ve been fun.
My favorite thing about *Jackie Brown* is how Jackie shows Ordell the quiet little hotel bar and he makes it his de facto meeting place for the rest of the movie.
>*"Well, I hope you felt appropriately guilty afterwards."*
>*"Afterwards, I did."*
There's got to be a mega-*Jackie Brown*-fan out there who still drives around listening to a custom cassette with Strawberry Letter 23 on one side and Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) on the other.
And when De Niro hits unlock and you actually hear the little *ooonh-ooonh-ooonh*, it makes the scene so satisfying. Great pacing, direction and HUMOR. No idea why it’s so funny. We know it’s coming.
Tarantino is an interesting study case, he has such finesse and skill with wordplay that it comes out gritty enough for the plot to move on but ambiguous enough to leave you wondering, you'll notice that his movies are filled with details, characters, subplots and even background footage that exists soley for great world building.
And in a way I think that's why his movies are so great, it's not just attention to detail, its all about the background noise, the little characters that live within it.
No actual human beings talk like he writes his characters, but each one looks like it carries baggage.
Also he deconstructs famous actors a lot, for example DeNiro in Jackie Brown is a stonehead fog-headed could-have-been robber - very far from his usual movie role. Brad Pitt in Inglourious Basterds is a mindless, violent stereotype of a soldier and at that point he was mostly cast as this suave and good looking guy that always saves the day with his good heart and intentions, Leonardo DiCaprio being an insecure wreck of a man (and actor) when he's normally cast as an intelligent and masterful planner and seen publicly as an incredible actor - this makes me on edge whenever I see a new movie of his because I'm never sure how a particular actor will have been directed to act his character, and it always works. The only character of his that I could say is recurrent would be whatever part he gives Samuel LJ, but that's probably because he excels every time.
Other directors that work their script like this are the Cohen brothers and Wes Anderson
Killer movie too. They were supposed to repress the book recently but I think it fell through, it’s hard to find.
EDIT: fixed an awkward turn of phrase.
And we're very glad it did. He's an actor who can do so much with little screentime. I think of his embittered father-in-law in "The Descendants"; an ornery crank who spends both his scenes criticizing everyone while praising his sainted daughter (especially his son-in-law and elder granddaughter, who know all too well how NOT a saint the woman in question was), yet you sympathize with him as a man who's clearly had a hard life and views his daughter as the one true good thing he had and is now losing her.
He had the near-impossible job of playing the replacement for Michael Ontkean's Sheriff Harry S. Truman in Twin Peaks: The Return, and he goddamn *nailed it*.
My fondest memory of working on any film includes Robert. I was a grip working on my first big shoot and he was one of the actors. The film was called The Trial, and Matthew Modine was the lead.
One day we are working exterior shots and setting up a few scenes. I’m with my group and I see Robert shielding his eyes from the Sun while talking with another individual. For some reason, I had the urge to grab a small flag and hop up on small garden wall behind him and block the light.
While I’m standing there, he notices me and once he realizes what’s happening he pauses his conversation and walks over to me. He asks “is that for me?” I respond “yes sir it is.”
He smiles and reaches his hand out for me to shake it. “My name is Robert.” I tell him mine. He then ends the shake with “thank you, I’ll remember this forever.”
It was a beautiful moment.
I've still got a full-sized poster of her somewhere, in character as Melanie, sticking her tongue out in a black-and-white side-profile shot, wearing that bikini top and those cut-offs. Man oh man she was fine as hell.
Louis was brilliantly presented as a guy who used to be something special and now isn't worth the bother. Ordell's pain at realizing what a waste his friend has become only works because of DeNiro's performance.
Louis and Ordell are in an earlier Elmore Leonard novel, The Switch. It was made into a film in 2013 if you want to see more of their relationship.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Crime_(film)
I love these underdog performances where "tough guy" actors step out of their stereotypical roles. De Niro in this movie, and Stallone in Copland are both great examples.
I go and rewatch the parking lot scene every now and then, it just caught me so off guard the first time.
_Is it this aisle, Louis? Or is it the next one over?_
Oh man, completely off guard! Honestly, that’s a scene I wouldn’t mind to have erased from my memory so I could experience the shock of it again. That and “Your ass used to be beautiful.”
> “I could not believe that I was going to get another shot at this business,” Forster explained, “But [Tarantino] gave it to me. He gave me a gift, the size of which cannot be exaggerated.”
Ok, but Forster gave as good as he got. *Jackie Brown* will be known as one of, if not *the* best picture QT ever made, and that's clearly in very large part in due to Forster's portrayal of Max Cherry.
> Jackie Brown will be known as one of, if not the best picture QT ever made.
I’m really happy to find this sentiment here several times. I always felt it’s his best regular movie (pulp fiction is just something else) and so many people seem to *not* agree with that.
The movie is perfect. No real plot holes, nothing crazy. They said what they are going to do and they did it. Which is rare when every movies wants to have a gotcha moment, a twist. The twist was, there was no twist.
I'm not sure this dude is capable of making a regular movie but I suppose JB is the closest he gets. As far as best of his, I can't really say. I've enjoyed all of QTs movies.
I love Elmore Leonard but honestly QT’s take on it was an improvement on the book. The casting and dialog was perfect
I watched Out of Sight again the other night and that is another underrated movie from an Elmore Leonard book. I totally agree Forster and Grier had great chemistry but Clooney and Lopez were great together as well. Totally different feel but worth checking out and Michael Keaton was in both.
The did a "spin-off" series about Karen Sisco (changed the spelling, I cant remember what one was what) but it didn't last.
The actress the played "Karen" on an episode of Justified. Putting them all in a loose cinematic universe.
I think even Leonard admitted that Tarantino did his work better than he did.
Tarantino is an excellent writer, but when a writer of Leonard’s caliber pays you that kind of compliment, that’s as good as it gets.
There is an interview with QT where he talks about how he had aspirations to write novels like Elmore Leonard. True Romance was written in that light. The ear for authentic, gritty but hilarious dialogue is shared.
Several years ago, I met Robert Forster at a hiking trail near my apartment in LA. There is a little outdoor theatre there where he and some other folks were rehearsing for a play. I watched them rehearse a few times and then saw the show.
During this time, we ended up striking up an acquaintance, and he invited me to see his one-man show which I went to see a couple times. It was a very simple show. Just him on stage telling stories, no props or anything. At the beginning of the show, he’d hand out a long piece of paper he called a “menu” to the audience. On the “menu” were anecdotes about his life and career. During the first half of the show, he’d tell some of them. Then afterwards, he’d let the audience pick others from the list. He said he used the show as a way for people to get to know him and to help promote his career as an actor when he wasn’t working on set. In that sense, it was kinda like a resume or business card for him. He had purposefully designed the show so he could perform it anywhere at anytime and that it would be different every time and people could come back to see it more than once. One of the stories he told was about working with Marlon Brando early in his career and how he thought Brando was a very charismatic guy and extremely talented, but he also saw how careless behavior behind the camera put some people off and gave him the reputation of being difficult to work with. Robert’s take was that, at the end of the day, if he himself ever hoped to have longevity in his chosen career, it was super-important for him to pay attention to how he made others feel in a positive way.
Looking back at our interactions, he seemed like a very cool, down-to-earth guy who was also very smart and savvy in an unassuming way. It was clear to me that his career was important to him and he had put a lot of time and creative thought and effort towards how he could cultivate its longevity. In this sense, his approach towards his life and career seemed very honed-in and intentional to the point that it was, in a way, larger than life. Given all this, one can see how he was extremely well-suited for the role he portrayed in Jackie Brown.
Robert Forster comes from my hometown of Rochester, New York. He spoke to my middle school about acting way back in the 70s. I ran into him at our local airport in 2016. He was flying economy to Chicago like anyone else. He was talking to some guy at our gate who had no idea who he was. I introduced myself.myself as a big fan, and he was thrilled. So was I! I essentially climbed up his prostate gushing about all the incredible roles he’s played in the incredible directors he has worked with. He was genuinely humble and thrilled that I recognized him and knew his body of work. He will be missed.
Edit: OK guys! Can we please reset this thread ? We all love, Quentin Tarantino, but this was supposed to be about Robert Forster. One of Hollywood‘s great character actors. And by character actors, I mean, he rarely got a starring role. He often played the tough guy in dozens of movies. But the last 25 years of his career was spent in iconic films and movies. As well as Jackie Brown, he was also cast in a small but very important role in the last episode of breaking bad and El Camino. He had a major role in David Lynch‘s twin peaks– the return. And he was also in at least a dozen other roles. Let’s show the guy some love!
Yeah, probably my favorite Tarantino movie as well. The way Lister says "no I'll give you his BEEPER number" is ridiculously intimidating for some reason.
Wish he had worked with Tarantino again. He’d have been interesting in Once Upon a Time inHollywood. Who could he have played? Perhaps a director or an agent or a Men in Black if Tarantino wanted to add a storyline about UFOs
In the novelization of Once Upon. he could have played Aldo Ray the alcoholic actor in the hotel room. Shit was kinda depressing but Forrester could have killed it.
I agree. Still my favorite of his catalog. At the time I regarded Tarantino as basically heir apparent to Scorsese’s throne: bringing gangster flicks into the modern era and nobody was better at it. His tales of bloody revenge and alt histories are fun romps and homages to films he loves, but not as grounded or menacing as his crime/gangster dramas. I wish we’d get one more good one out of him before he calls it a day, but I don’t think this kind of film is interesting to him anymore.
I can't love them as a whole though. They're exhausting and spastic and devoid of warmth mostly. Even pulp fiction had warmth with Vince and Mia, or Jules and his awakening with wanting to help Pumkin and Hunny Bunny.
It just seems to increasingly be about violent pornography for revenge nerds. Lots of powerful performances, tense heart rending scenes, but I feel depleted when it's over.
I had an exceptional conversation with him while we both attended a benefit dinner about 15 years ago. He and I are from the same part of NY and that was my in to talk with him. We discussed his body of work among other things. Truly a great memory.
We talked quite a bit about his role in "Medium Cool", working with Cassavettes and the his approach between realism and acting on such a critical topic. He genuinely seemed interested in what I had to say and it was a conversation between two fans of film.
Fantastic movie, fantastic actor.
Its definitely an outlier in Tarantino’s filmography - I’m so happy its reputation has improved over the years, now that its no longer living in Pulp Fiction’s shadow
Jackie Brown is a great movie, but I remember him first for one of my favorites; The Black Hole.
If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. Yes, it’s cheesy but the effects and score or worth it. It’s on Disney+.
When I worked at the arclight Hollywood/cineramadome a lot of celebrities would come in all the time…but he was an absolute VIP there because he was so nice so genuine and always struck up a conversation with whoever he ran into. Everyone was so happy when he would show up.
Jackie Brown is so underated, by far my favourite of Tarantino movie, he went too over the top after this one (still great movies, but a bit too cartonish). Just the soundtrack alone is a classic.
Jackson should have nominated for an Oscar for this role. Between his street persona over all; haggling with max cherry their first interactions , choking Grier in the dark whispering veiled threats , his anger and fury towards Lewis when they find the money was short , the whole movie he was so on point ; totally unrecognized and forgotten , definitely not appreciated for what he brought.
For a long time that was my favorite Tarantino movie but I wouldn't want to have told him that to his face. I don't think he likes that as an answer because it's the one he didn't write. I remember when Ben Mankiewicz told him that and his response was something like 'you don't really like my movies, then'.
But yeah it's just a slick little sorta-reverse-heist film. I imagine if Tarantino were being honest he'd have to cite Leonard as his single biggest writing inspiration because that same style permeates his work throughout.
And back to Forster, the guy is smooth as butter. The kind of character who can survive in anyone's world just by knowing what to say and how prepared to be. He pulls that guy off so well in this, and IMO he's the same character in Breaking Bad/El Camino. That's what Max Cherry started doing after the Bail Bondsman business got too physically demanding for him.
It was so amazing that at the height of QT’s Hollywood breakthrough, when he was the hottest thing in town and could have done anything he wanted to, he chose to do this small nostalgic character study about aging and regret, and without losing any of his cool from the previous movies.
Such a great movie
QT writes parts for specific actors he has in mind to play these parts. When that actor is really onboard with their character and they really understand the role, it's going to go skyward! This is what happened here!
The chemistry between Pam Grier and him was exceptional.
Jackie Brown is QT’s most mature, best written film and it’s not even very close. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill and his other works. But Jackie Brown is the most character driven of them all. I didn’t like it when I first watched it (I was a teenager when it came out) but after subsequent viewings it’s become my favorite of his. I would call it his best directed work.
I wish Tarantino would make another crime thriller. I miss the modern, gritty settings in Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown. Just superb atmosphere.
the best actors I'd never heard of, even then.
Casting Lawrence Tierney in Reservoir Dogs was fucking genius https://youtu.be/T2ohXTtJP7A Edit: Here's another good story about his legendary Seinfeld appearance https://youtu.be/W9T7En0N2bg
YER NOT MISTAH POIPLE YER MISTAH PINK. SOME UDDER GUY ON SOME UDDER JOB IS MISTAH POIPLE.
[The Simpsons crew didn't have an amazing time working with him on the Christmas episode where Bart steals Bonestorm.](https://www.avclub.com/simpsons-writer-josh-weinstein-has-some-wild-stories-ab-1845913333) Tierney didn't get the jokes and they had to record weird filler dialogue around some of his lines and edit it out later.
Thank you that is a great interview clip lol
This fuckin guy is a bulldog. Always interesting characters
I fucking love that Reservoir Dogs video about Tierney. I remember rewatching it several times after buying the 10th anniversary DVD.
He's done enough gritty crime movies I always like when he tries something different, his last movie is the end of his 'revisionist history' trilogy he's said in an interview. So who knows what he's planning on doing but I did love 'once upon a time in Hollywood '
He's mused a few times about writing and directing a Star Trek film. I don't think it will happen, but the way he talks about it makes me think he has a script or treatment he's already worked on. I'd give my right testicle to read what he has in mind.
I thought somebody who's read it said it's based off the gangster episode from the original series? I could be wrong though. I do know Karl Urban read it and was quoted as saying it's "bananas"
[Here's the Variety](https://variety.com/feature/quentin-tarantino-star-trek-explained-1235184059/) article quoting the screenwriter who worked with Tarantino on the script. Good read.
His point is the recent films are focused on action and tech while classic Star Trek was character driven. Tarantino correctly said the most highly regarded ST episode was City on the Edge of Forever, in which Kirk and Spock go to 1930s NYC to stop McCoy from changing time for the worse. We don't see much of Enterprise nor crew. Special effects are limited as they don't matter much. Thats the kind of script he feels the films today need. Lets make a great film with a memorable script without the limitations of 1960s censorship, a small TV budget and 1960s special effects people will remember decades later.
TBF, since the first post-TNG film, they've all been action films. Idk that Star Trek needs to be character driven, per se, but it certainly should be driven or influenced by high-level moral debates, ethical conundrums, and critique/analysis of societal progress.
He’s also talked about the next movie being his last.
That is definitely one theme, but I notice that from Kill Bill onward his films usually have an over-the-top slapstick-ey gory violent quality to them. Even Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, which was pretty restrained most of the film, ended in that fashion. A film like Jackie Brown would have been completely different that way, and I'd be curious to see a turn away from the goofy splatter even if it doesn't mean "crime thriller". Mind you, I think QT himself considers it a hallmark of his filmmaking now and that his audience comes to expect it.
And he was just 34 by then, I agree that it's the culmination of a lot of trial and error and you can tell that he's experimenting with grittier, more realistic takes on some actions and topics, for example all gun violence and gore happens in the distance but it is always affirmative and deadly. I have this thing about listening to my favourite movies like an audiobook and Jackie Brown & Hateful Eight are my favourites. There's a lot happening visually of course, but the audio is also very complete
What's the third movie?
First: Inglorious Basterds Second: Django Unchained Third: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Some people would argue that Hateful Eight belongs on that list but I feel like Hateful Eight takes place in a complete vacuum, could be revisionist, could also not be.
Agreed. Historical revisionism would refer to real world people or events... the Hateful Eight was not based off of either.
Django unchained (slave rising up killing the slave owner) The inglourious bastards (killing Hitler, Goebelles et al) and Once upon a time in Hollywood (Sharon Tate lives)
I was guessing Django but it I wouldn't consider it that, whereas Hollywood and Basterds changed actual events in history books.
Inglorious bastards, Django, once upon a time in Hollywood
The dude needs to do a horror movie!
From dusk til dawn
Death Proof
You might enjoy reading Elmore Leonard’s crime novels.
They are making a new Justified. City Primeval
Which is going to be set in Detroit and I'm so excited as a Michigan boy.
Elmore Leonard has had almost as many film adaptations as Philip K Dick, (44 vs 45) and with 3 new ones coming he will take the lead
Wow I didn't know there were 45 PKD movies. I knew there were at least a dozen. Wow.
Say what? Is it possible to improve on Justified? Man that was good show.
Jackie Brown is by far my favourite Tarantino film, brilliant from top to bottom, with killer performances all around, but especially Pam Grier and Robert Forster.
Totally agree with this.
I agree fully! I would describe Jackie Brown as his *warmest* film, very much thanks to the chemistry between Forster and Grier (and the script that allowed it). A performance that stands out to me is Samuel Jackson’s. That last moment in the car (I think, been a while since I saw it) before they go into the bail bonds office, where Ordell says something in the order of “this better not be a trap, or I’ll kill you”, is so loaded with vulnerability. Ordell’s a great villain who so far has come out on top thanks to his smarts, but it’s almost like he realises that he’s been bested by Jackie’s plot already. He’s a crook with a bunch of flaws as far as movie crooks go, and I absolutely love how Jackson portrays it.
also visually he's sequentially placed in worse and worse scenarios and locations - which go hand in hand with his loss of power and grip upon the situation. Starts out chilled out in a beach-side house, lot's of white, lot's of cool all around. Progressively has to kill his (closest) friend, go in the mess of a house Sheronda keeps and ends up dead on the bail bonds uncomfortable office room, no smooth hat, shitty clothes. In the end it's not like I'm sorry for him, but man Samuel LJ really has a wayy of making even the worst people look tridimensional
I mean it’s based on Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard, the greatest crime fiction writer in history. His dialogue is like butter.
Tarantino + Leonard = cinematic gold.
Get Shorty was a great book.
Agree with everything. It's my favorite of his films and it might require more than one watch, but it gets better every time.
By far my favorite movie by him. The music, dialog and story itself are really great. Totally not flashy so I can understand why most people miss it, but damn is it good.
THE MUSIC! I literally just got goosebumps from simply thinking about the soundtrack.
Jackie Brown gets better as I get older - one of the best movies about middle-age & growing older
I mean, it helped it was based on a book by Elmore Leonard (*Rum Punch*), why it's tenor is so different than Tarantino's other work.
I’m of a similar opinion and also as a teenager Jackie Brown was the first Tarantino film I saw at the cinema, I liked it but I didn’t love it. It felt like it lacked some of the pizzazz and maybe action for me at the time. I saw it again a few years later and my opinion of it improved significantly. Coincidently I recently had a bit of a QT session and rewatched Reservoir dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown and Inglorious Basterds over a week or two, and it reshuffled my personal order how I’d remembered them. JB is now top.
Easily my favorite Tarantino.
I try to watch it every 5 years or so. I get more and more out of it at each life stage. Also didn't care for it quite so much as a teenager, but now in my mid 30s it hits differently. Can't wait to see how I feel about it in my 50s.
Just wanted to say to you, that I couldn’t agree more. Jackie Brown is without question the best film Tarantino ever made. Fucking A. Feel like I could have wrote your comment verbatim. So…gunna be getting that gold. Update: Platinum.
I'm with you. I didn't like it after seeing Pulp Fiction first, and being young on first watch. After subsequent rewatches though, it really was a fantastic movie. Pulp is my favorite, but JB was his best.
I agree. I think what makes it QTs best film is that there’s a love story at the heart of it. Really adds another dimension to his films. True Romance is the other QT script to feature it.
That was by and large Quentin's best Film. I cannot stress this enough. Jackie Brown was a phenomenal fucking movie. It also made me fall in love with all my mother's music again
Turner Classic Movies has a podcast called The Plot Thickens. This most recent season was about Pam Grier and it was such a good listen! She’s lived an incredible life!
Before Dr. King Schultz, this was easily his best character work. Max Cherry was the most human character he had directed. He is getting old. He has overcame a common fear in men, losing his hair. He fell in love late in life. This was an excellent character piece on both Leonard and Tarantino.
The losing his hair bit was a callback to Forster's earlier role in the movie, Alligator (1980). Forster's character has a few scenes discussing hair loss treatments. This is how he looked in that movie https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0rTOn2ElXcQ/XbnMAaS5P-I/AAAAAAAAJ5I/eInJAvia99Ij5_Z5DnLuK14fiH5C6gJeACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/RF%2BAlligator.jpg
Before Dr. King Schultz was Hans Landa which *is* easily his best character work and it’s not even close.
That's a bingo.
What I love about their relationship is that there's an attraction between them, but in the end they're just friends who help each other out. Audiences are conditioned to expect every single movie to have a romantic relationship, even if it doesn't fit and has to be "shoehorned" into the plot. In a way it's a sad commentary on the movie industry that having something as simple as a platonic relationship between a man and a woman is actually subverting expectations. How did the bar get so low??
I don't even think it's that there isn't a romantic connection because there definitely is a spark, it's that >!the two of them are pulled in different directions. Jackie is free from her dead-end job and from her side gig of running gun money, but Max can't commit to doing the same and stepping away from his work, even with no other attachment to LA. The scene specifically cuts on him being pulled out of focus to show the uncertainty of his future as Jackie goes off to live her life.!<
Love and romance is not a common theme among Quentin Tarantino’s movies
I'm glad they didn't bang.
I was soooo disappointed when they didn't end up together. They were mesmerizing to watch.
I met Robert Forster at the Cinecon film festival in 2018. Shook his hand and told him this was my favorite performance. He was so humble and appreciative. Always thought a sequel movie about Max Cherry and Winston and their bail bond exploits would’ve been fun.
My favorite thing about *Jackie Brown* is how Jackie shows Ordell the quiet little hotel bar and he makes it his de facto meeting place for the rest of the movie. >*"Well, I hope you felt appropriately guilty afterwards."* >*"Afterwards, I did."*
Ordell's choice of music in his car is amazing. Having the soundtrack be diagetic for the scene with Beaumont was a great choice.
There's got to be a mega-*Jackie Brown*-fan out there who still drives around listening to a custom cassette with Strawberry Letter 23 on one side and Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) on the other.
You can play the volume as loud as you want to but don't touch my levels now. I got them set just like I like 'em.
You'll hear a little *ooonh-ooonh-ooonh*. The door will unlock. Get in.
And when De Niro hits unlock and you actually hear the little *ooonh-ooonh-ooonh*, it makes the scene so satisfying. Great pacing, direction and HUMOR. No idea why it’s so funny. We know it’s coming.
And you De Niro is such a great actor because his character was so stupid. I’m still in shock over how he killed that girl….after he hit it.
"About Melanie. I had to shoot her. "
Tarantino is an interesting study case, he has such finesse and skill with wordplay that it comes out gritty enough for the plot to move on but ambiguous enough to leave you wondering, you'll notice that his movies are filled with details, characters, subplots and even background footage that exists soley for great world building. And in a way I think that's why his movies are so great, it's not just attention to detail, its all about the background noise, the little characters that live within it. No actual human beings talk like he writes his characters, but each one looks like it carries baggage. Also he deconstructs famous actors a lot, for example DeNiro in Jackie Brown is a stonehead fog-headed could-have-been robber - very far from his usual movie role. Brad Pitt in Inglourious Basterds is a mindless, violent stereotype of a soldier and at that point he was mostly cast as this suave and good looking guy that always saves the day with his good heart and intentions, Leonardo DiCaprio being an insecure wreck of a man (and actor) when he's normally cast as an intelligent and masterful planner and seen publicly as an incredible actor - this makes me on edge whenever I see a new movie of his because I'm never sure how a particular actor will have been directed to act his character, and it always works. The only character of his that I could say is recurrent would be whatever part he gives Samuel LJ, but that's probably because he excels every time. Other directors that work their script like this are the Cohen brothers and Wes Anderson
The only two songs you need.
Across 110th Street!
You’re right, another great song!
Killer movie too. They were supposed to repress the book recently but I think it fell through, it’s hard to find. EDIT: fixed an awkward turn of phrase.
Midnight Confession!
Raises hand.
That soundtrack was everything
The greatest thing about the music in his car is that you can play it as loud as you want as long as you don't touch his levels
My favorite line is from the bar scene when the bartender asks Jackie if she wants a drink and she says she’s fine and the tender says “yes you are”
And we're very glad it did. He's an actor who can do so much with little screentime. I think of his embittered father-in-law in "The Descendants"; an ornery crank who spends both his scenes criticizing everyone while praising his sainted daughter (especially his son-in-law and elder granddaughter, who know all too well how NOT a saint the woman in question was), yet you sympathize with him as a man who's clearly had a hard life and views his daughter as the one true good thing he had and is now losing her.
I love him in The Descendants. When he clocks Sid is just the best.
“Im gonna hit you now.”
He had the near-impossible job of playing the replacement for Michael Ontkean's Sheriff Harry S. Truman in Twin Peaks: The Return, and he goddamn *nailed it*.
"Two Coopers."
Honestly, his casting as Sheriff Frank Truman in twin peaks '17 was amazing. He fit into the world so well. That's the role I remember him for.
My fondest memory of working on any film includes Robert. I was a grip working on my first big shoot and he was one of the actors. The film was called The Trial, and Matthew Modine was the lead. One day we are working exterior shots and setting up a few scenes. I’m with my group and I see Robert shielding his eyes from the Sun while talking with another individual. For some reason, I had the urge to grab a small flag and hop up on small garden wall behind him and block the light. While I’m standing there, he notices me and once he realizes what’s happening he pauses his conversation and walks over to me. He asks “is that for me?” I respond “yes sir it is.” He smiles and reaches his hand out for me to shake it. “My name is Robert.” I tell him mine. He then ends the shake with “thank you, I’ll remember this forever.” It was a beautiful moment.
Thanks so much for sharing. Really beautiful lil story. Moments like this are what make life special, more than the big things I reckon.
He was such an effortless actor. Loved his performances in *Breaking Bad* and *Better Call Saul*.
Yes, the next time I need to buy a vacuum cleaner I know who to call!
I need a new dust filter for my hoover max extract pressure pro model 60
How hot?
Extremely.
It was so cool he got to reprise the role for *El Camino* before he passed
The only thing that ever comes to mind when I see him is Nathan Petrelli’s father in *Heroes*.
De niro's most underrated performance, louis seems like that unhinged uncle that you avoid at family gatherings
"hey Louis, did you forget where you parked when you robbed the bank too?" Bridget Fonda was so good in this as well
*Louissss*.
…3 minutes later.
Give me the bag beforeIknockyouthefuckout
De Niro smoking weed and banging 20 something year olds? Only in a Tarantino movie, lol.
Bridget fonda though.
She was smoking hot during her time, but this may be her at her smokingest and hottest.
I've still got a full-sized poster of her somewhere, in character as Melanie, sticking her tongue out in a black-and-white side-profile shot, wearing that bikini top and those cut-offs. Man oh man she was fine as hell.
“That was fun” “Yea that hit the spot.”
>banging In the most utilitarian prison sense
Bridget Fonda was 33 at the time, I don't know what was the supposed age of her character though.
Nah dirty grandpa is not a tarantino movie :P
Louis was brilliantly presented as a guy who used to be something special and now isn't worth the bother. Ordell's pain at realizing what a waste his friend has become only works because of DeNiro's performance.
Louis and Ordell are in an earlier Elmore Leonard novel, The Switch. It was made into a film in 2013 if you want to see more of their relationship. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Crime_(film)
Wait, what? There’s a pseudo-prequel to Jackie Brown out there and I didn’t know?! What the fuck…
“Yo ass used to be *beautiful*”
I love these underdog performances where "tough guy" actors step out of their stereotypical roles. De Niro in this movie, and Stallone in Copland are both great examples.
Copland was really great
Lou-issssssss. I love the “Baby Love” scene. His discomfort is so palpable!
I go and rewatch the parking lot scene every now and then, it just caught me so off guard the first time. _Is it this aisle, Louis? Or is it the next one over?_
Oh man, completely off guard! Honestly, that’s a scene I wouldn’t mind to have erased from my memory so I could experience the shock of it again. That and “Your ass used to be beautiful.”
She wouldn’t stop talking
Prison was not kind to him.
I need a dust filter for a Hoover Max extract pressure pro model 60. Can you help me with that?
That was his third wind.
Bridget Fonda was smokin in that.
Yeah, but she just wouldn’t shut up
NotTheHeroWeNeed? *NotTheHeroWeNuh-eed?* ***NotTheHeroWeNeeeeeeeeeeeeed?***
Lou-isssssssssss
"Is she dead?!?" "I...I...eh...pretty much."
Pretty much? That ain't no fucking answer!
Honestly, De Niro too. Yeah he was a weird loser but that shaggy salt and pepper hair was a great look.
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> “I could not believe that I was going to get another shot at this business,” Forster explained, “But [Tarantino] gave it to me. He gave me a gift, the size of which cannot be exaggerated.” Ok, but Forster gave as good as he got. *Jackie Brown* will be known as one of, if not *the* best picture QT ever made, and that's clearly in very large part in due to Forster's portrayal of Max Cherry.
> Jackie Brown will be known as one of, if not the best picture QT ever made. I’m really happy to find this sentiment here several times. I always felt it’s his best regular movie (pulp fiction is just something else) and so many people seem to *not* agree with that.
The movie is perfect. No real plot holes, nothing crazy. They said what they are going to do and they did it. Which is rare when every movies wants to have a gotcha moment, a twist. The twist was, there was no twist.
I'm not sure this dude is capable of making a regular movie but I suppose JB is the closest he gets. As far as best of his, I can't really say. I've enjoyed all of QTs movies.
Me too. It's nice to have a Jackie Brown appreciation thread. I think its his best too and usually get downvoted for saying so.
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This was the first Elmore Leonard book that I read (Rum Punch). I can rewatch this movie anytime.
I love Elmore Leonard but honestly QT’s take on it was an improvement on the book. The casting and dialog was perfect I watched Out of Sight again the other night and that is another underrated movie from an Elmore Leonard book. I totally agree Forster and Grier had great chemistry but Clooney and Lopez were great together as well. Totally different feel but worth checking out and Michael Keaton was in both.
Michael Keaton plays the *same character* in both films: ATF Agent Ray Nicolette.
The did a "spin-off" series about Karen Sisco (changed the spelling, I cant remember what one was what) but it didn't last. The actress the played "Karen" on an episode of Justified. Putting them all in a loose cinematic universe.
Carla Gugino my goddddd
Ok. Out of Sight is one of my absolute favorites.
I think even Leonard admitted that Tarantino did his work better than he did. Tarantino is an excellent writer, but when a writer of Leonard’s caliber pays you that kind of compliment, that’s as good as it gets.
There is an interview with QT where he talks about how he had aspirations to write novels like Elmore Leonard. True Romance was written in that light. The ear for authentic, gritty but hilarious dialogue is shared.
Several years ago, I met Robert Forster at a hiking trail near my apartment in LA. There is a little outdoor theatre there where he and some other folks were rehearsing for a play. I watched them rehearse a few times and then saw the show. During this time, we ended up striking up an acquaintance, and he invited me to see his one-man show which I went to see a couple times. It was a very simple show. Just him on stage telling stories, no props or anything. At the beginning of the show, he’d hand out a long piece of paper he called a “menu” to the audience. On the “menu” were anecdotes about his life and career. During the first half of the show, he’d tell some of them. Then afterwards, he’d let the audience pick others from the list. He said he used the show as a way for people to get to know him and to help promote his career as an actor when he wasn’t working on set. In that sense, it was kinda like a resume or business card for him. He had purposefully designed the show so he could perform it anywhere at anytime and that it would be different every time and people could come back to see it more than once. One of the stories he told was about working with Marlon Brando early in his career and how he thought Brando was a very charismatic guy and extremely talented, but he also saw how careless behavior behind the camera put some people off and gave him the reputation of being difficult to work with. Robert’s take was that, at the end of the day, if he himself ever hoped to have longevity in his chosen career, it was super-important for him to pay attention to how he made others feel in a positive way. Looking back at our interactions, he seemed like a very cool, down-to-earth guy who was also very smart and savvy in an unassuming way. It was clear to me that his career was important to him and he had put a lot of time and creative thought and effort towards how he could cultivate its longevity. In this sense, his approach towards his life and career seemed very honed-in and intentional to the point that it was, in a way, larger than life. Given all this, one can see how he was extremely well-suited for the role he portrayed in Jackie Brown.
Thanks this is fascinating to read.
Robert Forster comes from my hometown of Rochester, New York. He spoke to my middle school about acting way back in the 70s. I ran into him at our local airport in 2016. He was flying economy to Chicago like anyone else. He was talking to some guy at our gate who had no idea who he was. I introduced myself.myself as a big fan, and he was thrilled. So was I! I essentially climbed up his prostate gushing about all the incredible roles he’s played in the incredible directors he has worked with. He was genuinely humble and thrilled that I recognized him and knew his body of work. He will be missed. Edit: OK guys! Can we please reset this thread ? We all love, Quentin Tarantino, but this was supposed to be about Robert Forster. One of Hollywood‘s great character actors. And by character actors, I mean, he rarely got a starring role. He often played the tough guy in dozens of movies. But the last 25 years of his career was spent in iconic films and movies. As well as Jackie Brown, he was also cast in a small but very important role in the last episode of breaking bad and El Camino. He had a major role in David Lynch‘s twin peaks– the return. And he was also in at least a dozen other roles. Let’s show the guy some love!
He was great in Twin Peaks The Return as well
Harry? Do me a favor and beat this.
His 30 seconds of screen time in Mulholland drive 😮💨
“May the road rise up to meet your wheels”
This is still my favorite Tarantino. And, yes, Grier and Forster give some of the best performances of their careers.
Yeah, probably my favorite Tarantino movie as well. The way Lister says "no I'll give you his BEEPER number" is ridiculously intimidating for some reason.
Wish he had worked with Tarantino again. He’d have been interesting in Once Upon a Time inHollywood. Who could he have played? Perhaps a director or an agent or a Men in Black if Tarantino wanted to add a storyline about UFOs
In the novelization of Once Upon. he could have played Aldo Ray the alcoholic actor in the hotel room. Shit was kinda depressing but Forrester could have killed it.
In my opinion this is Tarantino at his best.
I agree. Still my favorite of his catalog. At the time I regarded Tarantino as basically heir apparent to Scorsese’s throne: bringing gangster flicks into the modern era and nobody was better at it. His tales of bloody revenge and alt histories are fun romps and homages to films he loves, but not as grounded or menacing as his crime/gangster dramas. I wish we’d get one more good one out of him before he calls it a day, but I don’t think this kind of film is interesting to him anymore.
Agreed. None of the fanciful shit he embellished all his later movies with, just pure noir
Don’t get me wrong I’ve really liked his alternate history films but you hit the nail on the head: pure noir that is near perfect.
I can't love them as a whole though. They're exhausting and spastic and devoid of warmth mostly. Even pulp fiction had warmth with Vince and Mia, or Jules and his awakening with wanting to help Pumkin and Hunny Bunny. It just seems to increasingly be about violent pornography for revenge nerds. Lots of powerful performances, tense heart rending scenes, but I feel depleted when it's over.
I dont think it's noir. Edit: Hard-boiled, perhaps.
Didn't I do it baby? (Didn't I do it baby?)
I love Max Cherry. He's honestly the best character in the movie.
I had an exceptional conversation with him while we both attended a benefit dinner about 15 years ago. He and I are from the same part of NY and that was my in to talk with him. We discussed his body of work among other things. Truly a great memory.
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We talked quite a bit about his role in "Medium Cool", working with Cassavettes and the his approach between realism and acting on such a critical topic. He genuinely seemed interested in what I had to say and it was a conversation between two fans of film.
Fantastic movie, fantastic actor. Its definitely an outlier in Tarantino’s filmography - I’m so happy its reputation has improved over the years, now that its no longer living in Pulp Fiction’s shadow
Jackie Brown is a great movie, but I remember him first for one of my favorites; The Black Hole. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. Yes, it’s cheesy but the effects and score or worth it. It’s on Disney+.
This is one of my favorite films of all time.
He’s so good it’s heartbreaking. That ending when he puts the phone down….
When I worked at the arclight Hollywood/cineramadome a lot of celebrities would come in all the time…but he was an absolute VIP there because he was so nice so genuine and always struck up a conversation with whoever he ran into. Everyone was so happy when he would show up.
He was so good in Jackie Brown.
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He chemistry with Pam Grier was brilliant. So good!
Luckily I saw this movie before BB and BCS, so I loved seeing him appear as Ed Gailbreth the disappearer.
Tarantino’s best film. And one of the best soundtracks ever.
Jackie Brown is so underated, by far my favourite of Tarantino movie, he went too over the top after this one (still great movies, but a bit too cartonish). Just the soundtrack alone is a classic.
Tarantino did that a lot. * Lawrence Tierney * John Travolta * Robert Forster * Don Johnson * Pam Grier (x2)
I loved him in *The Black Hole*, and he was very well cast in *Jackie Brown* too.
YES! I was looking for someone to mention "The Black Hole" because he was great!
Robert Forster is the epitome of cool in this movie.
Jackson should have nominated for an Oscar for this role. Between his street persona over all; haggling with max cherry their first interactions , choking Grier in the dark whispering veiled threats , his anger and fury towards Lewis when they find the money was short , the whole movie he was so on point ; totally unrecognized and forgotten , definitely not appreciated for what he brought.
And it led to a true masterclass from Forster in “Me, Myself, and Irene”.
And not available for streaming
For a long time that was my favorite Tarantino movie but I wouldn't want to have told him that to his face. I don't think he likes that as an answer because it's the one he didn't write. I remember when Ben Mankiewicz told him that and his response was something like 'you don't really like my movies, then'. But yeah it's just a slick little sorta-reverse-heist film. I imagine if Tarantino were being honest he'd have to cite Leonard as his single biggest writing inspiration because that same style permeates his work throughout. And back to Forster, the guy is smooth as butter. The kind of character who can survive in anyone's world just by knowing what to say and how prepared to be. He pulls that guy off so well in this, and IMO he's the same character in Breaking Bad/El Camino. That's what Max Cherry started doing after the Bail Bondsman business got too physically demanding for him.
It was so amazing that at the height of QT’s Hollywood breakthrough, when he was the hottest thing in town and could have done anything he wanted to, he chose to do this small nostalgic character study about aging and regret, and without losing any of his cool from the previous movies. Such a great movie
Jackie Brown is Tarantino's best film by a wide margin, and I will die on that hill.
Jackie brown is very underrated.
One of my favorite movies- 🎶Didn’t I do it baby🎶
One of the few to appear in each of the Breaking Bad productions and he killed it, especially in El Camino.
My favorite QT movie.
QT writes parts for specific actors he has in mind to play these parts. When that actor is really onboard with their character and they really understand the role, it's going to go skyward! This is what happened here!
He should have won an Oscar for that performance
I feel like Kyle Chandler is the spiritual successor to Forster.
I was like 16 when I saw Jackie Brown in the theater? I could tell he was one of the best actors I'd never heard of, even then.
Currently unavailable for streaming, even if I throw my fucking wallet at the situation. Oh how I love the future.