Jackie Brown
Netflix | Amazon | Hulu | iTunes | Vudu | Xbox | YouTube
DVD | Blu-ray
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
Starring Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro
Miramax Films
Originally Released: December 25, 1997

It was with great sadness to learn that Elmore Leonard died this week. The great American novelist contributed some thorough and comprehensive work that was both engrossing and entertaining. From 3:10 to Yuma to Get Shorty to Out Of Sight, many of the author’s publications got the movie treatment, some with mixed results.

In tribute to the writer, I decided this week to look at Quentin Tarantino‘s adaptation of the phenomenal book Rum Punch, retitled after the primary central character Jackie Brown.

Before jumping into the review, the first thing that I want to point out concerning Jackie Brown is the amazing soundtrack Tarantino uses for the movie. While the director has a reputation for outstanding music selection in his films, for me, Jackie Brown always stood out in many ways.

Not only does the music reflect the plot, the characters, and the setting magnificently – the movie also introduced me to some of the finest soul, funk, and R&B I’ve ever come across; and being a music addict, I have a somewhat sentimental attachment to Jackie Brown. For me, the soundtrack is so meticulously focused; it is reason enough for viewing the movie alone.

But Jackie Brown has so much more to offer than just the tunes.

Elmore Leonard, whose gift for penning memorable crime novels and pulpy Westerns, stories which became a sort of endless reservoir for Hollywood to make many adaptations of on the silver screen, has died at the age of 87 from complications of a stroke he recently suffered.

Leonard penned Get Shorty, which was made into a feature film starring John Travolta. The same with 3:10 to Yuma, the dark, noirish Western. He also wrote Rum Punch, which was adapted by Quentin Tarantino into his homage to blaxploitation films Jackie Brown. A most recent tie in to Leonard’s work is the FX program Justified, based on the American author’s short story, entitled Fire in the Hole.