Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #112578 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-08-20
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Colour, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 154 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The curiosity of Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown is Robert Forster's worldly wise bail bondsman Max Cherry, the most alive character in this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch. The Academy Awards saw it the same way, giving Forster the film's only nomination. The film is more "rum" than "punch" and will certainly disappoint those who are looking for Tarantino's trademark style. This movie is a slow, decaffeinated story of six characters glued to a half million dollars brought illegally into the country. The money belongs to Ordell (Samuel L Jackson), a gunrunner just bright enough to control his universe and do his own dirty work. His just-paroled friend--a loose term with Ordell--Louis (Robert De Niro) is just taking up space and could be interested in the money. However, his loyalties are in question between his old partner and Ordell's doped-up girl (Bridget Fonda). Certainly Fed Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) wants to arrest Ordell with the illegal money. The key is the title character, a late-40-ish flight-attendant (Pam Grier) who can pull her own weight and soon has both sides believing she's working for them. The end result is rarely in doubt, and what is left is two hours of Tarantino's expert dialogue as he moves his characters around town.

Tarantino changed the race of Jackie and Ordell, a move that means little except that it allows Tarantino to heap on black culture and language, something he has a gift and passion for. He said this film is for an older audience although the language and drug use may put them off. The film is not a salute to Grier's blaxploitation films beyond the musical score. Unexpectedly the most fascinating scenes are between Grier and Forster: glowing in the limelight of their first major Hollywood film after decades of work. --Doug Thomas

Amazon.co.uk Review
The curiosity of Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown is Robert Forster's worldly wise bail bondsman Max Cherry, the most alive character in this adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch. The film is more "rum" than "punch", though, with a slow, decaffeinated story of six characters glued to a half million dollars brought illegally into the country. The money belongs to Ordell (Samuel L Jackson), a gunrunner just bright enough to control his universe and do his own dirty work. His just-paroled friend Louis (Robert De Niro) is just taking up space and could be interested in the money. However, his loyalties are in question between his old partner and Ordell's doped-up girl (Bridget Fonda). Certainly Federal Agent Ray Nicolette (Michael Keaton) wants to arrest Ordell with the illegal money. The key is the title character, a late-40-ish flight-attendant (Pam Grier) who can pull her own weight and soon has both sides believing she's working for them.

Tarantino changed the race of Jackie and Ordell, a move that means little except that it allows him to heap on black culture and language, something he has a gift and passion for, though the film is not a salute to Grier's blaxploitation films beyond the soundtrack. Unexpectedly the most fascinating scenes are between Grier and Forster: glowing in the limelight of their first major Hollywood film after decades of work. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

Tarentino's Most Underrated Movie
This is Quentin Tarentino's most underrated movie and probably the best.

I saw this in the cinema when it first came out and came out thinking it was brilliant. What makes this movie work so well is it's chilled out vibe. This is conveyed through the excellent sound track, derived from the blaxploitation movies of the 70s. I would say that this is the best soundtrack used yet in one of Quentins movies.

The film runs at a slow pace which can put off some viewers, but I found that there was enough going on in the plot to keep me watching. It may not have the same level of violence as most Tarentino movies, but the characters are deep and develop well over the 2.5 hours.

The dialogue, as can be expected by a Tarrentino movie is brilliant. It is rare to have a director with such talent that can make a hollywood movie, but have the ability to create this "Art House" vibe and make a movie that is different from the mainstream. Jackie Brown is the height of Tarrentinos movie making talent and I would recommed this to anyone who has a sense of style and taste, who isn't afraid of going against the flow.

A great adaptation, Tarantino style
Tarantino adapted JACKIE BROWN from one of Elmore Leonard's books, RUM PUNCH. Leonard, being a favourite author of Tarnatino's, usually lets his characters develop the story for the reader, and using as little violence as possible in the process, so it is quite difficult to believe that Tarantino, who's renowned for making crime movies of the more vilent genre, would take RUM PUNCH and adapt it as one of his own movies. But does Tarantino succeed in the process of adaptation? Yes he does.

Jackie Brown (Grier) is a 45-year-old stewardess for Cabo Air, but she also has a backyard job, she is also a courier for 40-something year old Verona Beach gunrunner Ordell Robbie (Jackson), who'as plan is to get his fortune down to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico. But when Jackie is arrested for suspected drugs trafficking, Ordell knows he needs to speed up his final plan of retirement. Helped (in some way) by his old friend and fellow convict Louis Gara (De Niro) and well shagged Beach Bunny Melanie (Fonda), Ordell and Jackie plan the final payoff. But Jackie has plans of her own and Ordell's money.....

Many people shun this movie because it doesn't contain Tarantino's ultra-violence, quirky dialogue and junky characters. The whole point of the movie is taking a novel and adapting it as his own. If Tarantino had taken RUM PUNCH and taken all the characters and situations out and written his own movie, then it wouldn't be an adaptation. The vilence and dialogue aren't there, but the movie is still a wonderful piece of homage to the 1970's genre of Blaxploitation (Cleopatra Jones, Foxy Brown, etc) Also, using 70's Blaxploitation queen Pam Grier for the lead role only helps the movie to be as entertaining and original as it is.

Awesome film on an amazing DVD
When I first saw Jackie Brown, I thought that Samuel L Jackson played amazingly. The scene of him explaining the different types of guns to De Niro set the mood for the film.

The film really excited me. All the different characters who had very different personalities came together to try and get a 500k sum in cash. The relationship between De Niro and Sam is so well thought through. This exceptional film with a great story combining a sexy stewardess (Jackie Brown) an ex con and also a stoned out loser.

Those of you who have Jackie Brown on DVD know that this is going be great. First of all, you dont have to change sides which was a pain in the first one. Then you have a second disc with loads of extra features.

It will include cool DVD games for the PC, deleted scenes, interview with Quentin, original documentary and at least 10 other special features. This is well worth buying.