Jackie Brown

REVIEW
Tarantino's immensely satisfying adaptation of Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch" is less flashy and stylized than his first two films, but with its superb pacing, involving story line, flavorful characters, in-tune acting, and abundant humor and action, this rates as another outstanding effort from the writer-director. Making the most of her best role in years, that glorious '70s action star Grier is Jackie Brown, a down-on-her-luck airline attendant who, caught smuggling money for L.A. gun-runner Ordell Robbie (Jackson), is forced by ATF agents to get the goods on her boss. It's cross, double-cross and who's-scamming-who as Jackie devises her own ingenious plan to rid herself of her meager existence, Ordell and the feds. More character driven than Dogs or Pulp, the film is helped immeasurably by not only the canny performances by Grier and Jackson, but also by the remarkably nuanced portrayal by Forster as Max Cherry, a city-weary, unflappable bailbondsman who becomes involved with Jackie. In setting up the scam, Tarantino takes his time; thus insuring a maximum payoff for not only Jackie but the viewer as well.