Pam Grier as Jackie Brown

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted--no really good excuses except for actually having a lot to do at work and my sister's wedding back home and 4th of July weekend. Well, I guess those are decent excuses.

Anyway, this is just the first of several posts about Pam Grier because the woman is awesome, and it's impossible to sum up her oeuvre in just one post about one movie. And because I've got more shit to do at work today I need to keep this short and sweet: Watch Jackie Brown. Go out and rent or buy it today. You won't regret it.

The opening title sequence alone is enough reason to spend a few bucks on a rental. It's the ever-so-fine Pam Grier standing on a people mover at LAX as the soul classic "Across 110th Street" plays on the soundtrack. Then in the next shot she's walking. Then after that she's walking very fast. Then faster, and finally breaking into a jog she arrives at her destination--the gate where her flight is about to take off. Tarantino is brilliant in upping the momentum of the scene simply by making Pam move faster and faster. And she has a very glamourous jog, I must say.

Another great reason to watch is for the quiet moments between Pam and Robert Forster, as a bail bondsman who falls instantly in love with her and agrees to help her out in a scheme to save her ass from prison and from Samuel Jackson, who is the sinister small potatoes arms dealer, for whom she's been running money between Mexico and the US. Robert Forster and Pam both have this world weary thing going on, but the feelings seem real between them, and that gives the movie a sweetness that balances out the harsher scenes. I really like when he comes to bail her out of jail, and as he sees her walking up to the prison gate, even though she looks a bit disheveled and her hair is a bit nappy, we know he's falling in love with her as "Didn't I Blow Your Mind" by the Delfonics plays on the soundtrack. Lurvely...

Everyone says how this is Tarantino's most mature work, and I think they're right. He cast some real pros (also must mention De Niro and Bridget Fonda as Jackson's bickering accomplices), and they totaly pull through for him in the end.

Fast Forward Rating: 0%

Suggested drinks: maybe some whiskey on the rocks, and a full bong for anytime that Bridget Fonda is onscreen.