Pulp Fiction and 10 greatest Quentin Tarantino movies of all-time

10. Jackie Brown (1997)

Starring Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Michael Keaton, Bridget Fonda, and Robert De Niro.

Jackie Brown remains arguably Quentin Tarantino’s most questionable project to date, simply due to its reputation as the only screenplay Tarantino adapted from a previously existing work.

An adaptation of the 1992 novel, Rum Punch, Jackie Brown follows Tarantino paying tribute to the notorious era of blaxploitation films in the 1970s with notable blaxploitation star, Pam Grier, starring in the titular role as a flight attendant caught in the middle of a drug-smuggling scheme.

Jackie Brown follows Brown traversing her way through various assortments of characters, from Sam Jackson’s ruthless drug lord to Robert Forster’s kind-hearted bond salesman and more in this two and half hour crime thriller that doesn’t quite hit the mark like his other movies do. The story itself is engaging enough on its own to warrant a watch, but the film’s talky nature and overlong runtime makes the experience considerably more tedious than it honestly should be.

Tarantino’s comedic crime thriller doesn’t quite justify its existence in the world of film aside from Tarantino fulfilling his own bucket list. There is JUST enough here to not call it a bad movie by any means, but Tarantino’s voice is unfortunately lost in the vast sea of semi-interesting characters and a story that doesn’t necessarily beg for a rewatch or even a trip to the theater.

It’s the opposite of a “must-see” event and though Pam Grier delivers career-best work here, the film itself often fails to live up to its slick atmosphere and cooler-than-cucumber characters.

Certainly not a bad film, but it’s the one that many fans seem to forget exists in Tarantino’s filmography and there is a reason for that.