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Parents' Guide to

Jackie Brown

By Charles Cassady Jr., Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Mellower Tarantino still has sex, drugs, swearing, murder.

Movie R 1997 154 minutes
Jackie Brown Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 13+

Based on 3 parent reviews

Joe J.
Joe J. Adult
March 9, 2017
age 13+

Overlooked Tarantino gem.

christophercrosby100
christophercrosby100 Adult
November 4, 2013
age 14+

jackiebrownreview

i did not select violence for this film because it is very mild violence that you would find in a pg-13 movie. there is a lot of profanity and a brief but kind of graphic sex scene that lasts for about five seconds

This title has:

Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
See all 3 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In Quentin Tarantino's tribute to old-school (mostly 1970s) crime pictures, action-heroine Pam Grier plays Jackie Brown, a classy-looking flight attendant with a criminal conviction in her past, who earns a pitiful income with a seedy airline shuttling back and forth to Mexico. Jackie occasionally serves as a money courier for Ordell (Samuel L. Jackson), a dealer in arms and drugs, and when she's caught by police after a tipoff, she fears the ruthless Ordell will murder her, just as he killed the informant. In a series of double-crosses, Jackie tells Ordell she will retrieve his $500,000 fortune from Mexico right under the noses of cops. Meanwhile Jackie forms an alliance with her chivalrous bail bondsman Max (Robert Forster) to actually keep the cash, as a strong mutual attraction develops between the pair.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (14 ):

JACKIE BROWN was Tarantino's much-anticipated follow-up after Pulp Fiction made him a superstar director, but fans expecting another hyper-violent, hyper-hip hyper-flick are in for disappointment. Adapting the novel Rum Punch by Elmore Leonard, Taantino instead delivers a long, thoughtful, restrained, adult crime drama emphasizing emotion and relationships more than cool stunts or gore. It's also quite a career-salute to 1970s "blaxploitation" diva Pam Grier, only instead of having her burn down Watts ghettoes yet again Tarantino lets Grier strut her stuff and middle-aged allure in a nicely three-dimensional characterization (incidentally, in the source novel, Jackie was a white blonde). Hopefully parents can appreciate the seasoned ambiance that has this grooving to a mature, rhythm'n'blues beat, not MTV.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the morality (or lack of it) among the characters. Who is the most admirable? Is anyone really a "good guy" here?

  • Did the violence in this movie disturb you? Have you seen other Quentin Tarantino films with more violence? How does he use violence in a story? What would the story be like without it? And what would true life consequences of the violence seen in these movies be?

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