Seminar: Jackie Brown

DigBoston film critic Jake Mulligan provides deep background on Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, using rare clips, interviews, and more to shine light on what may be the director’s most revealing movie!

What do a sexy stewardess (Pam Grier), a street-tough gun runner (Samuel L. Jackson), a lonely bail bondsman (Robert Forster), a shifty ex-con (Robert De Niro), an earnest federal agent (Michael Keaton), and a stoned-out beach bunny (Bridget Fonda) have in common? They're six players on the trail of a half million dollars in cash! The only questions are who's getting played and who's gonna make the big score?

Quentin Tarantino’s take on Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch is the director’s only adapted feature, but Jake Mulligan’s seminar demonstrates that Jackie Brown ranks among his most revealing and personal works anyway! Learn how each character was shaped behind the scenes and on screen, then see rare clips that shed light on the film’s many subtle mysteries, including surprising comments from both Grier and Forster about the iconic bittersweet finale.

About the Speaker

Jake Mulligan is the film section editor and critic at DigBoston, is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics, and has taught classes and seminars at the Coolidge before, including “Defining Screwball Comedy” in 2019 and “Roger Corman, Producer” in 2020. His film criticism has also been published in The Boston Globe, The Boston Phoenix, and Filmmaker Magazine.