Jackie Brown is often Tarantinos overlooked film. This, his third title, was a crime drama and love letter to the blaxplotation films of the 70s that influenced much of his work. Continuing on the style from Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown is inhabited by a series of charismatic criminals and a plot that consists of smuggling, murder and double crosses. The most unexpected moment of the film happens in a car park where Louis (Robert De Niro) an ex-con with a short fuse, suddenly shoots Bridget Fonda after she does little more than wind him up. True the scene is filled with a building tension and two sterling performances, but still the shooting is so sudden you could almost miss it. De Niro has gun out and Fonda dead before you even register the shot. It's unexpected, and no one sees it coming. Least of all her.
