Quentin Tarantino: Definitive Guide To Homages, Influences And References

Jackie Brown

15. Across 110th Street

Bobby Womack's "Across 110th Street" plays over the opening conveyor belt sequence. This track was originally written for the 70s Blaxploitation movie of the same name, which starred Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto. Though many blaxpoitation films were criticized at the time for being crass and unappealing, Across 110th Street was praised for surpassing the limits of the genre.

14. The Source Material Was A Lot More White

In Elmore Leonard's original novel, Jackie Brown was written as a white woman and was called Jackie Burke. Tarantino read the novel and felt that the material would make for an excellent blaxploitation movie. As a result, the novel bears little true resemblance to its source material, but still undoubtedly remains one of the better Leonard adaptations.

13. Truck Turner

Jackie Brown draws some obvious influence from Truck Turner (1974), which starred Isaac Hayes as a bounty hunter on the trail of a bail-jumping pimp. The scene in which Ordell instructs Melanie to answer the phone, and she drops it quickly saying it's for him is the most obvious reference, as it mirrors an almost identical scene in Truck Turner, and more generally speaking, both focus on bounty hunters breaking the law. The Jackie Brown soundtrack also includes the track "Truck Turner" from the Hayes-performed Ost of Truck Turner.