5. Jackie Brown
Easily the most underrated film in Tarantino's ouevre and also the one that most casual fans of his haven't seen, Jackie Brown is Tarantino's solitary work to be adapted directly from something else - Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name - although true to form, it's imbued with the director's signature spin on things, twisting the tale as an homage to the blaxploitation flicks of the 1970s. Pam Grier plays the titular character, a flight attendant who smuggles money from Mexico into the United States for her boss, Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson), but ends up having to play ball with the ATF once they catch her in the act. It's a fantastic and surprisingly pared-down crime thriller from Tarantino, while still gorgeously directed and boasting a wonderful cast, including Michael Keaton and Robert De Niro alongside the aforementioned. True to his nature, the director helped to revive several careers with this film, with Grier receiving a Golden Globe nomination, while Robert Forster, as Jackie's trusty, infatuated bondsman Max, was nominated for an Academy Award. It's the criminally overlooked film from Tarantino's back catalogue that, if you haven't seen it, absolutely must be seen as soon as possible.