My favorite Tarantino movie, possibly by a long shot.  I was just getting everything ready to listen to the commentary (since I prefer at least having the film on in the background with the subtitles on), and from watching less than 10 seconds of it I now need to watch it again (for like the 15th time).  Thanks guys.  I do not have time for this.     See you in 5 hours....

Well, I'm back.  I've always loved this movie from literally the first second.  The very beginning of it is, weirdly enough, one of those moments that I remember really clearly from the theater.  When the Miramax M logo fell away as "Across 110th Street" started up, I was just swept up into this amazing, diffusely sad, elegaic vibe before I'd even seen an actual frame of the film.

Actually, can I ask a favor of the assembled company?  Because I have such a strong memory of that first second of seeing the movie for the first time, I cannot stand the fact that my Region B bluray doesn't start with the original theatrical Miramax logo, but rather has the modern flight-through-a-CGI-Manhattan logo.  It's got music over it.  It's part of the goddamned film.  What the hell?

Is there any bluray anywhere in the world that has the original Miramax logo at the beginning?  If there is, I will buy it.  (If you live in the land of not-America, you can't survive without a multiregion bluray player.)  For reference, and proof that the internet has everything, if you go over to the Closing Logo Group's wiki page for Miramax, the one I'm talking about is the 3rd logo.

Anyway, as it turns out, I don't really have much to say in detail.  I'm pretty much on the same wavelength as Dorkman in terms of what I like about it and why, probably just more so (like I say, this is one of my favorite films).  I love the characters, and the sort of world-weariness of the Max/Jackie relationship.  I love the dialogue.  I love the pace, and the way he lingers on people so that you can watch expressions play across their faces.  And the end is just unbelievably affecting, with Robert Forster going out of focus a brilliant sympathetic touch.  (I always assumed that he was turning her down permanently, that in contrast to her he just doesn't quite have the courage to make the leap.) 

So really just a few random odds and ends to throw out.

In terms of why it didn't do well, I always think of an interview I read with a band talking about why their second album didn't do as well as their first, with the result that they got dropped from their label.  They said "the problem was that we made our fifth album instead of our second album".  That to me sums up why people didn't respond to it.  If QT had made a few more cartoons and then this, it would be a lot better regarded I think. 

Having said that though, in terms of commercial success, a quick look at Box Office Mojo turns up the fact that Jackie Brown made about 3.5 times its budget back at the domestic box office.  Made for 12m, as I think Trey says, and made back just a hair under 40m.  That's a better ratio than Reservoir Dogs, Inglourious Basterds or Django, and not hugely far off Kill Bill (which is about 4.5x)

On the subject of foot fetishism, funnily enough there are serious neurological proposals about that one.  Basically, if you look at the part of the brain that processes the sense of touch, there's a sensory 'map' which is more or less laid out in the shape of the human body itself, just upside-down.  So the area for the feet is on top, moving down through the area that covers the torso under that, and then the area for the mouth at the bottom.  The one exception is the area for the genitals, which is next to the feet on top.  And the theory is that foot fetishism is due to electrical/neurological 'cross-talk' between these two areas. 

As to why Max Cherry sort of acknowledges Louis when sees him in the department store, I always thought that had to be part of Jackie's plan.  Max as a bail-bondsman must have tons of experience following people and staying out of sight (like when he has to recapture someone who's jumped bail), and from the way it's shot during 'his' version of the exchange, it does look like he sees Louis and Melanie before they see him. 

So why would he want Louis to see him?  I assumed this was part of setting up Jackie's endgame with Ordell.  Her story is going to be "I was always trying to keep your money safe.  I was never trying to rip you off", since she knows it'll take Ordell only about 30 seconds to realize that she's got his money.  And Louis and Melanie seeing Max kind of giving them the high sign could be used as evidence later that she had nothing to hide.  Not only doesn't she care that they saw Max there, Max went out of his way to draw their attention to it.  Obviously though the real intention is for it to play out as it does in the film, with Ray killing Ordell for her when he comes to get the money. 

Last and least, does anybody really like Orange Julius?  That stuff always seemed totally disgusting.

Not to be a grouch or anything, but this is probably the least memorable of Tarantino's films for me. The only things I recall are Jackson's AK47 sell and DeNiro (?) turning around and shooting a nagging Bridget Fonda in a car park.

I should probably watch again and see if I'm more receptible to it as an adult.

As far as least favorites go for tara n. tino, each new movie he makes goes to the top of the list, always disappoints and then gets applauded to no end, I know he's got his detractors and I never want to be one, but here I am.  I'll see everyone of his movies, bad tara is better than most.  And if I had to list them, from worst to best (and worst meaning felt no inspiration, seldom humor (oh how his humor gets obnoxious, he might as well tickle my ear with his dick while the fucking movie is playing), and the worst feeling to feel after a flick...the "meh")  Deathproof, tie for Django Unchained and Inglorious Bastards, Kill William Vol. 1, Kill William Vol. 2, Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, and Duh Fiction...now, his writing credits that I wished he had directed would have been in between JB and Pulp Fiction, and who knows, but From Dusk Til Dawn and True Romance (also his explanation of the audiences' perspective as the story unfolds on the commentary for TR really made me respect the guy a whole hell of a lot more).  JB is still a great little flick, but it's where I have a problem with tara, the constant fall back or full endorsement of doing the "style homages" as Byshop said.  Pulp Fiction was based on old noir conundrums and characters, and whether you know that or not it is immensely enjoyable, JB on the other hand, doesn't have the script to back it up.  It's tara in deathproof territory doing whatever he wants, and he's that good that even when he misses it hits many marks.

No mention of De Niro in Brazil?