Jackie Brown

One of the great American films of the 1990s (not to mention one of its most surprising and touching love stories), Tarantino’s L.A.-set crime thriller was adapted from a novel by the great Elmore Leonard and abounds with cinematic pleasures. The iconic Pam Grier stars as the titular flight attendant who finds herself embroiled in the schemes and machinations of a uniquely coiffed gangster (Samuel L. Jackson), his fresh-out-of-the-joint accomplice (Robert De Niro), a gum-chewing gumshoe (Michael Keaton) and a lonely bail-bondsman (Robert Forster). But Jackie’s no pushover, and the myriad ways in which she seizes control of her situation are rendered with gleeful visual style (Steadicam turns the film’s mall-set climax into a breathless heist in a house of mirrors), rapid-fire repartee, and a soul soundtrack that itself is worth the price of admission.