Pam Grier Month

May is set aside to watch Pam Grier movies, as the actress has a birthday toward the end of the month. I started this many years ago as there were enough films in my collection to watch one every day. This year I've been very busy with work and other things that I've not made the time to watch a movie every night. Thursday I watch Coffy which remains one of my all time favorite Pam Grier films. Despite the 70's pimp fashions, everything else still holds up. Same issues, but we don't have women running around as vigilantes.

Last night I decided to watch Jackie Brown. The film was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino who wrote the script because he was also fascinated by Pam Grier. I don't know when he first saw Pam Grier in a film, but I was 12.

Jackie Brown is a long film so I don't watch it every year like most of the other films. I wasn't all that crazy about it the first time I saw it. Perhaps it was the big deal that Mr. Tarantino was resurrecting Miss Grier's career, but as far as I was concerned she had never really stopped working. She was doing guest appearances and had a show on cable. Besides, I had my movie collection, every article and pictures I could find. Luckily having access to industry memorabilia I didn't have to spend a lot of money.

There was something different about watching the film last night. I enjoyed it more. It had been about 10 years since I had watched it so that may have had something to do with it. I've always liked the way Tarantino wrote. His dialogue is so real. Some people do talk fast and over each other and then there are those who are just quiet. We see all of these things in Jackie Brown.

Of course in every film there are some things that don't mesh together. In Coffy we never know the characters first name. And her last name is Coffin and so she is nick named Coffy.

In Jackie Brown her hair in one scene is one way and when the camera angle changes so does the hair. It's still a fun film, but not as much blood as we've come to expect from Tarantino.
The music from the film pays homage to some of Pam Grier's older films.
A lot of the music is a part of the soundtrack to my life. The Delfonics and The Brothers Johnson.

If I get a chance I'll try to watch another of Miss Grier's films that are in the collection.