Why didn't Max go with Jackie to Spain?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Jackie Brown
1btb — 16 years ago(July 26, 2009 02:02 PM)
What was their relationship? He risks his life to help her steal a half million dollars only to watch her walk away after she plants a big wet one on his face with full frontal body press while begging him to go with her? I don't get why he didn't go.
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Frketson — 16 years ago(July 26, 2009 03:53 PM)
I just dont get why in the movie he was talking about quitting the business, but then when she leaves he said he was staying in his Job that he doesnt even like
He must be under the effect of Lorne and Eve, too, presum presumally. -
pac52 — 16 years ago(July 31, 2009 03:50 AM)
I just dont get why in the movie he was talking about quitting the business, but then when she leaves he said he was staying in his Job that he doesnt even like
Well, that's a lot how real life is. People will talk this, that and the other thing. But when it comes down to brass tacks, they usually do what's comfortable and stay with the same old, same old. -
Ceephax — 16 years ago(August 17, 2009 09:11 PM)
True.
Also, I really don't think he could trust Jackie after seeing what she was capable of doing. When asked if he's afraid of her, he says 'a little bit'.
I think basically he was just a very lonely guy who happened to have certain things in common with Jackie, but was just a little too honest to go along with her way of life.
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Marion_C — 12 years ago(November 20, 2013 08:19 PM)
That's what's beautiful about this movie. I love it more that he didn't go with her. It fleshes out his personality of how he's just a simple bonds agent who loves her from afar.
"MALLL NOOO, JESUS CHRIST!"- Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception
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razajac — 16 years ago(August 19, 2009 12:03 AM)
Y'know what's really funny about this question? It's the idea that Tarantino tells the story this way so that a question like this gets raised!
The reasons could be psychological, or they could be tactical, from a narrative standpoint.
Think of it this way: What if Cherry had decided to run off with Brown?
If he had, it would simply have been too tidy, and the narrative artistry of the film would have been wasted.
Movies that lead the viewer to the pat, obvious, happily-ever-after romantic conclusion are a dime-a-dozen. Some of those movies pull that off very well ("How to Lose Friends" a happy case-in-point, IMHO), but happy-ending romances almost invariably wind up very unsatisfying to a true romantic. We could say (strange to think!) that Tarantino sort of cops out by going the narratively safe route of leaving Cherry stateside while Brown takes her vacation. Is there a way he could have let them develop a deep, physical, post-sting romantic connection, without it seeming sappy and cheap and obvious? I wonder!
All this could be an expression of the manly ideal that the real romance occurs in the journey, not in the arrival. It could also be that Cherry is a fundamentally noble, chivalrous guy, and Jackie is a lady to whom he pays his courtly affections. It could also be that he's a neurotic guy who just doesn't think he deserves a fine woman like Jackie; that in the end they inhabit different worlds, and can't build a nest together. Yeah, Jackie gives him a big, sexy kiss. but maybe Cherry needs a different kind of proof. What form would that proof take? -
kellski82 — 12 years ago(December 08, 2013 01:01 PM)
Whats to say he never went in the end? Maybe he didn't go right at that point in time but may of gone when he got the postcard from here with her address of where she was in Spain & spin a surprise on her. Max was a thinker as was proved when he watched how the plan went down the first time Jackie bought the 10 grand across & had to be convinced it was not going to wrong & it had a chance of working. There was no way he was just going to up sticks & leave that day without knowing & thnking it may work between them.
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LTUM — 16 years ago(September 20, 2009 08:34 AM)
rzajac
good post. good one!
you are right, i think, the romance was in the journey, not in the arrival. VERY DEEP!!
your post strikes home with me: i personally get a LOAD of poignancy every time this movie ends (once a week, haha, cause thats how often i watch it)
i get poignancy from the idea of jackie flying away and sitting on a sunny plaza in spain, sipping a cafe, enjoying her money, wearing a big sun hat and a scarf, maybe an ocean breeze blowing her hair
and max chugging away at his desk, looking out the window, wondering where she is and what she is doing, pining for her..
that's what i take from the ending. i love how he turns to the wall and folds his arms to savor the moment. -
razajac — 16 years ago(September 25, 2009 07:34 PM)
LTUM,
Exactly! I think it gives Tarantino a great deal of gratification to think there are folks like you out there who see that ending as much more romantic than a pat, feel-good ending.
I was thinking of a perfect example of a too-cozy ending; very hollow, very cold: the lousy film, "The Score". It was a poor film for lots of reasons, one of which was, at the end, there's something ultimately dissatisfying about Bassett and De Niro's characters getting their happy, snuggly little retirement at the end. It was just too tidy, too fortuitous. Very unromantic. I certainly wasn't convinced!
Although it certainly had its share of narrative weaknesses, "Diamond Men" (also w/ Forster) ended with a happy-ever-after romantic denouement that at least felt a little more organic, believable, and actually romantic. You felt happy for the couple! -
razajac — 16 years ago(October 14, 2009 08:36 PM)
Auto,
Love yr circumspection! Right on!
It's like they say: "No, art is not supposed to mirror life; it's supposed to be an enhancement of life." Max in real life is a moron. Max in art is a perhaps a subtly tragic gentleman. -
coldementia — 16 years ago(February 10, 2010 09:33 PM)
Max tells the person on the phone that he needs to go for half an hour. He is then shown walking back into his office and thinking about something. The final shot is Jackie in the car driving, but the passenger seat is never revealed. I thought this was to leave it up to us to decide if Max caught up with her or not.
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