50 free Jackie Brown trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Jackie Brown trivia quiz covers Quentin Tarantino's 1997 film from the novel up. It asks about Elmore Leonard's Rum Punch and what Tarantino changed, the casting of Pam Grier and Robert Forster after years away from lead roles, Samuel L. Jackson's Ordell Robbie, and the plot mechanics of the money swap at the Del Amo mall. There are questions on the opening shot borrowed from The Graduate, the Coffy score, the Delfonics, the Oscar and Golden Globe nominations and the Silver Bear in Berlin. It is written for people who have seen the film more than once and want to test what they remember, from the size of Ordell's stash to which actor turned down Louis Gara. About a third of the questions are easy for anyone who has watched it, a third are medium, and the rest are for Tarantino completists. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and the interviews and production sources it cites, and each question carries the sentence that establishes it. If you think one is wrong, use the report button and we will look again.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Jackie Brown is based on which 1992 Elmore Leonard novel?
Rum Punch
It remains the only feature Tarantino has directed that is adapted from someone else's work.
Q 02Who plays the title character?
Pam Grier
It was her first lead in a major film in many years, and it earned her a Golden Globe nomination.
Q 03What is Jackie's job in the film?
Flight attendant
The job is what makes her useful to Ordell: she can carry his cash across the border in her luggage.
Q 04Samuel L. Jackson plays which character?
Ordell Robbie
Jackson has named the Los Angeles gun runner as one of his favourite roles, and it won him the Silver Bear in Berlin.
Q 05Which character does Forster, in his Oscar-nominated role, play?
Bail bondsman Max Cherry
Forster had made his screen debut in Reflections in a Golden Eye 30 years earlier; the part earned him his only Oscar nomination.
Q 06Which actor plays Louis Gara, Ordell's recently released former cellmate?
Robert De Niro
Sylvester Stallone later claimed he turned the part down.
Q 07Bridget Fonda plays Melanie Ralston, who is what to Ordell?
One of his mistresses
She tries to talk Louis into stealing the money with her, and Ordell shrugs when he hears; he never trusted her anyway.
Q 08Michael Keaton plays Ray Nicolette, an agent of which federal agency?
ATF
His LAPD partner is detective Mark Dargus; the two build the sting that Jackie turns to her own ends.
Q 09Keaton played Ray Nicolette again, uncredited, in which 1998 Elmore Leonard adaptation?
Out of Sight
Tarantino and Miramax held the rights to the character but insisted Universal not be charged for using him.
Q 10How does Ordell kill his bagman Beaumont Livingston?
He lures him into a car trunk and shoots him
Beaumont had already talked to the authorities, which is how Nicolette and Dargus know to intercept Jackie.
Q 11When Ordell comes to Jackie's apartment to kill her, she pulls a gun she stole from where?
Max Cherry's glovebox
The gun turns the visit into a negotiation: she will pretend to help the police while bringing in the rest of his money.
Q 12How much of Ordell's money is still to be smuggled in when Jackie strikes her deal with him?
$550,000
The police believe the transfer will be $50,000; Jackie plans to keep the other half million.
Q 13What cut does Jackie offer Max Cherry for helping her keep the money?
10 percent
By the end Max turns down more than money: he declines her invitation to come to Madrid.
Q 21In Elmore Leonard's novel, the heroine has a different surname and ethnicity. What was her name?
Jackie Burke
Tarantino made her Black and renamed her; Leonard called the result the best of the 26 adaptations of his work.
Q 22Besides Rum Punch, which two Leonard novels did Tarantino and Roger Avary buy the rights to after Pulp Fiction?
Freaky Deaky and Killshot
Killshot was eventually filmed in 2008 by Jackie Brown producer Lawrence Bender.
Q 23The film pays homage to two 1970s Pam Grier films whose posters and quotes it borrows. Which two?
Coffy and Foxy Brown
Q 14Where does the money swap take place?
A department store dressing room
Jackie tells Nicolette the exchange is in the food court and tells Ordell it is in the dressing room; Max collects the bag she leaves behind.
Q 15During the test run, Jackie swaps $10,000 with which of Ordell's girlfriends?
Sheronda
Max then spots a second woman swapping bags with her: Simone, whom Ordell sent as a backup mule.
Q 16Why does Ordell reluctantly send Melanie to do the final swap?
Simone has left town with the $10,000
It is a fatal choice: Melanie needles Louis about forgetting where they parked and he shoots her.
Q 17How much money is actually in the bag Jackie hands to Melanie?
$40,000
Jackie also puts $5,000 on top so the marked money the police are tracking is on Melanie.
Q 18Why does Louis shoot Melanie in the parking lot?
She mocks him for forgetting where they parked
The killing seals Louis's fate too: when Ordell learns Max was at the mall, he shoots Louis in the van.
Q 19Where is Ordell finally shot dead?
In Max Cherry's office
Nicolette, Dargus and Max's partner Winston are hiding in the back when Jackie shouts that Ordell has a gun.
Q 20At the end of the film, Jackie plans a trip to which city?
Madrid
Max declines to go with her; they kiss goodbye and he watches her drive off to Bobby Womack.
The opening-title typeface is the one used for Foxy Brown, and four cues from Roy Ayers's Coffy score are on the soundtrack.
Q 24The opening sequence of Jackie gliding through LAX recreates the opening of which 1967 film?
The Graduate
Dustin Hoffman's ride to 'The Sound of Silence' becomes Grier's walk to Bobby Womack.
Q 25Which Bobby Womack song plays over the opening credits?
Across 110th Street
The song comes from the 1972 blaxploitation film of the same name, starring Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto.
Q 26Instead of commissioning a new score, Tarantino used Roy Ayers's funk score from which film?
Coffy
Ayers's 1973 score sits alongside the Delfonics, Bill Withers and Johnny Cash on the soundtrack.
Q 27Which vocal group's 'Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)' links Jackie and Max?
The Delfonics
Their 'La-La Means I Love You' is on the soundtrack too; Max buys the cassette after hearing it at Jackie's place.
Q 28Which Johnny Cash song appears on the soundtrack?
Tennessee Stud
The Grass Roots' 'Midnight Confessions' and Bloodstone's 'Natural High' are among the other non-soul picks.
Q 29The soundtrack includes 'Long Time Woman', sung by Pam Grier herself, from which of her 1971 films?
The Big Doll House
The women-in-prison picture was made in the Philippines for Roger Corman's New World Pictures.
Q 30Grier had earlier read for which Pulp Fiction role that Tarantino decided against giving her?
Jody
Tarantino did not think audiences would believe Eric Stoltz yelling at Pam Grier.