''Rum Punch'' is a 1992 novel written by Elmore Leonard. The novel was adapted into the film ''

Jackie Brown ''Jackie Brown'' is a 1997 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, based on Elmore Leonard's 1992 novel '' Rum Punch.'' It stars Pam Grier as Jackie Brown, a flight attendant who is caught smuggling money. Samuel L. Jac ...

'' (1997) by director

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...

. The characters Ordell Robbie, Louis Gara and Melanie Ralston first appeared in Leonard's novel ''The Switch'', which itself has also been adapted as a film, '' Life of Crime'', first shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, with Robbie played by

Mos Def Yasiin Bey (; born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), previously and more commonly known by his stage name Mos Def (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. His hip hop career began in 1994, alongside his siblings in the s ...

and Gara portrayed by John Hawkes.

Plot

Set in the South Florida cities of

West Palm Beach West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, ''Rum Punch'' follows Jackie Burke, a forty-four-year-old

stewardess A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

for a bottom-rung airline, who has been smuggling illegal cash into the U.S. from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

for small-time gunrunner and aspiring crime boss Ordell Robbie. When U.S. agents arrest Jackie after catching her smuggling this "dirty money", they use the threat of prison and job loss to pressure her into acting as bait in their plan to catch Ordell. Upon learning of this, Ordell pressures Jackie into intentionally misleading and stalling the police long enough for her to smuggle the remainder of his "retirement score" money into the U.S. Hopelessly caught between two no-win scenarios, both dooming her to lifelong poverty (since she's too old to start over again), a desperate Jackie devises a secret, risky plan of her own to double-cross Ordell and the police, save herself, and secure her future. To execute this plan, Jackie must enlist the help of Max Cherry—the same bail bondsman Ordell hired to get Jackie out of jail. Louis Gara, Ordell's longtime criminal associate works for Cherry and becomes involved in the gun running.

References

External links

''Rum Punch''
a
ElmoreLeonard.com
{{Elmore Leonard 1992 American novels Neo-noir novels Novels by Elmore Leonard American novels adapted into films Novels set in Florida West Palm Beach, Florida Novels set in Miami