Life of Crime

Twenty years before JACKIE BROWN, Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara hit it off in prison, where they were both doing time for grand theft auto. Now that Louis is released, Ordell has an idea to blackmail a corrupt real estate developer in Detroit, Frank Dawson, who has millions in off-shore accounts. In comes Mickey Dawson, Frank's beautiful wife, suffering from boredom, identity crisis and an unhappy marriage while living in the wealthy Detroit suburbs. Louis and Ordell figure they kidnap Mickey, ask for a million dollars, and if Frank Dawson decides to go to the cops the kidnappers will just have to remind him of his illegal activities. What could go wrong? Mickey is kidnapped and held in the home of Richard Edgar Monk, a grotesque and moronic nazi sympathizer and gun nut. The only hitch so far is that while kidnapping Mickey, a philandering neighbor named Marshall Taylor witnesses the act while attempting to have an affair with Mickey. He's now put in the moral dilemma of admitting he was trying to have an affair and giving the police helpful information, or just riding it out and waiting to see what happens to Mickey (he chooses the latter, in an amusing subplot). More importantly, what Mickey, Louis and Ordell don't know is... Frank's just filed for divorce. Making matters worse, in comes Melanie. She's Frank's sexy and clever mistress down in the Bahamas, where Frank is holed up. She takes charge and manages to manipulate and completely disrupt the blackmail. She gives Frank the idea that maybe he doesnt want Mickey back now that the divorce is going through...What follows is an unbelievable sequence of double crosses, plot twists and violence that could only come from the mind of Elmore Leonard.