Also, I'm ready to move on to other things, and I've got a lot of catching up to do as it is with the stuff I've been watching aside from the QT films. I can't imagine anyone having any complaints about this, as this will mark my 15th article in this series, which is long enough as it is! Anyway, for that reason I will keep my remarks on why I ranked which film in what position to a minimum. I'm sure you'll understand, especially as I've made it pretty clear along the way how I feel about each of QT's films. Thanks, as ever, for reading!
So, without further ado, I bring you the final installment of my review of Quentin Tarantino's career to date, with a look at his latest film...
After the moderate success of The Hateful Eight- which, while a bit of a come down from the career highs of Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, was still a modest success, particularly overseas- Quentin Tarantino took his customary time off to plot his next move. Once again, he seriously considered opting to write a novel instead of a movie, but, as had happened several times before, his material would eventually develop into a screenplay instead.
The idea was to write a story set in the final years of Hollywood's Golden age, just before things started to completely change in a variety of radical ways, particularly in the wake of a new style of filmmaking that caught Hollywood off-guard, i.e. the post-French New Wave approach that led to more avant-garde films like Easy Rider and Bonnie & Clyde.
This would also directly lead to a younger-skewing breed of filmmakers all but taking over Hollywood, such as Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas- as well as foreign upstarts like a certain Roman Polanski- changing the city's vibe considerably and directly leading to the so-called "New Hollywood" or the "Hollywood New Wave" in the late-60's-early-70's and the rise of the age of the blockbuster in the mid-to-late-70's, which began in earnest with Jaws and Star Wars.
Further, if you factor in the horrific reaction to the Manson murders, which had a profound effect on L.A. specifically- but really, on America as a whole, signaling the end of the Sixties in more ways than one- it was truly a time of monumental change, with the murder at Altamont serving to put the final nail into that particular coffin. After those two incidents, nothing in Hollywood would ever quite be the same- and no one would look at the hippie generation quite the same, either.
Somewhat ironically, the epic love-fest that was the Woodstock music festival, considered the peak of the hippie movement, took place right in between both events. The first Manson-related murder happened in July of '69, with the Tate murder taking place in early August, right before Woodstock in the same month; while the Altamont rock concert, in which a young man was murdered and various others died, happened in December.
You win some, you lose some, I guess. The 30th Year anniversary concert, Woodstock '99, however, would have slotted in perfectly between those notorious events, given the horrific things that went down there- like they say, you can't go home again. That hasn't stopped them from trying, again and again, of course.
Perhaps needless to say, when word got around that Tarantino was making a film about the Manson murders, controversy followed shortly thereafter, especially from the sister of the late Sharon Tate, who didn't take kindly to yet another filmmaker tackling her sister's grisly murder, least of all one with Tarantino's violent reputation, to say nothing of his high profile. Who can blame her, given the endless amount of airtime given to dredging up that incident time and again on television, to say nothing of in other movies?
Indeed, I was a bit dubious myself, simply because, why go down that road yet again, with so many people having tread that ground so many times before? And that includes recently, with such projects as the TV show Aquarius (interestingly, the same actress that portrayed Manson Family member Patricia "Katie" Krenwinkel, Madisen Beaty, also plays her in this film) and the movies Charlie Says, Manson's Lost Girls and The Haunting of Sharon Tate being made just in the last couple of years alone. Honestly, I wasn't sure what even someone as talented as Tarantino could bring to the table that was new, in light of all the other stuff out there.
However, leave it to QT to find a new angle no one ever thought of, which is how he not only got the blessing of Debra Tate, Sharon's sister, but immediately started a clamoring in Hollywood over who would play the various roles in the tale QT had chosen to tell, with Margot Robbie being eyed to play Sharon Tate, while Brad Pitt was rumored to be in talks to play the detective hunting down Manson and Tom Cruise and Jennifer Lawrence were reportedly up for other key, unnamed roles.
Though Pitt would indeed end up being part of the project, early reports of what it was about, precisely, proved to be somewhat false, especially with no one having actually read the screenplay in question, leading to a lot of off-the-cuff speculation about what the story-line was really about, most of which would prove wrong.
In addition, this particular point in time for Tarantino was fraught with change, thanks to the systematic dismantling of the Weinstein empire, which fell apart in the wake of Harvey Weinstein's sexual assault charges, and which he is still fighting in court at the time of this article. Hopefully, justice will prevail- and I don't mean for Weinstein, given the near-overwhelming evidence against him. I'm not sure we could take another Brett Cavanaugh scenario, especially in the current social climate.
Tarantino himself took some hits, thanks in part to accusations that he knew more than he let on and didn't do anything about it (one of Weinstein's accusers was his ex, actress Mira Sorvino), a charge leveled at many of the regular employees of Weinstein's various film companies, especially by the women involved, who knew better, such as Gwyneth Paltrow, who was involved with Brad Pitt back when her incident occurred- and by all accounts, he was none too happy about it, almost turning down QT's Inglourious Basterds over his distaste for the producer.
Also, as I detailed in my take on Kill Bill, Tarantino had to deal with the fallout from revelations that he played a part in a disastrous stunt-gone-wrong on the set of that film involving actress Uma Thurman, which the Weinsteins reportedly sought to cover up without QT's knowledge, as well as disturbing accusations of Tarantino mistreating the women in some of his movies, a charge he has strenuously denied. (You can read more about all of this here.)
To that end, Tarantino wasted no time in distancing himself from the Weinsteins, opting to instead sell his next project to the highest bidder. Somewhat ironically, Sony emerged the victor, the company which had earlier dropped Tarantino's Pulp Fiction from its Tri-Star production company after deciding it was too violent and controversial. Needless to say, they weren't too happy when the resulting film became the talk of the town and went on to gross over $200 million at the box office and win an Oscar for Best Screenplay. Whoops!
They obviously had no such qualms about this screenplay, in spite of its inherently controversial source material and QT's demands, which included the ever-popular final cut, a just-under $100 million production budget, a 25% cut of the first-dollar gross (which meant he gets paid from the first ticket sold, not after the film turns a profit) and that the rights to the film would return to him after a specific amount of time had passed- roughly 10-20 years. With that problem solved, Tarantino set about casting the film in earnest.
In addition to getting a firm commitment from Pitt, Tarantino also landed his dream choice for the role of Sharon Tate, Margot Robbie- reportedly his first and only choice- and managed to get Leonardo DiCaprio, who hadn't made a film since his Oscar-winning turn in The Revenant, back in 2015, to come aboard. Contrary to initial reports of his playing a detective, the script had Pitt playing a stunt man, Cliff Booth, to DiCaprio's fading Hollywood action star, Rick Dalton. It also came out that the Manson murders would be part of the backdrop to the story at hand, not the focus.
Nonetheless, stars lined up for a crack at the astonishing array of roles the film offered. Time and reasonable space won't permit a complete rundown, but I'll address some of my favorites. As always, Tarantino has included some of his favorite past cast members to take part in the fun, including Kurt Russell as- wait for it- a stunt man, in an obvious nod to his Death Proof role. In an amusingly ironic twist, his wife, a stunt coordinator, is played by Zoë Bell, who played one of his would-be victims in the same film.
Bell is also the actual stunt coordinator on the film itself, and Russell also serves as a narrator for the film, notably in a funny mid-picture bit that covers the space of time after the film begins in February of 1969, and when it concludes, in the period leading up to the Tate murder, during which time Dalton makes several movies in Italy, which Russell details the specifics of in wry fashion.
One of the fictional movies is "directed" by Antonio Margheriti, the real-life director previously referenced as Donny Donowitz' undercover name in Inglourious Basterds and another character played by DiCaprio in one of the films boasts an eye patch, a la Russell's famed "Snake" Plissken role. Note also in the picture directly above, the double-reference to Italian horror directors Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci, with the film poster in the vein of Fulci's The New York Ripper.
Needless to say, the film is filled to the brim with old Hollywood references, as well as in-jokes tied into other QT movies, such as an ad for Red Apple Cigarettes, and Pitt tooling around in Michael Madsen's Cadillac from Reservoir Dogs- also Madsen's actual car. Madsen himself has a cameo as well as an actor in one of Dalton's westerns.
In addition, there's also cameos by Bruce Dern (as George Spahn, a role intended for Burt Reynolds, who passed away before he could shoot it), James Remar (also as an actor in one of Dalton's westerns) and none other than B.B. herself, Kill Bill's Perla Haney-Jardine, all grown up, playing a hippie chick that sells Pitt's Booth character an acid-dipped cigarette that figures heavily in the film's trippy finale.
Newcomers to the fold include, as the "good" guys and girls: Emile Hirsch (The Girl Next Door, Into the Wild) as Jay Sebring, Sharon Tate's ex-boyfriend, and Samantha Robinson (The Love Witch, Cam) as Abigail Folger, heiress of the Folgers' coffee empire, who were both at Sharon's on the night of the murders; Rafał Zawierucha (Gods, Jack Strong) as director Roman Polanski, Tate's husband, who wasn't, obviously, being still with us, for better or for worse; Damian Lewis (Homeland, Billions) as a spot-on Steve McQueen; and Mike Moh (Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist) as the legendary Bruce Lee (whose portrayal in the film some people aren't happy about- I didn't have a problem with it, personally).
There's also Lorenza Izzo (aka director Eli Roth's ex-wife, from his Green Inferno and Knock Knock) as Dalton's wife and Rebecca Gayheart as Cliff's late wife, who died under pseudo-Natalie Wood-ish circumstances, leading some to believe he killed her; Timothy Olyphant (TV's Deadwood, Justified) as Dalton's co-star, James Stacy (based on the real-life actor of the same name) in his current project, Lancer; the scene-stealing Julia Butters (TV's American Housewife) as Dalton's diminutive, wise-beyond-her-years Lancer co-star; Scoot McNairy (Halt and Catch Fire- he also co-starred with Pitt in Killing Me Softly) as another Lancer co-star; and Bruce Willis' daughter, Rumer Willis (The House Bunny, Sorority Row) as Joanna Pettet, another character based on a real actor.
Meanwhile, on the "bad" guys and girls' side, we have the man himself, Charlie, played by Damon Herriman, of Justified fame, who will also play Manson in the Netflix TV show Mindhunters, which comes out this weekend; and, as various members of the Manson "Family", there's Austin Butler (The Carrie Diaries, The Shannara Chronicles) as Charles "Tex" Watson, Lena Dunham (Girls) as Catherine "Gypsy" Share, Mikey Madison (Better Things) as Susan "Sexy Sadie" Atkins, and Maya Hawke (aka Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke's daughter, of Stranger Things S3 fame) as Linda "Flower Child" Kasabian.
The list goes on with Victoria Pedretti (You, The Haunting of Hill House) as Leslie "Lulu" Van Houten, Sydney Sweeney (Sharp Objects, Euphoria) as Dianne "Snake" Lake, Harley Quinn Smith (daughter of Kevin, from his films Tusk and Yoga Hosers) as "Froggie," Scream Queen legend Danielle Harris (Halloween 4-5, Rob Zombie's Halloween films) as "Angel," and sisters Kansas (a writer/director/producer best-known for the Troma film B.C. Butcher) and Parker Love Bowling (Absolute Vow) as, respectively, Sandra "Blue" Good and Tadpole.
In slightly bigger roles, we have the adorable Margaret Qualley as "Pussycat," modeled primarily after Manson Family member Ruth Ann Moorehouse. Qualley, the daughter of star actress Andie MacDowell, of Groundhog Day and Four Weddings and a Funeral fame (the latter of which role she is currently reprising in the Hulu series of the same name), first tried her hand- or rather, her feet- at being a ballerina, before changing her mind and switching to modeling as a teenager, in spite of some sizable success in her former chosen field.
Later, she switched gears yet again and turned to acting, enrolling in the prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art summer program in London, and attending college at NYU afterwards. She made her motion picture debut in Gia Coppola's Palo Alto at 19, then landed a plum role in the cult hit HBO series The Leftovers, which she starred in for its entire three-season run.
Other notable credits include: the excellent, underrated The Nice Guys, Novitiate, The Vanishing of Sidney Hall, Death Note, Donnybrook, IO, Native Son, Adam, Strange But True, Seberg, My Salinger Year and the acclaimed FX miniseries Fosse/Verdon, for which she just received an Emmy nomination for playing real-life dancer Ann Reinking, of All That Jazz and Annie fame.
She's just fantastic in Hollywood, ably holding her own alongside Brad Pitt, sometimes living up to her character's name, and other times coming off as more of a tigress. That she can flip from one to the other without breaking a sweat is a testament to her inherent ability as an actress- she may look like she weighs about 70 pounds soaking wet, but damn, is she fierce when the role calls for it. I'll say this: I wouldn't want to be on Pussycat's bad side.
Ditto Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, as played by former child star Dakota Fanning. Fromme didn't take part in any of the murders, but later made a name for herself when she tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975. Remarkably, she has since gotten out on parole, which is more than can be said for the surviving members of the Manson Family who also went to prison.
Of course, technically, she didn't succeed, so she didn't kill anyone. In fact, she never even fired the gun she had, and was tackled by the Secret Service before she had a chance to use it. Still, she went to jail for 34 years, no small amount of time, to be sure. Her life is an intriguing one, for sure, and well-worth a read on Wikipedia.
Fanning is, of course, the pre-naturally gifted child star known for such films as I Am Sam, for which she became the youngest actress ever to receive a SAG nomination at the ripe old age of 7, and won a slew of other awards for her performance. She might well be the most gifted actress of her generation, quite frankly, and has been remarkably consistent in her performances and her often offbeat choices, even if the films themselves weren't huge hits- but quite a few of them were just that.
Notable roles include: Trapped, Sweet Home Alabama, Uptown Girls, The Cat in the Hat, Man on Fire, Hide and Seek (with Jackie Brown star Robert De Niro), Dreamer (also with Kurt Russell), War of the Worlds, Charlotte's Web, Hounddog, The Secret Life of Bees, Push, The Twilight Saga (3 out of the 5 films), The Runaways, The Motel Life (also with Hirsch), Night Moves, The Last of Robin Hood, Very Good Girls, Effie Gray, Every Secret Thing, The Benefactor, Brimstone, American Pastoral (very underrated), Please Stand By, Ocean's 8 and the TV miniseries Taken (not the one with Liam Neeson, the one about aliens) and The Alienist, both of which were nominated for multiple Emmys, with the former winning Best Miniseries.
Believe it or not, there's more where that came from (it is a near-three-hour movie, after all), including acting legend Al Pacino- I'm guessing I don't need to list HIS credits, lol- working with Tarantino for the first time. Interestingly, Pacino dated the mother (Lucila Polak) of co-star Leonardo DiCaprio's current girlfriend (Camila Morrone) for over ten years, who considers him her stepfather, though the two never married.
This is also the first time the two actors have worked together, and by all accounts, it was a good time, as Pacino plays DiCaprio's character Dalton's agent, and a Hollywood producer that talks DiCaprio into working overseas to help revive his career. The two certainly look to be having fun in the film, though their characters' relationship is a bit contentious.
The film is also notable for being actor Luke Perry's final film. Perry, was, of course, the star of the recently-revived Beverly Hills 90210, but was already experiencing a career resurgence, thanks to his starring role as Archie's father on the CW show Riverdale. It's too bad he didn't get to take part in the 90210 reunion before he died, but at least he got a nice send-off with his small role here, which is a lot of fun. He plays an actor working with Dalton on a Western he's shooting, with a decidedly colorful look- and a cane.
As you might have gathered, that's quite a cast, and the film is a lot to take in. And yet, as sprawling as it might be, it's never quite overwhelming. If anything, I'd characterize it as more leisurely than most of Tarantino's films, but in a much better way than, say, The Hateful Eight. In other words, the film takes its time, but it never quite drags, per se. There's a newfound maturity that was hinted at in prior films, but really comes to the forefront here.
It's also, by Tarantino's own admission, the most personal thing he's done since True Romance, which, of course, he didn't direct himself. As such, there's a wide-eyed wonder and sense of nostalgia that permeates the atmosphere of the film that isn't as present in his other films. We feel like we're seeing all this at the same time as Tarantino, and that's a pretty neat trick.
Of course, for many of us, who weren't alive back in the 60's, we really are seeing it for the first time, save for in the movies and TV shows made or set in that period that we might have seen before. But this has a new-ness to it that I can't quite recall having seen done in this precise way. It actually kind of reminded me of George Lucas' classic movie American Graffiti- my personal favorite of his work, if I'm being honest- down to the non-stop, mostly radio-driven oldies soundtrack (which includes era-appropriate ads and DJs, a la Graffiti) and the near-fetishistic representation of old Hollywood seen in all the period cars, clothes, movie posters and overall surroundings that QT clearly went to pains to recreate.
Tarantino would have been in his single digits when he first came to L.A. as a kid in the late 60's, and you can tell from the way he portrays it here that it had a profound impact on him. It's clear that those early visits made him want to work in the industry from a very early age, and he obviously did his research, in terms of bringing it back to life for this movie. More than any movie I can think of in recent years, this one really nails the vibe of the late 60's in L.A., to the point where it seems less like a movie and more like a documentary, down to the occasional narration.
Of course, as with Inglourious Basterds- the closest thing to this film in QT's oeuvre overall- this is because the film is grounded in reality. With the exception of Pitt and DiCaprio's characters, which are fictional- though even they are inspired by several other real-life actors, notably the relationship between star Burt Reynolds and his stuntman/occasional director Hal Needham- most of the characters here are based on real people and real events. However, this being Tarantino, he can't help but mischievously tweak things more to his liking, a la Basterds, so don't go in expecting the gospel truth, as it were.
That said, I loved the things that probably were pretty close to being true. Despite all the grumbling about star Margot Robbie not having much to do here, one of my favorite scenes in the film is when we spend the day with her Sharon Tate as she does a little shopping- including picking up the first edition of a book she loves, Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles, for her husband, Roman Polanski, who would later direct a film adaptation of the book and dedicate it to her- and takes in a screening of her latest film, The Wrecking Crew.
It's just plain endearing to watch Robbie as Tate watching herself in actual clips of the film where Tate is actually played by Tate herself, rather than being recreated by Tarantino for the film. As she mouths the dialogue and mimes the karate chops (taught to her by Bruce Lee himself, as seen in flashbacks) of her character, she is absolutely delighted by it all, and we, as the viewer, are fully charmed by that. This isn't an egotistical, self-involved actress reveling in her success, it's a lucky girl on the verge of stardom that is thrilled to see herself on the silver screen.
Tarantino said he wanted Tate to come across like angelic presence, and boy, does she ever. No wonder her sister, Debra, gave the movie her blessing- she even let Robbie borrow some of Sharon's jewelry- no portrayal of her prior to this has ever seemed more human, more thrillingly alive and endearing. Typically, Tate's used as a symbol- the death of the Swinging Sixties- here, she's more of representation of the innocence of the times. With her brutal death, the Free Love Generation would come crashing down, giving way to the grittier vibe of the 70's, but Tarantino wants us to see her as she was- just a normal girl who made it big, delighted to see herself in a big-time Hollywood movie.
It's probably a far cry from what people expected from a Tarantino "Manson movie," and fair warning, the Manson stuff is a mere backdrop, not the main focus. Manson himself figures into exactly one scene, and it relegates him completely to the sidelines thereafter. TBH, as he should be. As a society, we have a bad habit of remembering the perpetrators, instead of the victims. Don't go in expecting Manson to be the center of attention, as in most versions of the lurid tale- here, he's reduced to a cameo in the story, because it's not really his story.
We actually spend more time with his so-called "Family" than Manson himself- in another great scene, we accompany Pitt's character, Cliff, as he gives Pussycat, a Manson Family member, a ride back to the Spahn ranch, which used to be a go-to movie set for Westerns. Cliff, in fact, had worked there before as a stuntman, and is delighted to go back and perhaps pay a visit to George Spahn, the man who owns the ranch in question.
The chatter between he and Pussycat is charming at first, but then darkness starts to peer through, as she offers sexual favors, in exchange for the ride. Wary, Cliff asks her age, which she is genuinely surprised by- "You're the first one to ever ask me that," she says, which says a lot about how she's been existing since who knows how long, and we immediately get how she's been doing that, and it isn't relying on the "kindness of strangers," that's for sure.
Things get even darker when the two arrive and it becomes readily apparent that all is not what it seems at Spahn ranch. We've all heard about the hippie ideal of free love and living off the earth and so forth. This scene actually plays more like one out of a horror movie- specifically a zombie flick. As Pussycat shows Cliff around, suggesting he might be a great "addition" to their "family," the others are more wary and start to gather in clumps around the spectacle.
By the end of the scene, things have very nearly reached a fever pitch and we legitimately fear for Cliff's safety. Thankfully, as a stuntman, Cliff can ably take care of himself, and is able to get the fuck out of dodge before things get hairier than Pussycat's armpits. Watching the shiny happy facade peel away from Pussycat's outward persona to reveal the snarling wild, untamed cat underneath is jarring, and Qualley is nothing short of magnificent in the role, going from charming to crazy without missing a beat. So is Pitt, as he goes from charmed to alarmed.
Indeed, both Pitt and DiCaprio are Oscar-worthy here (to say nothing of Qualley), with DiCaprio's big moment coming as he flubs a line while shooting his latest project. Flipping out afterwards in his trailer, in a scene that was basically ad-libbed- a rarity in a Tarantino film, where the script is typically God- we see Dalton's cool demeanor crumble as he worries that his days as a star are numbered. We also get a glimpse of that earlier, when he bursts into tears after a meeting with his agent (Pacino), in which he is basically told he needs to literally shape up and ship out to Italy, if he wants save his flailing career.
As you might have guessed, the film is mostly about the real selves lurking underneath the ones we present to the world. Pitt's Cliff also seems like a cool customer, and for the most part, he is, but deep down, he's also worried what the future holds, too. After all, without Dalton, what is his role in the world? When that is threatened, later on in the film, like a caged animal, he strikes out at whoever is around, but at the same time, he also is reduced to tears of laughter at the absurdity of it all.
This film is about what happens when those calm, cool, collected outward appearances come crashing down and we see what's really left, and it often isn't pretty. Save, of course, Sharon Tate, whose angelic demeanor remains fully intact. And yet, it's clear that Tarantino loves all of these characters, and isn't above giving them a happy ending- or at least, some of them, obviously, given the scenario- which is perhaps a step forward by his standards, where most of his films end in death and destruction and few left standing.
Basically, Once Upon a Time marries the deceptively breezy tone of Pulp Fiction to the alternate history- and histrionics- of Basterds for a worthy concoction that goes down better than one of Madsen's sloppy margaritas in Kill Bill- or perhaps better than one of those Old Chattanooga beers Cliff likes so much. Certainly better than that iffy-looking dog food, Wolf's Tooth. (BTW, both of the latter are "new" QT inventions, a la Red Apple cigarettes and Big Kahuna burgers.)
And there are some fantastic moments in this movie, from the clips of Dalton's acting endeavors (including inserting him into The Great Escape via CGI), the amusing montage of Dalton's Italian summer movie-making vacation, to the bonkers, slaughter-ific, expectedly violent finale, which is probably not what you're expecting. (The less you know, the better.)
The cast is superb, the soundtrack is, as ever, one of the stars of the movie (especially loved the use of one of my favorite songs, The Mama and the Papas' "12:30" and the Manhunter-esque use of Vanilla Fudge's "You Keep Me Hanging On" in the end sequence), and big props to Brandy, the scene-stealing pit bull buddy of Pitt's Cliff, in what is likely to be the canine performance of the year. Suck it, The Art of Racing in the Rain!
Reportedly, the initial cut ran some four hours long- for once, I'd actually like to see that version, especially since certain things got excised that sound fascinating, like Tim Roth as a butler (he still gets a prominent place in the credits, even though he's not even in it- a loyal one, that QT), Danny Strong (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Dean Martin and James Marsden (Westworld) as Burt Reynolds! Word is that Tarantino will release the extended version via Netflix, a la the "miniseries" version of The Hateful Eight.
What remains is a concise, razor-sharp distillation of a certain time and place in history that ranks among Tarantino's best, and I can't recommend it enough, especially for Tarantino fans. But really, this may be the most accessible he's been since Jackie Brown, overall, which bodes well for his future endeavors, even if, as he claims, he's only doing one more movie before he "retires." We'll see.
Speaking of which, I promised you a ranking of QT's work to date when I was done, so here goes, with brief commentary on my thought process. Keep in mind, this is MY personal ranking- yours may vary.
16. My Best Friend's Birthday- A hard one to judge, as it is an unfinished work, but an easy one to rank, for the same reason. A lot of what became QT's trademarks start here, but, like most first efforts, it's crudely made and executed. Still, it's a must for hardcore fans.
15. Four Rooms- "The Man from Hollywood"- The very definition of slight- a half-assed remake of an old Twilight Zone episode- this is Ground Zero for why Tarantino started to get on people's nerves. He's front and center in the anthology segment, and a little of his "character" goes a long way. Bruce Willis sleepwalks his way through it and Jennifer Beals only shows up long enough to brandish her feet. It's the peak of QT's self-indulgence, but thankfully, he reined it in considerably after this.
14. ER- "Motherhood"- Solid, if unspectacular, TV effort from Tarantino, hot on the heels of his first big hit, Pulp Fiction. Has some fun moments for QT fans, some inventive direction here and there- though some of it is show-offy- but it's mostly only for fans of the show. The performances are all great across the board, though. It's still worth a one-time watch for QT fans, though I wouldn't go too far out of my way to see it.
13. The Hateful Eight- I almost ranked this one higher, as I did enjoy it more this time around, but ultimately, it's too long, even in its non-Netflix incarnation, with a story that doesn't really justify it. It's impeccably acted and shot and looks great, and there's a maturity to it that some of QT's other efforts lack, but I just plain like everything else from here on out on the list better. Also, the mystery isn't that great.
12. From Dusk till Dawn- I was tempted to place his "CSI' episode here, but I ultimately decided to go with this one. As with Four Rooms, it's pretty self-indulgent, and hasn't aged particularly well, unlike some of his other 90's efforts. It's a fun flick, to be sure, but it's also very stagy and more of a popcorn movie than anything else.
Nothing wrong with that certainly, and it played like gangbusters with a live audience, but yeah, it's nowhere near one of QT's best- though it might rank higher for director Robert Rodriguez. I do like its hybrid structure, though, and some of the dialogue is great, as per usual, as are the action set-pieces.
11. CSI- "Grave Danger"- Honestly, I kind of wanted to rank this one higher, I enjoyed it so much, and it reminded me of how much I used to love "CSI," which is sadly, no longer with us, at least in any non-syndicated form, which is too bad. I always thought that, like "Law & Order" and "The Simpsons," it would probably still be around when I'm old and gray.
This was a nice reminder of how good the show was at its peak. Ultimately, I downgraded it for essentially just being a variation of a Kill Bill plot-point, albeit a really entertaining one, with a great cast and inventive direction, as always.
10. Inglourious Basterds- As we head into the Top 10, I would have thought this one would rank higher, but in the end, it just didn't grab me the way that the others did on re-watching. Unlike other QT films, which reward multiple viewings, you basically get the gist of this one the first time around. That said, the opening scene is a grabber, and one of QT's best sequences in a film ever, and the cast is fantastic. I'm just not much for war movies, fantasy-driven or otherwise.
9. Death Proof- The real shocker of the bunch, I was legitimately surprised how much I dug this one in retrospect. If anything, it's probably the one I was most taken aback by. It undeniably has a lot to do with seeing it post-the-MeToo/Time'sUp movements, which helped to give it a zing it just didn't have in the party-happy era in which it was initially released (for me personally, not the times in general- as in I was partying a lot at the time).
Now that I watched it in a more clear-eyed state, even if the state in which I live could use a little Visine (that would be directed at you, Alabama), I really enjoyed it as the postmodern feminist slasher it was intended as, more-or-less.
8. Reservoir Dogs- Tarantino's debut still holds up well, in spite of his not quite having his tone down pat just yet. Some of it is a little jarring in retrospect, i.e. the use of the "N-word," which plays much better in the likes of Django Unchained, for perhaps obvious reasons; and the casual misogyny hasn't aged well, but overall, it's still a classic, with a memorable soundtrack (with especially great use of "Stuck in the Middle with You," but of course), a fantastic ensemble cast and lots of quotable dialogue. I think even Tarantino would allow that it could afford to be tweaked here and there, plot-wise, but this heist movie in which the heist is never seen is still pretty riveting.
7. Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood- Obviously, this was the hardest to rank, as I've only seen it twice and it hasn't really had a lot of time to sink in yet. Still, if anything, in time it might actually rank higher. As it stands, it's pretty damn good, if not one of QT's best, and a definite step up from The Hateful Eight, which left me cold for the most part. The cast is to die for, it's jam-packed with memorable moments, and that ending is something. It also has what is easily one of his best soundtracks, at least for me, personally. I just loved it.
6. Django Unchained- I'm not a big Western or War movie guy- hence my low ranking of Hateful Eight and Basterds- but damned if this one didn't just charm the pants off of me. It played amazingly well with a crowd, given the potentially inflammatory material, but like Blazing Saddles before it, sometimes it all comes down to nailing that tone, which QT does masterfully here.
The key is treating the more unpleasant material- the stuff revolving around the mistreatment of slaves (and slavery, period)- with proper, weighty respect, and making sure the audience gets you're making fun of the right things- namely, the clueless racist assholes that owned slaves or believed that African-Americans were somehow "less than" whites. As with Death Proof, this one played even better in retrospect, given our current socio-political climate.
5. True Romance- I should probably have ranked this one lower, but I've got to say, this is the one I probably relate to the most, and until he made Hollywood, the film that QT often cited as his most personal- and it shows. What geeky fanboy can't relate to a wish fulfillment tale of a comic book nerd that breaks bad after meeting the girl of his dreams and just wants to have his happily ever after, by any means necessary?
This one is just filled to the brim with memorable scenarios, dialogue, and though the soundtrack hits a few bum notes here and there, mostly well-chosen pop songs along the way, and a great score by Hans Zimmer. It's basically QT's version of Wild at Heart and I LOVE that movie, so...
4. Natural Born Killers- Likewise, I should probably rank this one lower, especially as QT has practically disowned it, and it essentially plays more like an Oliver Stone movie, rather than a Tarantino one. But damned if I don't just love it, and it never gets old for me, thanks to all those candy-colored, ADD-addled visuals that ensure you see something new every time you see it again.
Hell, if anything, I would have ranked it higher if Tarantino actually directed it. The cast is just great and this may well be the most quotable of all of QT's stuff- and that's saying something. It may not technically be a Tarantino movie, but it's damn sure Stone's tour de force of filmmaking, and it brought Tarantino to his most signature cinematographer to date, Robert Richardson, so there's that.
3. Jackie Brown- The biggest surprise of the bunch, this one went from one of my least favorite QT films to one of his best for me this time around. It's self-assured, mature, and it holds up better than almost any other film in his catalogue- tonally, and maturity-wise, only Hollywood has the same qualities.
Not only does it get better with age in retrospect, I relate more to it now than I ever did back when I first saw it, and I suspect it will have the same effect on everyone as they get older and re-watch it themselves. The only reason this isn't number one is that I just like the other two films better, in terms of entertainment value. But this isn't that sort of film- it's a character study that isn't trying to wow you, it's trying to move you. Consider me moved.
2. Pulp Fiction- The film that finally broke QT big worldwide remains one of his absolute best, thanks to that fantastic script, perfectly cast actors at the top of their game, an ace soundtrack that reinvented soundtracks for decades to come and spawned countless imitators- the movie and the soundtrack.
The story is clever and arranged for maximum impact, and it remains one of his most crowd-pleasing efforts, and perhaps my most memorable trip to the movie theater ever- and that was my second time seeing it, which says a lot. I could watch this one over and over again and never get bored by it.
1. Kill Bill: Volumes One & Two (aka The Whole Bloody Affair)- QT's magnum opus only gets better the more you see it, the very definition of a quality film. When I first saw Volume Two, I was slightly let down, given the bombast of Volume One, but watching them in one fell swoop for the first time, and in unedited form, it was a whole new experience that sheds light on why QT opted to do it that way.
The first volume plops you right down into the action, letting you get to know the characters through their actions, while the second volume deepens the characters, so that you care more about their respective fates. Granted, some are more surface level than others, but more than any other movie, this one captures what makes Tarantino the filmmaker he is. It's equal part spectacle and emotional gut-punch, and his most ambitious, sprawling effort to date. It's like watching every genre all at once, in one fell swoop.
I suppose one could easily switch this film and Pulp Fiction for the top honor, and it's probably a matter of taste, but, like QT, I just loved martial arts films, horror films and action movies in general growing up, and this one plays like a laundry list of QT's favorite things, incorporating all of the above and plenty more, including anime, Spaghetti Westerns, 70's exploitation flicks and whatever else he can think of to throw in the pot.
It's like peering into Tarantino's brain to see how it ticks. Turns out, it's not that different from my own, which I why I love it so much. Here's hoping he finally does Volume Three, which would only serve to justify my top choice if done right. In the meantime, this one's my favorite and might well always be, though you never know... after all, Tarantino's still got one more movie to go! Can't wait to see what he comes up with next.
Thanks all, for joining me on this epic journey and for all your comments on social media. Just in case you were curious, my most read article in the series was, of all things, the one for the "CSI" episode, perhaps because that was the one people were least familiar with? Who knows? Reservoir Dogs and Death Proof were a close second, though, for the record. Most likely, the truth is that everyone has their favorites and each of them has its fans, which is proven by the fact that all of them had around the same amount of readers overall.
It's fun for me to do these ongoing series, and you all seem to dig it, too, so I'll likely do more of them moving forward. I still have plenty of franchises to review, and I might do the same thing I did here with another director, though I might have to divide and conquer with some of the ones with larger resumes than QT. (Some of the ones I'm considering: John Carpenter, David Cronenberg and Wes Craven.)
Join me next week for a look at all the other stuff I've been watching over the last month-and-a-half or so. (Yes, I've managed to watch something other than Tarantino movies, lol.) I'll probably divide that list into two, and do two articles of around six movies each, or maybe slightly more if I watch something else over the weekend, which seems likely.
Thanks for reading, and be sure to comment and let me know your own ranking of QT's work down below in the comment section or on social media! 😉
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