Written by Tom Moore
Let’s face it, you know a director has made it big when they can get people instantly intrigued and in the theater. Whether it’s J.J. Abrams, Spike Lee, The Russo Brothers, Ang Lee, Christopher Nolan, or M. Night Shyamalan, their names being attached to a project can immediately get people’s attention. Hell, Spielberg and Scorsese barely even need to use their first names to get people excited and, generally, even just seeing or hearing their names can usually give people an idea on what the film is. If it’s Scorsese, it’s probably going to be something gangster/mafia related. If it’s Shyamalan, it’s probably going to be thriller with a final twist.
Now, this ability to peg a certain genre or kind of story on a director only makes it more special when a director creates some completely unexpected or out of what people would expect to be their wheelhouse—like when Scorsese directed Shutter Island. However, not many directors have been able to constantly surprise viewers and tackle a variety of unique genres better than Quentin Tarantino.
Tarantino has captured the attention of critics and viewers time and time again with films full of unique storytelling, charming yet grimy characters, and his pure passion for filmmaking. He truly has a vision that he never sacrifices for each film and has worked with a variety of actors in a variety of genres. From a Western whodunit, to grind house horror, to war films, to crime thrillers, to martial arts action, Tarantino makes his mark stronger with every film he makes.
It’s even interesting to note that most of films (five to be exact) are over two and half hours long — a runtime that most people dread. However, in a conversation I had lately with a co-worker about his latest film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, she referred to Tarantino’s work as always being long, but also being very good, which I think shows how strong his films really are.
That’s why as his latest film explores the highs and lows of 1960s Hollywood, it’s a great time to explore Tarantino’s truly incredible career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x98DGaMQcdY
Not many filmmakers take as many chances or stray too far from their most comfortable genre, but Tarantino doesn’t like to play it safe. While his first few films, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Jackie Brown, fit the mold for being great crime thrillers, Tarantino tread new ground with each film that came after.
From seeing the stunning martial arts antics of The Bride as she hunted down Bill in the Kill Bill series, to seeing Aldo the Apache (Brad Pitt) and the rest of the Basterds cripple the Nazi regime in Inglourious Basterds, to a group of cunning stuntwomen taking down the psychopathic Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) in Death Proof in a high-speed battle, there’s very little ground that he hasn’t covered. However, just delving into new genres isn’t what makes Tarantino such a special filmmaker, it’s how he brings his unique kind of storytelling and characters together with the style of the genre to create a fresh experience.
His passion for filmmaking can also be felt with each film and he loves to add genre elements that create an authentic experience for viewers. Who could forget when he came together with director Robert Rodriguez to create an authentic drive-in, double feature experience with Grindhouse? Not only did they bring other directors on to create some fun fake trailers for viewers to get the full experience, but he added things like missing reels and damage on the film so that it could resemble the look of grindhouse films that circulated throughout the 1970s.
In Kill Bill Vol. 1, when going over the backstory of O-Ren (Lucy Liu), Tarantino turns the segment into an anime to represent other anime works that inspired him to make the film, including Golgo 13: The Professional and Wicked City. I even remember going to see the 70mm roadshow version of The Hateful Eight in theaters and the use of an overture and an intermission that made it actually seem like you were watching a genuine Western stage play. Even the score composed by Ennio Morricone lends the film an authentic Western feel and Django Unchained has a similar authenticity with its theme song from Rocky Roberts and Luis Bacalov, which is just perfect.
Tarantino loves to use non-linear storytelling in just about all of his films. He’ll often cut back and forth between different perspectives and points in time to give viewers the full scope of the story. This kind of storytelling is what made Pulp Fiction the massive hit that it was and still is today and why people still re-watch it to see all the connecting threads. In Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino explores all sides of his WWII story as he constantly cuts between the Basterds tearing their way through the Nazis, a Jewish woman hungry for revenge, and even, slightly, a British spy as they all head toward an explosive, fiery finale at a cinema.
Now, while most of his other films remain linear for the most part, Tarantino still utilizes flashbacks to delve deeper into the worlds and characters of his films. While I was re-watching Django Unchained, I realized how flashbacks are used in a way that fleshes out Django’s (Jamie Foxx) thoughts on his past, allowing more show-don’t-tell storytelling that lets viewers feel the character’s pain and struggle. This use of flashbacks elevates the storytelling of many of Tarantino’s films, but one film is his storytelling at its finest: Reservoir Dogs.
Even for its simple premise of a robbery gone wrong, Reservoir Dogs and its group of robbers have a lot of depth and the way the story builds to eventually revealing a “rat” amongst the group is just brilliant. Just from the opening, we get conversations that showcase the group’s personalities, connections with one another, and a small glimpse into what’s going on in their heads. Tarantino understood how to make characters and their choices matter and uses flashbacks to show how they all came together.
We understand why Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) and Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) have such a strong connection, how Mr. Pink sees himself as a professional even as he’s frantically sprinting down the streets to evade police, and why it’s so hard for Eddie to believe that Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) is the “rat.” Even the reveal of Mr. Orange being an undercover cop is done so smoothly and even me spoiling it doesn’t make it lose its impact because Tarantino does an excellent job showing his whole journey.
Seeing every step of him getting into the group perfectly fills in the gaps of the heist and the “commode story” sequence is easily one of my favorite scenes in any Tarantino movie. It’s a great story within a story that’s perfectly suspenseful and Tim Roth’s performance is just magnetic. It’s a scene that just draws viewers in and the film, overall, is just so tightly told, full of suspenseful storytelling, and contains characters that seem basic, but are rich with personality. It’s no wonder that Tarantino got so much attention with Reservoir Dogs and even for 1992, a stacked year for film, I still think it’s blasphemy that this film didn’t get the recognition it so desperately deserves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P-f-nzOTV4
Now, another thing that’s made Tarantino one of the most iconic story tellers of modern filmmaking is the characters he creates. The way he introduces characters, gives them compelling personalities that allow his actors to give phenomenal performances, and creates moments that make them iconic is a true testament to how great of a filmmaker he is. Really, when you go back through all of Tarantino’s work, there are plenty of iconic moments that show him using his unique style to create characters that audiences will always remember. The scene of Mr. Blonde being stuck in the middle with a police officer is both haunting and visceral and, as said before, Mr. Orange’s commode story is forever ingrained in my brain and one of the many things that makes Reservoir Dogs so great.
With Jackie Brown, the entire sequence of Louis (Robert De Niro) being harassed by Melanie (Bridget Fonda) for not remembering where he parked the van still makes me laugh. And who could forget the bloodbath that ensues at the end of Django Unchained? Even with Pulp Fiction, you could honestly take your pick of iconic moments. From the final monologue from Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) about what Ezekiel 25:17 means to him, to Butch (Bruce Willis) being on the run from Marcellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), to Vincent accidentally shooting Marvin (Phil LaMarr) in the face, to Jules daring, even double-daring, Brad (Brad Blumenthal) to say “what” one more time, there are just so many character-defining moments.
Tarantino even utilizes camera movement, music, and score to create moments that viewers won’t forget and helps them connect to the characters they’re seeing. He’s truly an expert at using silence to build up suspense and let viewers sink into the character’s conversations until the score or camera movement all of a sudden signifies a distinct change or builds up the suspense even more. When thinking about this, my mind immediately draws to Schultz (Christoph Waltz) refusing to shake Candie’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) hand in Django Unchained.
The conversation between them slowly builds their hatred to one another and as Schultz goes towards him to shake his hand, the quick zoom to his secret pistol as it fires into Candie’s heart and the quick zoom on Stanley’s reaction excellently sets up the bloodbath that ensues afterwards. Even the bar scene in Inglourious Basterds uses normal conversation to suck viewers in just to shock them moments later when the sound of Major Hellstrom’s Walther (August Diehl) cocking sets off a stand off that leads to some gruesome testicular carnage and a fast-paced shootout.
The best places I’ve seen Tarantino use this technique, though, is with Stuntman Mike in Death Proof and Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz (Eli Roth) in Inglourious Basterds. The build-up to seeing Stuntman Mike’s truly psychopathic intentions is perfect and there’s a shot of him stalking a group of girls in his car that made me immediately think: “Man, that’s a Grindhouse villain.” There’s definitely a creepy vibe about him when we first meet him, but Tarantino allows Kurt Russell to charm viewers enough to make his villainous turn much more shocking.
Then, just as he’s seemingly going to give Pam (Rose McGowan) a ride home, Tarantino has Russell delightfully smile at the camera to let viewers know that the fun is about to begin. It’s such a great turn for both Mike and the film in general and when the score kicks in as he hits the gas, it turns the simple and slow-moving story into a satisfying joy ride that ends with some unforgettable brutality.
However, no introduction is more perfect than that of The Bear Jew. From how his bat clangs against the wall as he walks out of the shadows, to the score sparking curiosity in its viewers, to the daunting looks everyone gives the tunnel as they wait for him to appear, it’s just plain perfect. Even better is the daunting presence that Eli Roth creates, and I always immediately get the biggest grin on my face seeing it all unfold. Frankly, Tarantino just knows how to put all of the pieces together to create an iconic scene and it’s what always keeps him at the top of moviegoers’ minds.
Now, there are two other main components to Tarantino’s style that can’t be forgotten: humor and violence. On the humorous side of things, Tarantino has pretty much always kept things dark, a little bit more masculine, and even a little bit silly. Just think about the scene in Django Unchained of the KKK horsemen ready to burn Schultz’s wagon. Rather than depict them as intimidating foes, viewers are initially introduced to them in hilarious fashion as they argue about the eye holes in their bag masks not being big enough.
One of them even gets so upset, as his wife made them for everyone, that he storms off in a huff and it makes me cackle with laughter. In The Hateful Eight, the running joke with the door not closing on its own is great and the over-the-top yelling that comes from everyone in the room is just the icing on the cake. Scenes like this show how good Tarantino is at building chemistry by giving scenes where actors can work off one another.
Where Tarantino is at his best, though, is when he blends comedy with over-the-top violence to help cushion the blow of many of his bloodier scenes—and boy are there a lot of those. Just think about the end of the fight between The Bride (Uma Thurman) and Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) in Kill Bill Vol. 2. Though things between the characters are intensely serious, there’s just something incredibly funny about everything that happens after she rips Elle’s other eye out.
It’s just so perfectly anti-climactic and her still trying to fight The Bride as she simply walks away is just oddly funny. Even the small sequence of Jules yelling at Vincent for accidentally shooting Marvin in the face always makes me laugh. The opening fight between The Bride and Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox) also has a bit of humor, with them immediately throwing punches the second they lock eyes and then coming to an abrupt halt as Copperhead’s daughter hops off the school bus.
However, as I re-watched Tarantino’s films, I actually noticed that he uses violence for more than just creating shocking scenes and creates some interesting discussions on people’s views toward violence. Rather than have his kind of cowboys wear white and black hats, everyone wears shades of gray. He basically differentiates “the good” and “the bad” through them using violence as a means for survival versus those who use it for sport. There are actually relevant discussions found in both Reservoir Dogs and Django Unchained on the matter and these kinds of themes can be seen throughout most of Tarantino’s films.
After initially getting to the hideout, Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) and Mr. White question Mr. Blonde’s slaughtering of innocent civilians during the heist. They talk about how they don’t even like or want to kill anyone and openly criticize and ostracize Mr. Blonde when they see him. It’s interesting to see this kind of discussion play out amongst a group of criminals because it’s usually between a criminal and someone who isn’t violent at all. Even the distinct difference in the morality of Schultz and Candie in Django Unchained reflects Tarantino’s views on violence in film.
Even as a bounty hunter and someone who kills for a living, Schultz still values the importance of human life in a time of cruel slavery and it’s what makes him such a unique and valued character in Tarantino’s work. There’s a great scene where Schultz explains this to Django as he is about to kill his first bounty, Smitty Bacall (Michael Bacall). He basically tells Django that though Smitty may seem live a normal farm life now, he had to kill people in order to do it.
Schultz takes no joy in killing people like Smitty, but understands that it’s his job is to do so and that in order to keep peace and seek justice, that justice needs to be served—even if it comes at a cost. This is the kind of attitude that he instills in Django in order to save his wife and is something that is highlighted when he has a fatal confrontation with Candie later in the film. It’s a great dynamic that makes Tarantino’s films’ more violent scenes more purposeful and adds a unique element to his storytelling and character-building.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fhGtZMAZzI
The last deep layer to Tarantino as a filmmaker is the fact that he uses small details, items and locations, to create connections between all of his films—even those he didn’t direct. Whether it’s noticing that Butch and Bob The Mexican (Demian Bichir) have the same love for Red Apple Cigarettes or that Mr. Blonde and the Gecko Brothers (George Clooney and Tarantino) enjoy the same Big Kahuna burgers that Jules chows down on in Pulp Fiction, the details might be small, but their connections are large in scale.
There are even some cool connections between characters that continue to blow fans’ minds. Mr. Blonde/Vic Vega actually has some relation to Pulp Fiction’s Vincent Vega and isn’t it ironic, both brothers met grisly ends from a gun. Even Vic’s parole officer, Seymour Scagnetti, has a sadistic brother, named Jack (Tom Sizemore), that’s known for tracking down serial killers, Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory Knox (Juliette Lewis) in Natural Born Killers.
In Pulp Fiction, Mia (Uma Thurman) even hints at the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad that The Bride hunts down in Kill Bill while talking to Vincent about the the pilot she was in. Tarantino even places strong importance on small details, like Marcellus Wallace’s briefcase or Major Warren’s (Samuel L. Jackson) Lincoln letter in The Hateful Eight, for fans to talk and theorize about. He even makes some great cameos across all of his films that are always fun to find. There are honestly so many other connections that can be seen throughout Tarantino’s films that I highly recommend checking out and that will be interesting to see what connections show up in his newest film.
Now, I’ve been talking pretty highly about Tarantino as a filmmaker thus far, because he definitely deserves it, but he isn’t without his fair share of controversy. From director Spike Lee questioning his use of the N-word and portraying black characters in his films, to facing scrutiny for the gun violence, to people even questioning him taking on subject matters like slavery, Nazis, and the Manson murders, his career isn’t without its controversy. More recently, though, in the wake of stories of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault allegations coming out, Uma Thurman did an interview with the New York Times last year that delved into Weinstein allegedly sexually assaulting her and brought to light an issue she had with Tarantino on the set of Kill Bill.
Thurman said that while filming a scene where she was driving a car that she wasn’t super comfortable with, she ended up getting into a pretty bad car crash. Though Tarantino assured her that she’d be fine, things didn’t go well at all and Thurman actually suffered some permanent neck damage and bruising on her knees. According to the article, Thurman wasn’t even allowed to get the footage from Miramax without basically letting them off the hook and not being held accountable — which Thurman obviously wasn’t up for. Now along with with the alleged abuse from Weinstein, the trust built between her and Tarantino seemed broken for quite some time as the two basically stopped working together.
However, when Thurman wanted the footage of the crash for the New York Times article, Tarantino was more than willing to help and with the help of producer Shannon McIntosh, they were able to recover the raw footage. When the article broke, the story became more about Tarantino abusing his directorial privilege by putting Thurman in danger. However, in an interview with Deadline, Tarantino wanted to clear the air on the situation and take full ownership of what happened. He stated that he felt “horrible” after the accident occurred and that the incident is “one of the biggest regrets of [his] life.”
He also opened up about Weinstein’s alleged sexual advances on Thurman and even his ex-girlfriend, Mira Sorvino in a New York Times interview. According to the article, Tarantino said that he noticed “patterns” with Weinstein’s behavior and had actually gone to defend both Sorvino and Thurman. In the piece he stated he was so insistent about Weinstein apologizing to Thurman that production on Kill Bill almost stopped completely. However, Tarantino has also stated in an interview with the New York Times that he’d known more about the allegations towards Weinstein and, “knew enough to do more than [he] did,” and it’s actually weighed heavily on him recently.
Things have been looking better, though, for both Thurman and Tarantino and with all of their issues being out in the open, the two have started to rekindle their friendship. Thurman’s daughter, Maya Hawke, is even appearing in his newest film and there’s even been discussion between of the two on reuniting for a third volume of Kill Bill. Both have recognized the series as a strong representation of female empowerment and from performing the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique and taking down the entire Crazy 88, she’s truly one of the most bad-ass women to ever grace the screen. Although, even if Vol. 3 will just remain a “what if” for now, it’s great to see Thurman and Tarantino in a much better place.
For a man as passionate about filmmaking as Tarantino is, there must be a deep sense of pride in possibly ending his career on a film like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It’s clearly filled with a lot of rich detail about what many consider the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age and changing times in the film industry. Frankly, as major changes are happening in the film industry today, the film is definitely a fitting story to tell and definitely looks to be a swan song to Tarantino’s iconic career.
Now, while I’m still crossing my fingers that he’ll lend his talents to the Star Trek film he’s been discussing for quite some time, just because I want to see what it would look like, it’s definitely a great time to reflect on a unique filmmaker. Even if he never returns to direct, he’s left an impact on film and moviegoers alike that won’t fade anytime soon, possibly ever.
