Throughout the last few years, there have been many iterations of this list for me, in some of the early ones Inglorious Basterds was one of the lowest/weakest rated ones, and then after a very specific watch sometime last year I discovered a new love it, the opposite can be said of Hateful Eight. Though I think it’s pretty awesome still, the first couple of times I watched it I had it really high on my list (like top 2 or 3) and now its much lower. I guess my point is, like any body of work, there are weaker and stronger projects, and peoples opinions change for a complexity of reasons and I’mulled this list over so much that I feel confident in saying that I don’t foresee any more major changes past this point. Brace yourself, because here is what I think:
9- Deathproof
Deathproof seems to be the only QT film almost unanimously considered to be his wost. ALMOST. Although it isn’t a bad film by any means, I think it gets drowned by the more clearly Tarantino-esque entries in his catalog. With Deathproof I feel like Tarantino has written a perfectly crafted love letter to the 70’s grindhouse genre that shaped his writing and directing style, but that’s really all he did. In focusing so hard on making a genre film, QT abandoned his most memorable trait, not adhering to any genre.
It doesn’t help that Planet Terror, the Robert Rodriguez grindhouse flick grouped together with Deathproof is far superior.
I will say, the chase scene with the woman on the hood of the car is pretty freaking amazing, but sadly, it was the most redeeming aspect of Deathproof.
8- Jackie Brown
Now this one is tricky. People either love or hate Jackie Brown. Everyone I know has it in their Top 2 or Bottom 2 and that’s for 2 key reasons. 1) It isn’t nearly as ‘frivolous’ (for lack of a better term) as any other QT entry (think, the antithesis of Django or Kill Bill) and 2) The source material isn’t from the mind of Tarantino.
1 is a direct consequence (again, for lack of a better term) 2, and in my humble opinion, Tarantino works best when uninhibited, hence my lowest 2 selections, his only true ‘genre’ film, and the only one not directly created by his mind.
For me, Jackie Brown is a perfectly unique adaptation and also a film worth respecting, it just doesn’t really captivate me. It’s hard to sit through for me, and that really only applies to Jackie Brown and Deathproof of all his films.
7- Kill Bill Volume 2
For me, 1 is so good and 2 just kind of lingers and roams on it’s way to a conclusion. All of what was fun about 1 is slightly less present in 2 and that’s a major difference. I don’t think either Kill Bill is Tarantino’s best work, but the more boring of the 2 falls this low simply because he doesn’t really make bad movies and something has to be 7th.
I don’t have anything else really to add, this one was pretty easy for me.
6- The Hateful Eight
I respect so much all the ways that Tarantino tried going outside his box (which, at this point, was pretty big, to begin with), and for a long while, this was one of my very favorites. I absolutely adore the references to Agatha Christie novels/plays of old as well as the choice to set almost 2 hours of (this heavily, heavily wordy) film in 1 remote location. Essentially, there were many bold decisions made, many of which worked and a couple of them didn’t.
The Hateful Eight doesn’t have a huge re-watchability and on top of that, upon reflection, the characters are much weaker than the ones you expect to find in a QT film.
I think H8 might be one of the most important films of the 9, it just doesn’t compare with the likes of Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Django, etc in an objective quality sense.
5- Kill Bill Volume 1
The Top 5 are just all crazy bangers, just saying.
Kill Bill is a ton of fun and a perfect example of when Tarantino has TOO MUCH freedom. As much fun it is and MY GOD, THE ACTION SEQUENCES ARE THE STUFF OF LEGENDS, oh yeah, as much fun as it is, it does have major tonal in-cohesion as well as being a little much… If I could, I would give half of it’s blah to Volume 2 and that way each of them feels more cohesive narratively and tonally.
I love this movie though, but it’s cutthroat when you compare the 5 best Tarantino flicks.
4- Reservoir Dogs
This one really hurts my heart. Unlike most people, who watched Pulp Fiction and went backward, RD happens to be my first QT experience. For most of my teen years, I was pretty adamant that RD was better than Pulp Fiction…but then I realized that’s incorrect. Reservoir Dogs is still a super rad, dialogue and character drive crime flick and one of the best first films of all time by any director. As perfectly competent as RD is, Tarantino definitely learned more about the craft and how to direct actors as his career went on, and this just doesn’t hold as much production power as some of his other work.
3- Inglorious Basterds
A great twist of frivolity (and yes, recreating history, in this fashion, is pretty damn frivolous) and sensibility in script writing. I think Inglorious and Pulp are Tarantino’s most superior scripts, and that’s not even close. Pair that up with stand out performances from Christof Waltz, Michael Fassbinder, and Brad Pitt and the fact that Hitler finally gets the gruesome death he’s always deserved and you get a great piece of cinema.
Each time I watch it I start to feel warmer and warmer on its charms.
2- Pulp Fiction
Great script, fantastic acting, very well-crafted narrative, the keys to a perfect script. Pulp Fiction is one of the most iconic films of all time and the only reason it isn’t number 1 is that ‘Django’ is a masterpiece in my eyes.
1- Django Unchained
So this is a western, which is a pretty clear commentary on slavery (and a great one) that has the most charismatic duo of actors of any of QT’s films and it also has tons of blood and gore (as you’d expect).
Every time I watch Django, I just can’t believe it’s a REAL movie. A former slave goes around killing a bunch of terrible people, with the help of some random older white guy, on a quest to find his banging wife. Tons of over the top violence but oddly enough, just the right amount. It’s a slightly less wacky version of Kill Bill, but with a major historic background and commentary, and Leo shreds hard in it too!
My love for Django is very much subjective but I do urge you to look at the script, the acting, and all the technical greatness that go into it next time you watch it, and how its flaws kind of seem to work in its favor. Django is such a charming amalgamation of so many pieces that shouldn’t work, but should, and that’s the epitome of Tarantino.
Regardless of how you feel about my placement of your favorite QT film, we can pretty much all agree that it’s comparing apples to oranges, but only both fruits are fucking rad.
As always, comment your opinions, I’d love to hear why you’re wrong 🙂
-JS
JesSee's Movies 