Quentin Tarantino is a masterful writer, and director, who’s iconic style helped usher him into the independent era of filmmaking in the early 1990’s. His stylized violence and pop culture references created a new genre of film. He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Tony Tarantino and Connie Zastoupil. Later moving to California, Quentin dropped out of high school at sixteen and started taking acting lessons at the James Best Theatre Company.
His love of movies led him to his first job behind the counter at Video Archives, a video store in Manhattan Beach. One of his co-workers, Roger Avery, would later team with Quentin on several projects. After continuing his acting studies at the Actors’ Shelter in Beverly Hills, he decides to focus on screenwriting. Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit became his first script.
Quentin’s sold his first screenplay, True Romance, which was a love story in the midst of drugs and violence. He used the money from the sale of the screenplay, to help fund Reservoir Dogs, the first movie he wrote and directed. Lawrence Bender became the producer and helped secure funding for the film. It was Harvey Keitel’s wife, who attended classes with Bender, who brought the script to her husband’s attention. He loved the script and even helped fund the project. Along with Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen and the late Chris Penn, starred in the film about a heist gone terribly wrong. Made for only a million dollars, the movie later became a cult classic on DVD.
Quentin’s next film, Pulp Fiction, is perhaps is best known film. Featuring an A-list cast which included Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Samuel L Jackson, John Travolta, Tim Roth, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, and many others. When it was released in ‘95, it was regarded as one of the most influential movie of it’s time. The film was an immediate success with the audience and critics and grossed nearly $213 million worldwide with a budget that was only $8 million.
After the success of Pulp Fiction, Quentin wrote the cult hit, From Dusk Till Dawn, which Robert Rodriguez directed. The film is now a DVD favorite and received surprisingly well applause from the audience and critics. Jackie Brown was Quentin’s next film and like many of his projects before, it of course was another audience and critical success. The film starred Pam Grier, Samuel L Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton and Robert De Niro. It was a take-off on the blaxploitation films of the 1970’s.
Kill Bill with Uma Thurman in lead became yet another Tarantino classic. The film pays homage to Wuxia (Japanese Martial Arts), Japanese film, Italian horror (giallo), and Spaghetti Westerns. As Roger Ebert points out, Tarantino films operate “…in a parallel universe where all this makes since.” The stylized violence, over-the-top character, black and white sequences and a little anime thrown in for good measure was a hit with fans and critics alike. Tarantino did not set out to make two movies, but with the complicated plot and numerous villains became clear that one film would simply be too long. The movie was divided into to parts, Vol. 1 & 2.
In 2005, Tarantino once again teamed up with pal, Robert Rodriquez, to guest direct the car sequence between Clive Owen and Benicio Del Toro, in the neo-noir film, Sin City.
Soon after Sin City, Tarantino and Rodriquez wrote and directed their own segments for the double-feature Grind House, released in 2007. It was released to positive reviews, but did poor at the box office.
