Quentin Tarantino's Manson murders movie

people always seem to forgot the obvious:

Jackie Brown was based on an Elmore Leonard book

David Lynch made The Straight Story in the middle of his career; Paul Mazursky made Harry & Tonto fairly early in his. In general, I think such films are more suited to older directors, but there are exceptions, probably quite a few.

Yeah sure I'm not saying every good movie about old people was made by a senior citizen.

people always seem to forgot the obvious:

Jackie Brown was based on an Elmore Leonard book

John Ford didn't write Liberty Vallance either, but a director still has to vibe with their material for it to work.

yes I know that

I'm saying people always say Jackie Brown has as wry, funny, slightly melancholy middle age vibe that isn't the same as Tarantino's other films and maybe that has something to do with the fact that it's based on a book by an author who pretty much perfected that vibe

people always seem to forgot the obvious:

Jackie Brown was based on an Elmore Leonard book

I don't think people forget this? They certainly don't forget that taking inspiration from existing texts is common through his work as a director. (You don't get the changes in career / life position for Ordell and Louis in the movie, to be sure.) (You also don't get the white power Nazi rally in Florida as an opener. Good thing America has come a long way since 1992!)

my point is that, if it has a slightly different vibe in his filmography, it's not a mystery why

I did not say he didn't add anything or imprint his style on to the material

One reason why he wouldn't want to get back to that vibe - adapting Leonard or someone else or even just doing an original thing with a similar vibe - is that Jackie Brown is the go to movie for ppl who don't like Tarantino as a whole to hold up as his one good film and he's mentioned resenting that in interviews.

Tough.

It must suck to be a director at such a level as to have not only a generation-defining Taxi Driver but also a misunderstood sleeper Barry Lyndon whose cachet only continues to grow with time.

Eh I'm not saying this in a bid for people to pity the misunderstood artiste, just pointing out that it's no big mystery why he doesn't go back to that style - people keep asking him to.

I attribute much of what's great about Jackie Brown to Grier, Forster, Jackson, and De Niro (and you can give Tarantino some degree of credit there, of course, but I wouldn't overstate that). Even if he tried to make another film of similar tone, I think it's unlikely he'd get four performances that great.

if it has a slightly different vibe in his filmography, it's not a mystery why

At the time, his three features as director each had different vibes, as did his other three (excluding NBK). He then did two full-on action films with different vibes to each other, but both explicit pastichey genre exercises. The next four settle into a more consistent vibe / voice for the first time imo

The performances in Jackie are kinda mutual in blame - he gave Grier and Forster a love letter of a script, and they made it even richer.

Yeah, I mean, it's impeccable casting that literally no one else would have gone with, so dude gets credit for that alone.

For the casting, yes--should have mentioned that.

Eh I'm not saying this in a bid for people to pity the misunderstood artiste, just pointing out that it's no big mystery why he doesn't go back to that style - people keep asking him to.

the weird thing with jackie brown is even at the time he resented it though, he went on about how he was never ever ever going to direct something he didnt originate ever again. something about that movie just rubs him the wrong way.

I know it's hard to imagine this today, but it wasn't hard to find people who thought Jackie Brown was a major misfire in the wake of Pulp Fiction. Heh, the '90s, amirite?

I used to argue with Morbs about ...Liberty Vallance: told him nothing on earth had persuaded me to watch it again

I was in college for Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown and it was definitely considered a misfire by people who loved his first two movies. I remember feeling very alone in my passionate defense of that one, I wore out my VHS copy in those days.

It did get head scratching responses, but, to jon's point, my friends were wearing it out on VHS the summer and fall of '98.

JB has the best use of pop tunes in any QT flick imo

also it definitely just got swept up in the the post-pulp ironic crime movie backwash that was in full swing by then.

i always assumed QTs ambivalent relationship to it was bc it was the first film of his that wasnt a bonafide worldwide phenomenon, but more & more i also think it seems like he legit just doesnt really like how it turned out & regrets some of his creative decisions in it.

Delfonics ftw

it seems like he legit just doesnt really like how it turned out & regrets some of his creative decisions in it

lol, the only QT I wouldn't mess with a frame of

JB has the best use of pop tunes in any QT flick imo

Tie at the top with Reservoir Dogs for me; both better than the overrated Pulp Fiction soundtrack.

I really burned out on the RD soundtrack in college. It was one of the handful of albums that got played on our communal studio stereo that received no (or, at least, very very little) pushback or calls to turn it off.

I've never gotten the impression he was unhappy with Jackie Brown itself, or his work on it -- I think it's obvious he resents its status as "the movie by QT for people who don't like QT."

resenting that is kinda stupid tho

Yes. And?

and therefore Tarantino is a big whiny baby

idk, you asked

resenting that is kinda stupid tho

but they like JB for reasons other than to adulate QT as the outstanding auteur-writer-director-genius who made it. they like the story (not his) and the actors (not him) much more than they like the subtler things like editing/pacing or shot framing.

so, yeah, it's kinda stupid

its the one time in his career he clearly didnt completely cater to his own instincts and do exactly what he (probably) wanted (make it a zany ott splatterfest). and it resulted in a movie that got (for him, at the time) a somewhat disappointing reception. considering the way he talked about it at the time ("i was out of my comfort zone working with outside material and sharing the ball, creatively") and where he went after that, it doesnt seem like a stretch to imagine that he learned the wrong lesson, "i compromised my vision and it resulted in a movie with a mediocre reception, making live-action cartoons is what i was meant to do".

and therefore Tarantino is a big whiny baby

idk, you asked

― Bobo Honk, real name, no gimmicks (Doctor Casino), Monday, June 7, 2021 3:03 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Why say anything in the first place if you have nothing to add?

Does anyone ITT disagree that QT is incredibly obnoxious and high on myself? Do we need to keep restating that the sky is blue, water is wet, etc.?

High on *HIMself... God knows I don't want him high anywhere near me

Tarantino is up there amongst my favorite living directors, but I also recognize that he has some very problematic tendencies (some it seems he has learned from... others, not so much) and he would be an absolute nightmare to be trapped in a room with for any extended amount of time.

He's a better encyclopedia than a compass.

He looks as if he has the worst breath.

Slurping on tootsies will wreck your fumes toot sweet.

Yes. And?

― flappy bird, Monday, June 7, 2021 3:01 PM bookmarkflaglink

O snap are we doing improv games?

I need a location, a racial slur, and a calibre.

(let's make lots of money!)

fwiw flappy, i made a short comment intended to mock QT's (imo dumb) position as reported/characterized by you. you responded "Yes. And?" i didn't really have that much more to say so i just reiterated that QT's position is dumb. now you're mad that my thought doesn't run any deeper than that? i didn't know the thread had a "your thought must be this elaborate to post" sign.

freestyle rap your argument plz

Please, you can’t have a needlessly drawn-out dialogue where the same simple idea gets repeated and reiterated over and over in here - this is the Quentin Tarantino thread!

also flappy, it was not clear from your posts that you thought Quentin's purported views on this matter were indeed dumb. so i guess i thought my pointing it out snidely would constitute value added for the thread. but if your posts, too, were intended to showcase the dumbness of QT's views on Jackie Brown's reputation, then yeah, you brought us to the exact maximum number of times this sentiment could be expressed before we crossed the line into "water is wet" territory, and my posts were worthless self-indulgent redundancies.

hey you guys been reading flappy birdie's super threads of the 2000s?