Five critically acclaimed movies Quentin Tarantino hates: “They have the stink of the ’50s”
Quentin Tarantino is one of our greatest living filmmakers. That much goes without saying at this point. However, the Pulp Fiction icon is also one of our greatest living film watchers.
It’s a sad reality that when many people find their way into the movie business, they become so busy making movies that they don’t have much time or inclination to watch movies anymore. Not Tarantino, though. He owns his own cinema – the New Beverly in Los Angeles – and regularly talks about the movies he’s watched, both new and old, on his Video Archives podcast or guest appearances on other shows.
Over the years, Tarantino has watched more films than most people could ever imagine. He’s also willing to tell you exactly what he feels about them, even if that opinion contradicts common wisdom. In fact, Tarantino has publicly criticised many highly critically acclaimed motion pictures, including established classics by canonised cinema icons.
A quick glance at the movies he dislikes may reveal a film lover who has little time for films that rely more on surreal, esoteric themes than on plots. However, he’s equally capable of hating crowd-pleasing thrillers and comedies that other people have raved about.
Five acclaimed movies Tarantino hates:
North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
Tarantino once gave this damning verdict on the Alfred Hitchcock classic from 1959: “People discover North by Northwest at 22 and think it’s wonderful when actually it’s a very mediocre movie.”
In fact, his opinion of Hitchcock, in general, is arguably his most controversial in cinephile circles. He told The New York Times in 2015, “I’m not the biggest Hitchcock fan, and I actually don’t like Vertigo and his 1950s movies—they have the stink of the ’50s, which is similar to the stink of the ’80s.”
Tarantino even thinks noted Hitchcock devotees like Brian De Palma and Curtis Hanson made better movies than the “Master of suspense,” claiming, “I’ve always felt that Hitchcock’s acolytes took his cinematic and story ideas further.”
The 400 Blows (François Truffaut, 1959)
Another cinephile sacred cow Tarantino has no time for is François Truffaut, the celebrated auteur of the French new wave. On an episode of Video Archives, he said, “I’m not a Truffaut fan that much anyway…For the most part, I feel about Truffaut like I feel about Ed Wood. I think he’s a very passionate, bumbling amateur.”
Tarantino even wrote his distaste for one Truffaut movie in particular into the novelisation of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. When Cliff Booth goes to the cinema to see what all the fuss is about with Truffaut, Tarantino writes, “The first two films he watched in a Truffaut double feature just didn’t grab him. The first film, The 400 Blows, left him cold. He really didn’t understand why that little boy did half the shit he did.”
Brewster McCloud (Robert Altman, 1970)
Next up on the chopping block for Tarantino is Robert Altman, one of the new Hollywood era’s most enduring figures.
In his book Cinema Speculation, Tarantino recounted the tale of his mum, stepdad, uncle, and babysitter going on a double date to an Altman double feature. An amused Tarantino wrote, “The evening was not a success. Not only did they not like the two movies, my stepfather and uncle proceeded to bitch about them for days after.”
The Django Unchained director eventually agreed with his family members and was particularly scathing about one Altman movie: Brewster McCloud. He called it “one of the worst movies to ever carry a studio logo” and dubbed it “the cinematic equivalent of a bird shitting on your head.” Say what you will, but the man has a way with words.
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (David Lynch, 1992)
To his credit, Tarantino will call out a movie he hates, even if he was previously a huge fan of the director. This is exactly what happened when he saw the acclaimed big-screen spin-off of a seminal TV show which astounded and confounded people in equal measure.
When asked by LA Weekly in 1992 about whether he wanted to keep making indie movies or move to major studio fare, Tarantino mused, “If all you do is these little art films for 10 years for a million or two dollars, you’re going to climb up your own ass.”
He continued, “I’m not ragging on other people, but after I saw Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me at Cannes, David Lynch has disappeared so far up his own ass that I have no desire to see another David Lynch movie until I hear something different. And you know, I loved him.”
Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
Finally, Tarantino also has beef with one of the most beloved comedy stars of the last 50 years. In Cinema Speculation, he wrote about how critics always seemed to prefer Bill Murray’s films to Chevy Chase’s, but he didn’t see things that way.
Tarantino appreciated that Chase’s characters often refused to abide by standard character arcs and remained the same aloof jerks by the movie’s end. On the other hand, Murray was always transformed during his films into a better man, and Tarantino claimed this made his films—such as the iconic Groundhog Day—worse.
He wrote, “I’ve always rejected the idea that Bill Murray’s characters needed redemption. Yeah, maybe he charmed Andie MacDowell, but does anybody think a less sarcastic Bill Murray is a better Bill Murray?“
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