The “most masculine” experience of Quentin Tarantino’s life
It’s fair to say that the films of Quentin Tarantino are rather masculine in their tone and approach to narrative. After all, the legendary director has never been afraid of dousing his movies in violence, aggression and foul language, even from the beginning of his career with Reservoir Dogs.
When discussing some of the movies that helped shape his own vision, Tarantino drew attention to the work of Jim Brown, noting the masculinity present in his films. When appearing on Real Time with Bill Maher, Tarantino noted his experience of watching the 1969 western movie 100 Rifles, which starred Brown alongside Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds.
The film, directed by Tom Gries, was based on Robert MacLeod’s 1966 novel The Californio and helped Jim Brown come to be considered Hollywood’s first black action hero, making history because it was one of the first movies to feature interracial sex scenes.
Brown had begun his professional life as an American football player, playing for the Cleveland Browns for eight years. It was towards the end of his football career that he turned to acting and starred in as many as 53 productions in his lifetime, including a number of lead roles.
Tarantino explained that he’d first watched 100 Rifles with an audience entirely made up of black people, who all complained about the film that showed before the main feature of 100 Rifles. In fact, Tarantino said the entire experience was one of “the most masculine” he’d ever had.
“The first time I ever heard, ‘suck my dick’ was someone in the audience,” Tarantino said. “Being taken to a Jim Brown movie at an all-Black theatre, that was the most masculine experience I have ever had”.
The experience certainly had an impact on the director, as he also admitted that he’s been trying to recreate it in his films ever since.
“Either as a movie consumer or when creating movies for an audience — that goal of a Jim Brown movie on a Saturday night in 1972 is what I’m trying to recreate,” the director said. However, Tarantino had previously stopped short of suggesting that Jamie Foxx imitate Brown in Django Unchained.
“He’s a slave. He’s not cool. He’s a fucking slave,” Foxx once remembered of Tarantino’s direction. “He doesn’t know how to read. You come in with your fucking Louis [Vuitton] bag and your Range Rover. He’s not Jim Brown. He’s a fucking slave. And then, and then he becomes the hero. Lose that shit.” Ouch.
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