The film Quentin Tarantino called Brian De Palma’s best: “One of the greatest movies ever made”
A childhood fascination with movies set Quentin Tarantino on a path towards cinematic excellence, becoming one of modern cinema’s finest filmmakers. As a young man, he began working in a Video Archives movie rental store, where he taught himself everything he needed to know about cinema. Tarantino would later call it “the best job I ever had” until he became an actual director.
Tarantino released his first movie, Reservoir Dogs, in 1992, taking the industry by storm with his distinctive auteur-like style. Blending humour, violence and effortlessly cool aesthetics, Reservoir Dogs became one of the most acclaimed films of the year, becoming a landmark of independent filmmaking.
Following the success of his debut, Tarantino made Pulp Fiction – a 1990s classic with an ensemble cast boasting names such as John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis and Tim Roth. This truly solidified his status as a champion of Hollywood, and he has only continued to garner acclaim ever since.
When watching any Tarantino movie, his intense love for cinema bleeds through every scene, with the director often paying homage to his favourite movies. A self-professed “film geek”, Tarantino has an extensive knowledge of movies, although there are certain ones he loves more than others. In an old interview clip where he visited his old video store stomping ground, Tarantino picked out several ‘desert-island’ picks, using it as a chance to wax lyrical about one of his favourite movies, Brian De Palma’s Blow Out.
Tarantino called it “one of the greatest movies ever made,” adding: “It’s Brian De Palma’s finest film, alright? Which means, it’s one of the finest movies ever made because, as we all know, Brian De Palma is the greatest director of his generation.”
Blow Out was written and directed by De Palma, who has also helmed projects like Carrie, Dressed to Kill and Scarface. The filmmaker took inspiration from Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up, starring David Hemmings as a photographer in the Swinging Sixties who becomes obsessed with figuring out if he has captured a murder on celluloid. In Blow Out, John Travolta stars as a movie crew member who accidentally records the audio of a murder while working on a film.
Tarantino added: “John Travolta, by the way, gives one of the best performances of all time in this movie.”
It was this very performance in Blow Out that inspired Tarantino to hire Travolta to star in Pulp Fiction, a decision that singlehandedly revitalised the actor’s career, leading him to earn his second Academy Award nomination.
Watch the trailer for Blow Out below.
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