From Martin Scorsese to Steven Spielberg: A list of Quentin Tarantino’s 20 favourite films
“When people ask me if I went to film school, I tell them, ‘No, I went to films’.” – Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino, besides being the legendary auteur that he is, is known for his two greatest fetishes; feet and films. Despite all the awards and accolades as well as becoming a phenomenon himself, Tarantino still considers himself “a student of cinema” who always proclaims that “the day I graduate is the day I die”. This unapologetic and unabashed quirky creative is the cinematic king of violence and controversy. However, despite the reputation, Tarantino has always done it in his own way, often stating that he would never direct a serial killer flick as he did not want the world to know how sick he was. His oeuvre is a favourite focal point of study among cinephiles and film buffs; however, Tarantino is the biggest fanboy who gushes over the works of icons like Sergio Leone, Martin Scorsese and more.
Tarantino is known for his ingenious storytelling tactics, perversive violence as well as profane dialogues. He is very vocal about the movies that have influenced him and his filmography, often proudly claiming that filmmaking is his religion, defiantly stating that nobody can force him into any creative decision. “Movies are my religion, and God is my patron,” he said. “I’m lucky enough to be in the position where I don’t make movies to pay for my pool. When I make a movie, I want it to be everything to me; like I would die for it,” he added.
When asked about how he comes up with his stories, he stated: “[My] head is a sponge. I listen to what everyone says, I watch little idiosyncratic behaviour, people tell me a joke, and I remember it. People tell me an interesting story in their life, and I remember it. When it gets that information, and all of a sudden these characters come out more or less fully formed. I don’t write their dialogue; I get them talking to each other.”
Tarantino had started making movies in 1992 and has always claimed that he would not direct more than ten feature films in total. His ninth flick, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, was the perfect penultimate ending to his career – a pure romantic poem to his beloved film industry. While we wait for his final project, let us take a look at all the films Tarantino has enlisted as his favourites. While Tarantino films come to an end, Tarantino’s impact never will and rest assured. Here, we look back through this film fanatic’s picks, sifting through past interviews for his suggestions of the best films ever made in Hollywood.
“If you love movies enough, you can make a good one.”
Quentin Tarantino’s 20 favourite movies:
20. Battle Royale (Kinji Fukusaku – 2000)
Set in totalitarian Japan, middle-schoolers are transported to a remote island as a part of a bizarre social experiment where they are compelled to participate in the annual Battle Royale. In this fight for survival, they are forced to fight to the death while battling psychological demons, changing loyalties and unthinkable obstacles that are littered throughout their path.
While many have criticised the film for being an “unnecessary gore fest”, the master creator of this mayhem, Kenji Fukasaku, is the Japanese Tarantino as his films reek of courage, violence and insolence with a maximum shock factor. It is one of Quentin Tarantino’s all-time favourite films and he has often stated how it is the best film he had seen in the last two decades. “If there is any movie that has been made since I’ve been making movies that I wish I had made,” said he, “It’s that one”.
“Life is a game. So fight for survival, and find out if you’re worth it.”
19. Audition (Takashi Miike – 1999)
A twisted and gruesome film that managed to even shock Tarantino was labelled by the auteur as a “true masterpiece”. Tarantino has often said how Miike’s 1999 horrorfest is one of the best films he has watched since he started filmmaking. Repulsive, gory and brutal, the film stars an archetypal femme fatale who personifies the saying “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”. A sick subversion of power dynamics is seen where the lonely Asami tries to fill in the void by attacking men that are not true to her.
The film begins when Shigeharu Aoyama, a middle-aged widower, looks to date once again. He sets up a fake casting audition with his friend where he meets a mysterious and sultry Asami Yamakazi to whom he is instantly attracted despite her murky and suspicious resume. As soon as he embarks on this twisted love affair, Asami partakes in sinister activities that make Aoyama regret all his decisions.
“Only pain and suffering will make you realize who you are.”
18. Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson – 1997)
Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino have had a certain type of bromance, bonding over parties and drinking as well as their shared passion for filmmaking. While they have often been pitted against each other, they are great friends behind the scenes and friendly competitors and can often be seen discussing each other’s films with great adoration, admiration and respect. While Tarantino picked Anderson’s Boogie Nights as one of the best films that were released after 1992, he has often pointed out one single flaw regarding Burt Reynolds’ character in the film which Anderson has agreed on.
The film is a period piece that revolves around a certain Eddie Adams who enters the porn industry. He soon finds success and pleasure in the carefree lifestyle and is soon sent spiralling down the drug-fuelled path which leads to his downfall. The film is also a commentary on the people in the porn industry and them grappling to find their place.
“Heaven sent you here to this place, Dirk Diggler. You’ve been blessed.”
17. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson – 2007)
Tarantino often refers to this film as “one of the best movies made in this decade”. An Oscar-winning flick, Paul Thomas Anderson’s film won over the audience due to incredible performances, riveting narrative as well as harrowing music composed by Johnny Greenwood which complemented the remorseless narrative.
In Anderson’s exploration of the problems of ambition and extreme hunger for success, Daniel Day-Lewis portrays a ruthless, mercenary oilman. He is on a relentless drive and refuses to stop at anything on his quest to become an oil mogul. He even goes to extreme lengths of manipulating his adopted son.
“I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.”
16. Carrie (Brian De Palma – 1976)
Brain De Palma’s 1976 was adapted from Stephen King’s widely popular novel and helped Sissy Spacek rise to stardom. Tarantino has always been a devoted fan of De Palma and Carrie is his favourite horror flick. It not only inspired him in terms of the bloodshed but also influenced his blood-drenched sagas such as Django Unchained. One can almost imagine Tarantino smiling ominously as Carrie, drenched in pig blood, wreaks havoc on her bullies.
The film saw Sissy Spacek as the titular lead who had telekinetic abilities, emotionally abused by her religious and orthodox mother and after being bullied for menstruating in the school shower. On top of that, being dunked in pig blood unleashes her wrath and sends her on a downward spiral where she seeks revenge on everyone that stands in her way.
“It was bad, Mama. They laughed at me. Hold me, Mama. Please hold me.”
15. Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater – 1993)
Called “the greatest hangout movie ever made” by Quentin Tarantino who went on to list it as one of the top ten greatest films of all time, the film has become a coming-of-age cult classic. From including elements of hazing to teens getting high at parties and feeling the first stirrings of romance, the film is a nostalgic concoction of a talented cast including Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, Jason London and more who would later go on to be popular stars. According to Tarantino, “It goes beyond about being in the 70s, it goes beyond about being in Texas – it goes on to a human experience and those people have become my friends.”
The film was popular due to Matthew McConaughey’s catchphrase “alright, alright, alright” which he quoted later in his Oscar speech as well. The film followed the lives of various students at Lee High School in Austin, Texas, in 1976.
“George Washington was in a cult, and that cult was into aliens, man.”
14. Dogville (Lars von Trier – 2003)
Lars von Trier’s courageous and daring disembowelment of American imperialism while focusing on a period set during the Great Depression had an indelible impact on Tarantino. He praised Trier for producing what he called “maybe one of the greatest scripts ever written for film”. Tarantino also went on to say that “had [he] done it one the stage, he would have won a Pulitzer Prize”. That is some high praise coming from a man who is celebrated for his scriptwriting skills.
The film starred Nicole Kidman as Grace who was on the run from various mobsters. After she sought refuge in a small mining town in Colorado, she started finding people turn against her despite her relentless efforts to fit in. recounted in nine chapters, the film is a tale of violence, contempt, brutality, degradation and perversion.
“I want to make this world a little better.”
13. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (Sergio Leone – 1966)
Quentin Tarantino is one of the greatest fans of the legendary western director Sergio Leone. The director is said to have influenced him and his filmography “in every way, shape and form”. Besides naming leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More as some of his absolute favourites, Tarantino named The Good, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly as one of the greatest spaghetti westerns of all time. He credited leone for helping him understand how to delve into history while retaining one’s signature.
Ennio Morricone was the composer of the film’s soundtracks and that is what bowled Tarantino over as well. One of the biggest self-proclaimed fans of Morricone, it is no secret that Tarantino was overjoyed when the veteran agreed to compose for his film The Hateful Eight. Just like the rest of us, Tarantino was perhaps mesmerised by the incredible “synergy” the two icons managed to bring out in the film which was the final film of the much-adored The Dollars Trilogy. As Tarantino often said, Leone, according to him, “is the greatest combination of a complete film stylist, where he creates his own world and storyteller.”
“If you work for a living, why do you kill yourself working?”
12. Fight Club (David Fincher – 1999)
Tarantino included Fight Club in his list of best films released from 1992 to 2009. It is Fincher’s unsettling and provocative wild ride offered to the viewers where they are also greeted by memorable and sharp dialogues. Besides being a daring commentary on the consumer-driven society, the film explores varied themes of anarchy, morality as well as castration. Reeking of misogyny and irony, the film is an entertaining and enlightening brutal satire.
The film revolves around a depressed and insomniac narrator who meets a soap salesman named Tyler Durden on the plane. Together, they start an underground fight club in Durden’s dilapidated apartment after the Narrator’s house gets destroyed in an explosion. Frustrated men frequent the club to bring excitement to their mundane lives. However, the camaraderie between the Narrator and Durden starts to fade when Tyler is smitten by Marla who struts into their lives.
“This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.”
11. Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach – 2012)
Baumbach’s style has often drawn comparisons to that of legendary directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Woody Allen and François Truffaut. Quentin Tarantino listed some of the best movies of 2013 which included Frances Ha, The Conjuring, Before Midnight, Afternoon Delight and more. Baumbach’s film gives the viewers an insight into the absurdities of New Yorkers and upper-class hipsters.
It revolves around the life of Frances Halliday, portrayed by co-writer and Baumbach’s partner, Greta Gerwig, who is also a struggling dancer. Her frolicky and idyllic lifestyle captured in the monochromatic frame is disrupted when her best friend-cum-roommate Sophie moves to Tribeca from Brooklyn and compels Frances to look for new living arrangements.
“I’m so embarrassed. I’m not a real person yet.”
10. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese – 1976)
Quentin Tarantino is a Martin Scorsese super-fan. Or should we say, he drools over the magnificence of his masterpiece Taxi Driver every time he watches it? He has always proclaimed his love for Scorsese’s genius while working on the film. Tarantino has said that it is “the greatest first-person character study ever committed to film.” Despite the general dark atmosphere, according to Tarantino, the film had “such an exuberance to filmmaking that I don’t know if anyone will ever quite have the run of films that he had in the ’70s leading into the ’80s.”
Critical of the criticism that the film received, Tarantino even confessed that “You can imagine the work that is Taxi Driver. If you had made it, completed it, you would be understandably happy. Truthfully, I can’t even imagine what it would be like to make Taxi Driver.” We agree with this film buff when we say that the film was a brilliant yet nightmarish, jarring and vicious masterpiece that was complemented by incredible performances, wonderful cinematography as well as intense dialogic exchanges. A true masterpiece!
‘You talkin’ to me?”
9. The Host (Bong Joon-ho – 2006)
Tarantino was “blown away” by Bong Joon-ho’s 2006 film which was widely popular in South Korea. He called it “absolutely wonderful” as Bong managed to recreate the entire genre. “In the U.S., scientists, soldiers and muscular superheroes fight against monsters, but in [The Host] a Korean family, a messed up, really idiotic one at that, fights the monster,” he said. “It’s funny because the whole idea that a family, not just any family, but a weird, fucked up family like in The Host would be the stars is unfathomable in the U.S. or any country. That is recreating the genre.”
Tarantino has nothing but awe and admiration for his friend who in turn shares the same sentiment, so much so that in his Oscar acceptance speech in 2019 for his masterpiece Parasite, he thanked Tarantino for including his film names in his list even when he was relatively unknown in Hollywood. He says that “of all the filmmakers out there in the last 20 years, he [Bong] has something that 1970s Spielberg gas. There is this level of entertainment and comedy in his films.”
“Have any of you heard it? The heartbreak of a parent who’s lost a child —When a parent’s heartbreaks, the sound can travel for miles. So I really need to say this to you. Be as nice to Gang-du as you can. Don’t scold him, okay?”
8. The Great Escape (John Sturges – 1963)
Tarantino has often listed Sturges’ film on his top 10 greatest films list and even derived inspiration from the motorcycle chase sequences, which is considered one of the best cinematic action sequences in Hollywood, as inspiration in his film Death Proof. In his most recent release, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, he even replaced Steve McQueen’s iconic character with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton in the same film.
The film is set during the second world war in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany where a group of Allied soldiers are determined to escape. They hatch a plan and outwit their captors by digging a tunnel out of the prison grounds only to discover that things are not as easy as they seem.
‘What do they call a mole in Scotland?”
7. His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks – 1940)
Howard Hawks’ 1940 film inspired and influenced Tarantino to great lengths. Hawks inspired boldness and creativity in Tarantino and also planted in him the desire to be unpredictable. Judging Hawks by his work, Tarantino said that it was “the best movie I ever saw”. It was, according to him, a timeless masterpiece and one of the earliest sources from where Tarantino derived the inspiration for his snazzy and abrasive dialogues.
When newspaper editor Walter Burns comes to know of his ex-wife Hildy Johnson getting ready to remarry an insurance agent named Bruce Baldwin, he takes every measure possible to stop her from doing so. He tries to convince her to write a story about the impending execution of Earl Williams who has been convicted of murdering a policeman. Just before she can resign, this case causes Hildy to embark on an epic investigative journey and gives her time to reconsider her decisions.
“There’s been a light burning in the window for you.”
6. Memories of Murder (Bong Joon-ho – 2003)
Quentin Tarantino has always expressed his sheer admiration for Bong’s work. He called Memories of Murder a masterpiece. The two genre geeks have an adorable friendship which is reflected in every interview that they do where they have nothing but high praise for each other’s work. As mentioned earlier, Bong expressed his gratitude to Tarantino for recognising his work even when he was pigeonholed as a South Korean director whose works were alien to the West.
The film is based on a double murder investigation set in the 1980s where two detectives are assignment the case, they soon realise that their target is the first-ever documented serial killer in South Korea. With basic skills and knowledge about solving crimes, they try to trace the clues together to solve this thrilling case.
“There’s a reason people say I have a shaman’s eyes.”
5. Jaws (Steven Spielberg – 1975)
Tarantino often proclaims Jaws to be one of Spielberg’s greatest creations that changed the entire horizon of filmmaking. He has often said that suspense is one of the hardest cinematic devices to pull off. He has compared the suspenseful atmosphere in this film to a rubber band that the filmmaker tries to stretch as far as it can hold; Spielberg was credited for having the proper instincts to cut it in the right place and present enough information within the space of the frame to convey whatever was happening beyond. Spielberg’s use of thrill, shock and suspense would have made Alfred Hitchcock proud and Tarantino could not stop gushing over the absolute sensation that this shark thriller became back in the day.
A young woman is killed by a shark while she is skinny-dipping in a tourist spot. The local police chief wants to shut down the beaches but is stopped by the mayor who does not want to lose out on the massive tourist revenue. What follows is an epic battle between nature and man where the people try to capture this dangerous beast amidst bloodshed and deaths.
“You know, a thing about a shark. He’s got lifeless eyes. Black eyes, like a doll’s eyes!”
4. The Skin I Live In (Pedro Almodovar – 2011)
Quentin Tarantino demands that people see this extraordinary horror film which will surely make the viewers squeamish and unsettled. Devoid of usual jumpscares or quintessential horror shocks, the film has an unsettling presence even after it ends. It is a horror film that is plain beautiful yet squirm-inducing and horrifying.
The film is a right blend of body horror, thriller and melodrama where the viewers live the experience via the eyes of a plastic surgeon named Robert Ledgard, played by the dashing Antonio Banderas. He survives with the torture and trauma of his wife getting burned badly in an accident and this sends him down the path where he tries to invent a kind of skin that would be able to perform the sensations like real flesh. He holds a young and beautiful vera captive along with the help of his housekeeper and performs experiments on her.
‘The things a madman’s love can achieve.”
3. Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright – 2004)
Ever since Tarantino has been making films (since 1992), he has named this film “my favourite British movie that has come out since I’ve been making movies”. A popular cult classic, Shaun of the Dead exceeded directorial expectations as Wright had never imagined that this film would blow up. In fact, he often recounts an incident where a zombie extra’s comments discouraged him; the extra did not know that Wright was the director and mistook him for a crew when he said, “Whew- straight to video for this one”.
A wonderful spoof where a dull loser named Shaun tries to save his girlfriend and mother from zombies who have overtaken the town, the film is one of the most popular zombie flicks of all time.
“He’s gonna be dead either way.”
2. Young Adult (Jason Reitman – 2011)
Quentin Tarantino was a huge fan of this highly underrated flick. People thought after Juno, this film was a major letdown. However, Tarantino named it one of the best films of 2011. In this film, Award-winning actress Charlize Theron portrays the role of Mavis Gary who is a successful writer. She returns to her hometown to relive the wonderful past as well as seduce her childhood sweetheart who is now married.
However, she soon discovers that life is not as simple as it was and her hometown abounds in problems that were non-existent before. It is nearly a cautionary tale to self-pitying mean-girl-turned-wannabe-poised-character.
“Sometimes, in order to heal, a few people have to get hurt.”
1. The Bad News Bears (Michael Ritchie – 1976)
Quentin Tarantino was so smitten by the film that he had written his first fan letter to Tatum O’Neal. Filled with profanities and subversions, this film is one of Tarantino’s absolute favourites. The description itself is self-explanatory; a funny comedy where kids spit and swear and suck at athletics.
A hardcore grumpy alcoholic Morris Buttermaker coaches a Little League team. He even enlists a charismatic and gifted pitcher to join the team yet finds it difficult to keep patience to shape these outcasts into doing his bidding.
“Well, maybe in a year or so. I can’t be playing all dumb baseball.”
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