Quentin Tarantino on the best cinematic sequence of all time: “I can’t ever imagine doing anything that good”
Since making his directorial debut with the cult classic Reservoir Dogs in 1992, Quentin Tarantino has carved out a truly exceptional cinematic career. His unmistakable style of screenwriting and direction creates a sense of familiarity in each of his movies, no matter how thematically disparate. With a filmography consisting of nine movies to date, Tarantino has established a distinct lineage of dark comedy, exaggerated violence, and a recurring ensemble cast of A-listers. Whether he’s exploring tales of vengeance set in the 1800s or satirising Hollywood’s Golden Age, Tarantino’s films never fail to entertain.
While Tarantino’s approach to filmmaking is undeniably unique – so much so that he has become an inspiration to a new generation of filmmakers – he readily acknowledges the invaluable influence of the directors who came before him. Born in 1963, Tarantino had the privilege of witnessing the groundbreaking milestones achieved by legendary filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg. Standing on the shoulders of these giants, Tarantino honed his craft to become a salient force in his own right.
While Tarantino gleaned important tips from his peers and forebears, he’s a party to the philosophy that anyone can make a good movie, so long as they have a passion for cinema. “You don’t have to know how to make a movie,” Tarantino said in an interview appearing on the Reservoir Dogs DVD. “If you truly love cinema, with all your heart, and with enough passion, you can’t help but make a good movie. You don’t have to go to school. You don’t have to know a lens… you know, a 40 and a 50 and a… Fuck all that shit. You’re crossing a line. None of that shit’s important.”
“Give me the best argument you know for the power of cinema,” broadcaster Charlie Rose asked Tarantino on another occasion.
“One of the things about cinema that I just find moving, and why it’s my favourite artform is – people have much aesthetics about what it is they like about cinema,” he replied. “To me, what gets me is, when you go to a movie, and you see a certain sequence, and if there’s real cinematic power, and there’s cinematic flair, there are certain filmmakers out there you feel were touched by god to make movies. There will be a combination of editing and sound and visual images connected with music.
“When those things work, and they really connect – and an example could be the final gunfight scene in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, like a sequence I can’t ever imagine topping. For the one sequence, I can’t ever imagine doing anything that good. It’s like, you forget to breathe, you are really transported to a different place, and music doesn’t quite do that on its own, and novels don’t quite do it, and painting doesn’t quite do it”.
He added: “They do it their way, but in cinema – especially if you’re in a theatre and you’re sharing the experience with a bunch of other people, so it’s this mass thing going on – oh, it’s just truly, truly thrilling.”
Tarantino further discussed his love for Sergio Leone’s masterpiece spaghetti western in an interview with Empire. Asked what his favourite scene was, Tarantino replied: “That’s easy. During the three-way bullring showdown at the end, the music builds to the giant orchestra crescendo, and when it gets to the first big explosion of the theme, there’s a wide shot of the bullring. After you’ve seen all the little shots of the guys getting into position, you suddenly see the whole wideness of the bullring and all the graves around them. It’s my favourite shot in the movie, but I’ll even say it’s my favourite cut in the history of movies.”
Watch the famous showdown scene below.
Never Miss A Take
The Far Out Quentin Tarantino Newsletter
All the latest Quentin Tarantino content from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.