Quentin Tarantino on the movie that made him take film criticism seriously
The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood director Quentin Tarantino has recalled the movie that made him start taking film criticism seriously in a recent interview.
The director, who is steadily preparing for the production of his 10th and final film, The Movie Critic, took the time to sit down with Variety to discuss his career and approach to filmmaking. Speaking about the movies that have inspired him over the years, Tarantino made reference to Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and John Flynn’s Rolling Thunder, having high praise for the 1977 latter.
“It was the movie that made me start taking myself seriously as a film critic,” Tarantino said of Flynn’s movie, which stars Tommy Lee Jones, William Devane and Linda Haynes.
Still, Tarantino thought the ending of the film, which was penned by Paul Schrader, should’ve been a little more gory. When pushed about this position, he explained: “Well, I like violent movies…But he [Schrader] didn’t just want violence for violence’s sake”.
Continuing, he adds: “Paul Schrader doesn’t recognize this movie any more than I recognize Oliver Stone’s version of ’Natural Born Killers,’” he said, explaining the pitfalls of Flynn’s direction. He read Schrader’s script and realized that the revenge element of the screenplay dies off in the end when Flynn removed the mass rage killing, destroying characters’ element of insanity”.
Take a look at the trailer that greatly inspired Tarantino below.
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