Quentin Tarantino picks out “one of the greatest pieces of music written for a movie”
Quentin Tarantino is renowned not only for his cinematic work but also for his meticulously chosen soundtracks. A prime example is his 1994 masterpiece, Pulp Fiction, which boasts one of the most iconic scores in history. The soundtrack effortlessly transitions between the rock and roll legend Chuck Berry and the funky sounds of Kool & the Gang from the 1970s.
However, his fondness for soundtracks doesn’t end here — as gifted as he is when it comes to choosing the perfect film score, he also enjoys admiring the choices made by others. Widely regarded as one of Jerry Goldsmith’s most dynamic creations, his soundtrack Under Fire has become a fan favourite since its release in 1992.
Specifically, fans point towards ‘The Main Theme’ as his magnum opus, an opinion also shared by Tarantino. “‘The Main Theme’ is one of the greatest pieces of music written for a movie,” he explained. “It’s so haunting, so beautiful, – full of pan flutes and stuff. It’s shattering y’know – like a Morricone theme. Oddly enough, ‘The Main Theme’ works really well, but they never play it over the opening credits. They play it over the middle and during the closing credits, which is very strange.”
Like many others, Tarantino is also a massive fan of The King himself, Elvis Presley. The director particularly enjoys The Sun Sessions, calling it “the purest expression of Elvis there was”.
He explains: “When I was young, I used to think Elvis was the voice of truth. I don’t know what that means, but his voice… shit man, it sounded so fucking pure. If you grew up loving Elvis, this is it. Forget the Vegas period: if you really love Elvis, you’re ashamed of that man in Vegas. You feel like he let you down. The hillbilly cat never let you down.”
On the subject of musical luminaries, it comes as no surprise that Tarantino is also a tremendous fan of Bob Dylan. In a feature with Uncut, he pointed out the album Blood On The Tracks, calling it his “favourite album ever”.
Tarantino elaborated: “He totally blew me away with this,” he said, “It’s like the great album from the second period, y’know? He did that first run of albums in the Sixties, then he started doing his less troublesome albums – and out of that comes Blood On The Tracks. It’s his masterpiece.”
Tarantino also praised the song ‘Tangled Up in Blue’ from Blood on the Tracks, stating that it was his favourite song of all time because “the lyrics are ambiguous you can actually write the song yourself”. The director felt as if Dylan was being particularly playful with audiences, inviting them to interpret the song any way they wanted to.
The director has openly shown his appreciation for the groundbreaking contributions of Elvis and Dylan on different occasions. In one instance, he likened Dylan to the French New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, suggesting that both of them were catalysts of revolution in their respective artistic domains, bringing about transformative shifts through their innovative bursts of creativity.
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