Quentin Tarantino reveals his “favourite cut in the history of movies”
It should be no surprise to any Quentin Tarantino fan that the American cinephile is a serious movie nerd, having developed an encyclopedic knowledge of cinema history throughout the years. As a nod to the industry’s finest filmmakers, he regularly drops references to inspiring movies in his films, tributing Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing 1992s Reservoir Dogs and Japanese samurai cinema in 2003s Kill Bill.
Opting not to go to film school in his youth, Tarantino instead immersed himself in the history of the art form, learning from such auteurs as Martin Scorsese, Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone, to name just a few. Becoming a student of cinema, Tarantino has gone from being the apprentice to being the master, with the filmmaker having informed the direction of 21st-century cinema ever since the release of his iconic Palme d’Or winner Pulp Fiction in 1994.
The filmmaker revealed his ability to take in the influences of other filmmakers and creatives in an interview with The Talks. “[My] head is a sponge,” he tells the publication. “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”.
As such, Tarantino is easily able to recall his “favourite cut in the history of movies,” telling Empire in 2020 that the moment exists in one of his all-time favourite films, Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.
Asked for his favourite shot in the iconic 1966 western, Tarantino responded: “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”.
Continuing, he adds: “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”. As if he hadn’t already articulated his passion for the climactic moment, Tarantino excitedly exclaims, “It’s my favourite shot in the movie, but I’ll even say it’s my favourite cut in the history of movies”.
Telling the story of two scammers who create a tense alliance whilst racing to find a fortune of gold buried in a deserted cemetery against a third hunter, Leone’s film is considered one of the greatest movies of the 1960s. Adored by masses of fans worldwide, the film, starring Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef, is well known for its masterful stand-off sequence that bookends the classic.
Popularly known as the most influential director ever to grace the western genre, Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter, credited as the creator of the spaghetti western genre.
Emerging in the 1960s, these movies that tackled typical themes of the western genre whilst being filmed and produced in Europe would forever change the patriotic form of storytelling. Bringing experimentation, class, and eccentric flair, Leone’s influence would take the genre to new heights.
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