Quentin Tarantino’s unironic love for one of the worst movies ever made: “This is amazing stuff”
It’s common knowledge that Quentin Tarantino utterly adores some terrible movies, but praising one of the worst that’s ever been made, and likely will ever be made, as “amazing stuff” is several steps too far.
Even though he’s one of modern cinema’s most influential and successful auteurs, who usually finds themselves in the thick of the awards season conversation whenever he makes a new film and has influenced at least two generations of filmmakers, Tarantino has never been the pretentious sort.
Self-obsessed? A little. Arrogant? Potentially. Despite that, he’s one of the industry’s most famous and ardent cinephiles, with his expertise covering everything from Hollywood’s indisputable classics to B, C, and even Z-grade exploitation flicks that most people have never heard of.
However, there’s a distinct difference between an awful picture and one that lives forever in infamy, having come closer to scraping the absolute bottom of the cinematic barrel. Tarantino likes the Friday the 13th sequel, Jason X, Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger, and Ryan Reynolds’ Green Lantern, which is fine.
None of them are good, but it’s a stretch to say any of them deserve to be called the most offensive sins committed against cinema. Battlefield Earth, on the other hand, definitely does. A wretched, woeful, embarrassing blockbuster that failed so dismally, it killed an entire studio, John Travolta’s love letter to Scientology has precisely zero redeeming features.
While there are a few brave souls who maintain that it’s worth watching, only if viewed as an unintentional comedy, Tarantino was unironically effusive in his praise. According to director Roger Christian, anyway, who told Den of Geek he wasn’t the only heavy hitter who loved his dreadful film.
“Travolta and I took it to the ranch, and we showed George [Lucas] and 300 of the ILM people and everybody. They loved it,” he maintained. “Tarantino came to the premiere, sat with me, and he hugged me afterwards and said, ‘This is what I want to write. This is amazing stuff. You’re gonna be killed, all of you. But I just loved this film. Wait ten, 12 years, it’ll all come around,’ he said. “Forget it now. You’re gonna go through hell.”
On the plus side, at least Tarantino was being honest. Whether or not Christian’s recollections of the conversation are 100% accurate remains up for debate, especially a two-time Academy Award-winning auteur calling Battlefield Earth the kind of thing he’d want to write, but the director recalling that he was told by the Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs creator that his sci-fi farce was going to be pilloried from all corners does at least stand up to scrutiny, because that’s what happened.
Another positive is that, thanks to Tarantino and Lucas, there are at least two people who enjoyed Battlefield Earth. Three, if you include Kim Coates, the only cast member willing to defend it. For the rest of the population, though, it’s still shite. Rest assured; they remain firmly in the minority, because it’s impossible to polish some turds, and Travolta’s ultimate folly is one of them.
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