The 12 greatest movies ever made, according to Quentin Tarantino
Having burst onto the landscape of American independent cinema with Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino’s cinematic experiments altered the fundamental frameworks of American filmmaking in the 1990s.
It might sound like a grand notion, that one single filmmaker could completely shake the foundations of cinema, but that is just how influential Tarantino was. Born out of a sincere love for the movies, Tarantino was nurtured on the notion of cinematic prestige, and his post-modern mash-up of style and genre-bending storytelling allowed him to seamlessly define a decade.
Through Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill and more, the director cemented his legacy in a way he could have only ever dreamed of. Now, Hollywood prepares for life without one of the best as Tarantino plots his exit from the directing world. With The Critic expected to be the filmmaker’s final effort, his irresistibly stylish and violent plots will bid farewell. With that, we’re looking at the work that inspired the man himself, as Tarantino once offered a peek behind the curtain by revealing the 12 movies that he considers to be the greatest of all time.
For many, there’s no praise higher than one of the greatest filmmakers of all time stating his adoration of your work, but to list them down as part of his 12 favourites of all time is something different altogether. It acts as the perfect collection for anyone starting out on a bid to explore the darker side of Hollywood, the grittier side, the more violent side. If Tarantino had a signature style, then violence and blood would be at the centre of it, and, as you might imagine, that’s reflected in his choices.
Tarantino, who has often seen his films characterised by his unique storyline exploration and depiction of brutality, also revealed his admiration for similar feats of visual craftsmanship in joining those parallels at the seam. It’s something the director holds in the highest esteem and guides much of his choosing.
It means in Tarantino’s 12 favourite movies, he opts for the likes of the great Francis Ford Coppola, the man who inspired much of Tarantino’s work, Brian de Palma, an equally imposing figure in Tarantino’s world, and of course, the bastion of cinematic subtlety, Martin Scorsese. The list, however frivolous it may be, is a fair assumption of Tarantino’s inspiration.
Veering away from any piece of pretentious cinema, intellectualised or overtly stuffy, Tarantino has always prided himself on creating feature films for the audience before anybody else. He even once said: “When people ask me whether I went to film school, I answer no, I went to films!” It’s a perfect testament to his accessible but captivating style.
It just so happens that Tarantino’s style is ingrained in audience reward. While some directors are interested in servicing their own expression, not caring what the audience thinks of their movie. While it is likely Tarantino has a similar feeling in terms of gaining their approval, what he wants all his movies to provide is a true cinematic experience. No matter the genre, and no matter the story, Tarantino has the experience at the heart of all his movies.
The inclusion of ‘New Hollywood’ films such as Apocalypse Now and Taxi Driver should come as little surprise then, as he pays tribute to the filmmaker who, like him, was considered the ‘movie brats’ of their age. But he also reserved some room for the Steven Spielberg blockbuster, Jaws, perhaps the ultimate iteration of how Tarantino likes to make his projects.
Despite previously stating that Kinji Fukasaku’s super-violent film Battle Royale was his favourite film released since he became a director in 1992, Tarantino has chosen not to include it in the list he compiled for the Sight & Sound poll, instead, voting for a range of titles but all with one common theme: big payoffs.
Tarantino’s knowledge and fandom for cinema know no bounds, and his directional style has been heavily influenced by the feature films that dominated his youth. When discussing Tarantino’s love for cinema, actor Danny Strong once described the director as “such a movie buff” before explaining that “he had so much knowledge of films that he would try to get people to watch really cool movies”.
When learning about cinema, Tarantino once said: “[My] head is a sponge. 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,” in reference to the small details he likes to focus on when creating a new picture. “When I go and write my new characters, my pen is like an antenna, it gets that information, and all of a sudden these characters come out more or less fully formed,” he added. “I don’t write their dialogue, I get them talking to each other.”
Tarantino thinks in this way, so intrinsically connected with his audience, because frankly, he spent so much time as that audience. Paying a few bucks to eat popcorn and watch a movie was one of his greatest joys, and it’s one he wants to share.
Check out the 12 films that Quentin Tarantino calls the greatest below.
Quentin Tarantino’s 12 favourite movies:
- Apocalypse Now – Francis Ford Coppola, 1979.
- The Bad News Bears – Michael Ritchie, 1976.
- Carrie – Brian De Palma, 1976.
- Dazed and Confused – Richard Linklater, 1993.
- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly – Sergio Leone, 1966.
- The Great Escape – John Sturges, 1963.
- His Girl Friday – Howard Hawks, 1939.
- Jaws – Steven Spielberg, 1975.
- Pretty Maids All in a Row – Roger Vadim, 1971.
- Rolling Thunder – John Flynn, 1977.
- Sorcerer – William Friedkin, 1977.
- Taxi Driver – Martin Scorsese, 1976.
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