Going back to 1992, writer/director Quentin Tarantino has proved himself to be one of the most exceptional filmmakers in Hollywood. Not only does he consistently produce some absolutely incredible movies year after year, but those titles also notably feature particular scenes so amazing that you still find yourself talking about them years after first watching them. And it’s those sequences that we are here to celebrate today, as his latest work, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, is now available through AMC Theatres On Demand!
Quentin Tarantino has made nine phenomenal films over the last 27 years, but when thinking back on his entire career to date, here are the moments that especially stand out in the collection of his work.
Reservoir Dogs: A Cop Gets Stuck in the Middle With Mr. Blonde
Few filmmakers made the kind of instant impact that Quentin Tarantino did when he arrived on the scene with RESERVOIR DOGS. But most directors also don’t have scenes as harrowing and incredible as what transpires when Michael Madsen’s Mr. Blonde is left alone with a kidnapped and restrained police officer (Kirk Baltz). Everything about this sequence is iconic, from the music selection (“Stuck in the Middle With You” by Stealers Wheel), to the camera movement (epically following Mr. Blonde in real time as he retrieves a gas canister from his trunk), to the very specific form of torture (the off-camera ear removal). It’s remarkable filming and a sequence that ends with a brilliant bang.
Rent or buy RESERVOIR DOGS through AMC Theatres On Demand.
Pulp Fiction: Ezekiel 25:17
Particularly thanks to its anthology-esque story structure, PULP FICTION is very much built on a foundation of episodic and epic confrontations and conflicts, but standing above them all — including Mia’s overdose, the Mexican standoff in the diner and Butch’s revenge — is Samuel L. Jackson’s genius monologue as Jules Winnfield while he and John Travolta’s Vincent Vega are working to recover a stolen briefcase. It’s not a precisely accurate recitation of Ezekiel 25:17 from the Bible, with Quentin Tarantino taking some liberties with the language, but its delivery is legendary — and not just a great scene from a Tarantino movie, but one of the greatest moments in 20th-century filmmaking.
Rent or buy PULP FICTION through AMC Theatres On Demand.
Kill Bill: Vol. 1: The Crazy 88 Fight
Between RESERVOIR DOGS, PULP FICTION and JACKIE BROWN, Quentin Tarantino spent his career in the 1990s proving himself a genius at making dialogue-heavy crime films. But in 2003, he stepped into the action arena with the kung fu cinema-inspired KILL BILL, and in doing so he delivered one of the most flabbergasting fight sequences movie fans will ever see. At first, it seems like The Bride (Uma Thurman) might be in trouble, surrounded on all sides by a horde of suit-clad, sword-wielding yakuza gang members, but it doesn’t take more than a few seconds for her to illustrate her intense dominance over all of them, executing stunning gymnastics and technique and creating a remarkably bloody mess.
Rent or buy KILL BILL: VOL. 1 through AMC Theatres On Demand.
Inglourious Basterds: The Execution of Operation Kino
Given the amount of setup in the film — with both the heroic-yet-brutal titular Special Forces unit and Mélanie Laurent's Shosanna Dreyfus crafting individual plans to take down the primary leaders of the Nazi party during a movie premiere — INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS is a work that absolutely needed an explosive finish… but boy, does it deliver. The way in which the two assassination plots dovetail is absolutely magnificent, and there are few sequences that feature the same kind of total chaos and violent splendor.
Buy INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS through AMC Theatres On Demand.
The Hateful Eight: Major Marquis Warren Tells a Story
There are few actor-director pairings in history that are as successful as the relationship forged between Samuel L. Jackson and Quentin Tarantino, which goes a long way in explaining why two of the star’s monologues have found their way onto this list. Jackson delivers one of the best performances of his career as the central protagonist in THE HATEFUL EIGHT, and it includes yet another stunning speech — this one delivered in aim of antagonizing and baiting the racist Confederate general played by Bruce Dern. It’s some of Tarantino’s best writing and delivered in perfectly epic fashion.
Rent or buy THE HATEFUL EIGHT through AMC Theatres On Demand.
