The Path of a Righteous List: Ranking the films of Quentin Tarantino

You might remember Steve (Mr. Flyperbole) and myself ripping apart Noted Bad Ranker™ The AV Club for their terrible Steven Spielberg takes with a ranking of our own . We are now expanding on that idea and ranking the films of other famous directors. Think of this as an ongoing -- if infrequent -- series going forward.

How do you feel about Quentin Tarantino? Tarantino can be divisive and is certainly not for everyone, but it can\'t be denied that he is a gifted filmmaker, storyteller and a master of dialogue. He tends to get only the very best performances out of his actors in a way that not all directors can say they have. Three times he has been Oscar nominated for best director (Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), once for Best Picture (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and has won two Academy Awards for best original adapted screenplay for Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained. Despite being a filmmaker for nearly 30 years, he has only put out 10 films (though some will argue that both Kill Bill\'s are essentially one film...). Steve, Matt (our Flyers/Hockey Crossword Wizard) and I attempted a ranking of those 10 films and provide some thoughts. Agree, disagree? Leave those thoughts in the comments and let us know which director we should tackle next.

10. Death Proof Jay - 10, Steve - 10, Matt - 10

Jay - As you can see, this is the weakest of the Tarantino filmography, but that isn’t to say it is a bad film. For a Grindhouse film homage, it felt like the weaker of the two between Robert Rodriguez’s “Planet Terror” (which itself is a ton of fun). Kurt Russell really hams it up here and the film isn’t a total loss because you still have some great dialogue exchange and some thrilling car chases.

Steve - I wanted to like Death Proof so badly. Grindhouse was such a fun concept - two old school B-movies with fake trailers and an intermission. I certainly had a blast going to an actual theater for this one. Sadly, Death Proof just doesn’t click for me. Normally, I am all about Tarantino’s dialogue, but it feels like Death Proof is 95% dialogue with a dose of hot car action.

Matt - Really the only one of these movies that I haven’t seen at least twice. I do sometimes wish that Tarantino could do something as simple and straightforward as this again and I also really respect the double-feature concept and exploitation vibe to the whole thing. I definitely have at least rewatched some of the car chases on YouTube since 2007, so if you’re not a completionist, I’d recommend doing that. Some awesome stuff in there.

9. Kill Bill Vol. 2 Jay - 9, Steve - 7, Matt - 7

Jay - Perhaps I just expected more. Each conflict with the remainder of the “Deadly Viper Assassination Squad” feels underwhelming even though I adore all the actors (Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen and David Carradine). The action we did get was less thrilling and felt like a completely different film than Vol. 1.

Steve - Kill Bill Vol. 2 is an oddball. It’s very good, but simultaneously disappointing. It’s got some of Tarantino’s best dialogue, but did not give me the thrills of Vol. 1 . That said, who can forget the five-point-palm exploding-heart-technique? How do I see the Whole Bloody Affair? I need it, bad.

Matt - At some point, I realized that despite gore, action, and violence being one of Tarantino’s things, it’s not necessarily the thing that I gravitate towards in his filmography. In fact, I’m not typically a huge action person in general. Luckily, though, Tarantino also excels at creating insanely watchable scenes, memorably pitched dialogue, and interesting characters. And that’s where this movie works for me, in some ways moreso than the first volume. But it’s also where Tarantino starts going really big, which in some ways is awesome and a thing I wish for all the autuers that I love, but I also prefer indie Tarantino.

8. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood Jay - 8, Steve - 8, Matt - 5

Jay - This film looks gorgeous and gives you all the Old Hollywood feels. Pitt and DiCaprio are amazing, but the story is anything but interesting and features a weird scene with a fictional Bruce Lee that doesn’t work. The ending is fun, but between this alternate history reality ending and Inglourious Basterds, this one felt less satisfying.

Steve - Of all of the films on this list, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is the one that I most desperately need to rewatch. This is a film that fell prey to massive expectations on my part. I wanted to love this so badly. Don’t get me wrong, I like Once Upon a Time quite a bit, especially the part with the flamethrower, but it just did not fully scratch that itch for me.

Matt - When I first saw this movie, I was a little sour over the ending. Tarantino’s big trick for Inglorious Basterds and then Django Unchained was the whole surprise alternate history thing, so when it happened again with Margot Robbie’s Sharon Tate at the end of his most recent movie, I just felt like he was really overusing it. But ultimately, I do think this is the best of the bunch. That’s an example of allowing the context around a film to affect the actual between-the-credits of a film, and upon taking a fairer approach to this movie, it’s become one of my favorites. The vibe, the cast, the movies .

7. Django Unchained Jay - 4, Steve - 8, Matt - 8

Jay - I adored this when it first came out and perhaps I need a rewatch as I am the high-man in this ranking. There was just something about Jamie Foxx’s suaveness as a freeman bounty hunter in the slave-era South, the smooth-talking mentor Christoph Waltz, the evilness of DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie and the physical transformation of Samuel L. Jackson. The movie made you feel uncomfortable at times, but also had you cheering at the end. It was an excellent theater experience.

Steve - Django Unchained is one of the few films on this list that I did not see in the theater. Django is some editing away from being higher on my list. It’s a very good film, but just needs to be tighter. Australian slaver has to be Tarantino’s worst acting role, right? Jamie Foxx, however, has never been better. Can you imagine this film with Will Smith? It would have been totally different. Foxx brings the right level of gravitas, charm, and humor to make Django an instant classic of a character. Just cut the film down by 30 minutes, Quentin!

Matt - I also liked this movie more when it first came out and I think was perhaps surpassed by The Hateful Eight in the canon of “Tarantino Westerns” and so has fallen in my rankings a little bit. I also think that Tarantino can be very hit-or-miss when it comes to any kind of social commentary, particularly race, and he does a much better job a few years later than he does here.

6. Kill Bill Vol. 1 Jay - 6, Steve - 4, Matt - 6

Jay - The first Kill Bill is just fun. It’s not terribly deep, but it doesn’t have to be. A fun homage to samurai and spaghetti westerns with a modern twist was nearly perfect. Everyone remembers her fight with the Crazy 88 and the Bride’s duel with Lucy Lui’s character in the snow. Tarantino created an interesting World with fun lore that you just wanted to dive deeper into. I just wish he finished off in a more fun way…

Steve - One of my favorite cinematic experiences is seeing Kill Bill Vol. 1 in the middle of the day with a smuggled in meal of bourbon chicken and fried rice. The Crazy 88s fight is hands down one of the greatest action sequences of all-time. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve rewatched it.

Matt - I appreciate the kung fu-style action in this movie (and in other movies) but it’s not always my thing. I’m also not really sure that Tarantino is necessarily the guy who we absolutely need to hear from re: rape revenge. I know it’s a classic trope of the genre that he’s dabbling in, but I also think one of the great things about Tarantino are the ways in which he can make traditional things for a modern audience. Good movie, but very action-heavy, maybe even a little too far in the wrong direction for me.

5. The Hateful Eight Jay - 7, Steve - 6, Matt - 2

Jay - Not a bad film, but forgettable? This feels like a less interesting Reservoir Dogs. The performances are all great, but I wasn’t as drawn into the murder mystery feel it was going for. I appreciated the twist in the story, but not enough to elevate it over the others on this list.

Steve - Like Matt, I saw The Hateful Eight on 70mm as part of the 70mm roadshow. The film is further down my list and I don’t feel like that’s fair. It has more to do with the quality of films on this list than my feelings on The Hateful Eight . I really do feel like seeing the film in that format (including the intermission) is a difference-maker for your appreciation of the material. The Hateful Eight is all about tension, and it builds better in the theater setting than at home.

The Hateful Eight gives us such a great Samuel L. Jackson performance. Obviously, he is all over this list. Samuel L. and Tarantino go together like peanut butter and motherfuckin’ chocolate. But, this is the film that gives us a true protagonist role for the bad motherfucker himself and lets him be Sherlock Holmes for a bunch of racist bastards in a blizzard.

Matt - I first saw The Hateful Eight— a bloody, snowy chamber piece that successfully examines the intersectionality of racism and misogyny better than any other Tarantino movie—in the 70mm roadshow format complete with overture and intermission in the days of it’s initial release and it remains one of the best moviegoing experiences I’ve ever had. But outside of that experience, I’ve also watched the regular, non-extended cut of the movie and the four-episode Netlflix miniseries cut and it remains, in my opinion and I guess not in the opinion of my colleagues, one of Tarantino’s best movies: long stretches of incredible tension-building into bursts of violence more brutal and surprising than his typical fare exacted by a cast of fleshed out and strikingly memorable characters played by a murderer’s row of great actors turning in fantastic performances. A late career masterpiece.

4. Jackie Brown Jay - 5, Steve, - 5, Matt - 4

Jay - I like to call this the forgotten film of Tarantino’s filmography. It had to follow-up his masterpiece in Pulp Fiction, so perhaps it was always going to be more critically judged. This is Tarantino’s play on a blaxploitation film based on a Elmore Leonard novel (who has done a lot of cool stuff like writing the book based on the TV series “Justified”). Anywho, SLJ is great as usual, but you get new collaborators who are masterful like Robert Forster and the legendary Pam Grier.

Steve - Jackie Brown is almost universally known as the most underrated film that Tarantino has directed. In the vein of Aleksander Barkov, if enough people call it underrated, does it become properly rated? Who is to say? Jackie Brown gives us Pam Grier’s greatest performance and some of the scummiest appearances for Samuel L. Jackson and Robert DeNiro.

Matt - Kind of the end of an era in Tarantino’s career, as it’s the last thing he makes outside of the Grindhouse experiment that is as tight, grounded, and contained. It probably helps that it’s the only time he’s ever adapted something, something I wish he’d done more of (or if he’s not actually retiring, something I wish he will do again). This should’ve been Pam Grier’s Oscar and she wasn’t even nominated.

3. Inglourious Basterds Jay - 2, Steve - 2, Matt - 9

Jay - This is one of the best acted films I’ve ever seen and I would love to watch scenes like the farm house and basement bar scenes for the first time again. Christoph Waltz deserved the Best Support Acting nod for this. How he encompassed someone as evil, but smart, like Hans Landa is something I think about every time I see his name mentioned. Besides that you get a whacky great performance from Brad Pitt and stunning work from Melanie Laurent and Michael Fassbender.

Steve - I wrote about tension with The Hateful Eight . What I love about Inglorious Basterds is that it gave us some of the tensest scenes in history. Hans Landa is one of the great villains in cinematic history. He is menace with a smile. Christop Waltz is unbelievable in Inglorious Basterds .

On top of that, there is the pub scene. I might have left fecal matter in my pants watching the showdown between Archie Hicox, Bridget von Hammersmark, and a bar full of Nazis. I have never held three fingers up the same way, since.

Bonjourno, indeed.

Matt - Possibly because the Inglorious Basterds disc in the Tarantino box set I’ve had since college was damaged, it’s the one I’ve rewatched the least—a good reminder of the ways in which outside factors and the relationships we have with media and art can color our opinions. Anyway, I do really enjoy this movie, I just enjoy eight other Tarantino movies more.

2. Reservoir Dogs Jay - 3, Steve - 3, Matt - 1

Jay - This was actually my favorite Tarantino film for a long time. It was the first film of his that I watched despite this, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown being out for a number of years already. It’s a wonderful feat from a first time filmmaker to craft a story and put it together so unconventionally. This might be one of the best if not the best heist movies without ever seeing the actual heist.

Steve - Reservoir Dogs forever affected how I think about tipping in diners and the song “Stuck in the Middle with You”. What a slap in the face of a film in 1992. It’s basically the bloodiest three act play that you’ve ever seen (for the love of god, someone do a stage production of Reservoir Dogs ). What a brilliant idea - following the aftermath of the heist. Paranoia, anger, and fear saturate Reservoir Dogs like Mr. Orange’s blood saturates everything and everyone he touches.

Everybody, throw in a buck.

Matt - In some ways, I have always been attracted to the scrappiness and heart of great artists’ earliest works—Springsteen’s Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ; Joyce’s Dubliners; Varda’s Cleo from 5 to 7 or even La Poine Courte . This is Tarantino at his earliest and scrappiest (at least of what’s survived and publically available), and it shows off so much of what makes him great. There’s a really effective use of violence, there’s a unique structural take on standard tropes and genres, and there’s a heavy focus placed on the dialogue and characterization. I even think that Tarantino’s experiment on the form here has more of a thematic reason for existing than Pulp Fiction ’s.

1. Pulp Fiction Jay - 1, Steve - 1, Matt 3

Jay - It is one the best films ever made, full stop. Iconic performances and set-pieces that are still quoted in pop-culture to this day. It also contains the greatest roles for three major actors (Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta and Uma Thurman), which I feel says a lot.

Steve - The one that started it all for me. My dad would rave about Pulp Fiction back in the day and this was a mind-blowing film for teenage Steve. Royale with cheese. Bad MFer. Every time I get a fancy milkshake, I think of Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace having dinner. This film is simply iconic.

Matt - Not a lot to say about this one that hasn’t already been said by a million people much smarter than me. Despite being probably my least favorite of the Tarantino movies I’d dub masterpieces, it’s still firmly in that tier. It begins his run of real masterful uses of movie stars and their personas, it is full of iconic images and scenes that create an endless rewatchability factor, and it displays Tarantino’s ability to cram together a punch of old puzzle pieces to make a new picture better than anything else he’s ever done.

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The Path of a Righteous List: Ranking the films of Quentin Tarantino

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