Quentin Tarantino is a bit of a legend, isn’t he? I mean, some may not like his film obsessed and sycophantic dialogue that actually happens sometimes (all of his characters, most of the time, have at least one movie conversation. And it is highly enjoyable if you do love film, not so much if you don’t). Then again, some of his stellar characters, his ultra-violent ways and brilliant stories translate incredibly. With many, he dared to do what filmmakers weren’t doing and revelled in doing it with the childish glee of many who wield a camera with passion. It’s only natural, then, that people behind the camera want to appear as many times as possible in their films. Hitchcock did. Scorsese has a massive speech in Taxi Driver.
But no one does cameos in their own movies quite like Tarantino!
Honourable Mention: Little Nicky as the crazed priest but that film is terrible and Planet Terror which is equal parts disgusting and fun!
LeQuint Dickey’s Mining Company is an awful slave owning mining company that is only spoken about in vicious tones when Samuel L Jackson’s Stephen taunts the titular gun toting slave Django. After he and Dr King Schultz, raged through Candie Land killing the brattish Calvin and many other people only to reach a stalemate with those in the house, Django is sent to the company to serve penance as brutally as possible. The company, however, is run by two Australians and an American. Of those three people, who do you think Quentin plays? Of course, one of the Australians! With a really terrible accent, the inexplicable cameo also sees the director blow himself up which is hilarious.
Death Proof is one of those unsung Tarantino films that was actually quite brilliant (and you can read about it with Jo’s review now). Centring on a collection of truly beautifully kick ass ladies and pitting them against Kurt Russell, the car centric and stunterrific collection of road hijinks is often missed by many. But with the likes of Rose McGowan and Rosario Dawson, Death Proof works so well. But pouring the drinks so slyly and coiffed is Quentin Tarantino. He appears here as the bartender Warren in a dive of a bar, drinking as many shots as possible and being all smarmy.
Moving on to his larger roles and it goes without saying that Tarantino’s best turn in a film he has either directed or written is as Richard “Richie” Gecko – the troubled and psychotic younger brother of the criminal brothers (next to George Clooney which shows how unfair genetics can be when you’re elder sibling is sultry and smouldering). The role is clearly relished upon by Tarantino as he gets to live out the psychopathic tendencies he has poured into the screen. When set upon by vampires, and meeting his comeuppance (as well as achieving titillation with his foot fetish,) Richie is an amazing Tarantino performance.
Well, he is just shit here. Get it? Ahem. Anyway, Reservoir Dogs was Quentin Tarantino’s first project and highly successful too. Often quoted as being one of the best films of all time, particularly from an independent filmmaker, it is cited by many critics as excellent. It revolves around a bank heist gone wrong when the police are alerted to the diamond thieves present – these thieves being odd jobs brought in by a financier to pull it off. However, when they retreat back to the warehouse, suspicions and paranoia mounts and soon it’s all-out war between them. Tarantino finds himself at the unfortunate end of a bullet as Mr Brown and is killed before all of the tension escalates.
Sarcastic, pissed off but with the best coffee in town, Quentin’s Jimmie is a delight in a film that is already note perfect. Set in the bustling nineties LA with a broken narrative that was innovative at the time (scoring Quentin an Oscar for his writing,) Pulp Fiction was a riotous thriller. Quentin Tarantino, who starts his incredible career with Samuel L Jackson here, is the disgruntled friend of Winston Wolf (who now can get fantastic insurance deals) who is anxious his wife doesn’t see the bloody interior of Vincent and Jules car.
What Do You Think?
What other films have Tarantino appeared in?
What do you like?
Let us know in the comments