Every Quentin Tarantino movie, ranked

Quentin Tarantino shouldn’t be a household name.

His films are brutally violent and insanely profane. His influences are mainly films that the average person has never heard of, and he borrows from every last one of them. His dialogue-driven films stand out in an era when box office titans are comprised of explosions and chase scenes (although Tarantino can do that well, too). A major component of his body of work is including songs that nobody’s ever heard of. He shouldn’t have any sort of mass following.

Yet he does. He’s one of the only auteur directors that still drives people to the theater in droves. And with good reason. His films are flashy and alluring, he attracts major talent (Samuel L. Jackson, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, etc.), and he’s just a straight-up cinematic genius. All of the aforementioned songs nobody has heard never of immediately become super popular. Individual moments, lines, and images from his filmography have become imbedded into popular culture. He deserves his fame simply because he’s just that good. He’s so good, in fact, that he’s never made a bad film. And that is where we begin in this ranking of all 9 Quentin Tarantino films. (Only counting directed films, so no True Romance or From Dusk Till Dawn. Kill Bill counts as one film. Spoilers ahead).

9- The Hateful Eight

Again, there’s no bad Tarantino film. There’s a bad half of one, however. The first half of The Hateful Eight serves one purpose, and it’s to get all of its characters into one place. That’s it. That’s half of a close to three hour movie. Now, that’s not to say that the first half is a total failure. It looks fantastic, and it’s incredibly well acted, especially on behalf of Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Bruce Dern. The reason that the movie itself isn’t bad is the second half. From the halfway point on, The Hateful Eight is so great that you almost forget how slow the first half is. Characters die at an alarming rate and every death comes out of nowhere. The tension built up in the first half pays off big time as everything comes to a head in a masterwork of tension. Most importantly, it’s an essentially Tarantinoesque film. It’s very dialogue driven and features almost all of his recurring actors, such as Jackson, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, and Zoe Bell, among others. And Ennio freakin’ Morricone did the score! But still, something had to be last.

8- Death Proof

It is perhaps my most unpopular opinion on Tarantino’s films that Death Proof is actually really good. It’s especially good for what it is, which is an intentionally cheap and sleazy tribute to the grindhouse movies of the seventies. And it works absolutely perfectly as that. It’s sleazy as hell and twice as gritty. It’s brutally violent and super cheap (which, again, is by design). It all comes together perfectly as a brilliant storm of pure cinematic bliss. The key to the whole thing, however, is Kurt Russell in one of his career best performances. His psychotic Stuntman Mike is one of the greatest villains in the Tarantino canon, and he’s the reason that what otherwise wouldn’t work works. It’s one of the greatest performances in all of Tarantino’s movies, and it’s so much fun (but also really guilt-inspiring) to watch him exact works of sheer evil and psychosis spanning both parts of the movie, the only thing tying both acts together. Both car scenes are masterful. The first, at the conclusion of the first half, is a brilliant scene, combining Tarantinoesque tension and elements of slasher horror to create something so brutal yet so utterly fantastic. The second, the climactic chase scene that runs for pretty much the entire fourth quarter of the film, is a work of pure technical precision. Tarantino directs the chase masterfully, and it’s fun to see him work outside of his typical comfort zone in trying (and succeeding) to craft an action sequence. Death Proof is not without its shortcomings, though. The third quarter of the film is just kinda nothing, and the premise really limits what it can be by design. Not a masterpiece, but it’s truly great and likely his most underrated film.

7- Jackie Brown

Tarantino’s films are their own genre, but yet they all seem to pay tribute to others. Reservoir Dogs is a heist movie, Pulp Fiction is an homage to the titular works, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight are westerns, Inglourious Basterds is a war movie, Kill Bill is like 19 different ones and Death Proof is a grindhouse film. Jackie Brown is Tarantino’s contribution to the early-70s blaxploitation genre, even going so far as to cast the biggest star of the movement in the title role. Pam Grier is phenomenal, but Jackie Brown (the film) is complicated enough that she’s not really the main character. Samuel L Jackson’s charismatic gun nut Ordell Robbie steals the show, Robert DeNiro’s (!) depraved, burnt-out Louis and Bridget Fonda’s sardonic Melanie play major roles, and Michael Keaton’s agent Ray Nicolette is… there. And of course, there’s Robert Forster (who earned Jackie Brown’s only oscar nomination for this role) as bail bondsman Max Cherry, who delivers the fifth best performance in this movie. The issue with this film isn’t that there’s too much going on, it’s that it isn’t handled well. Tarantino is adapting here, from Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch. Watching Jackie Brown, it’s visible that it’s not entirely his work. It’s definitely a Tarantino film, but it’s not all there. Nevertheless, Jackie Brown can be fantastic at times. Jackson’s car-trunk assassination of one of his henchmen is a stellar scene, and his AK-47 monologue is so much fun. The plot is delightfully twisty and complex, and it has the vague feel of an Ocean’s 11-type heist thriller. It runs a little long and, unlike Pulp Fiction (which shares the runtime down to the minute), feels like it. Jackie Brown falls short of masterpiece status, but it’s still pretty great.

6- Django Unchained

We’re in the truly great stuff now. Everything from this point on, including Django, is a masterpiece, and it’s ridiculous that a film of this quality, a film that features Christoph Waltz as a bounty hunting dentist, falls on the bottom half of this list. Jamie Foxx’s fantastic lead role as the title character is overshadowed by some of the best performances in any Tarantino movie, on behalf of Waltz, Samuel L Jackson, and Leonardo DiCaprio (more on that one in a little bit). It’s a brilliant redemption story, and it contains one of the finest (and bloodiest) scenes in Tarantino’s filmography in the Candieland Massacre. It’s nothing short of an epic, something that might’ve been made by Sergio Leone or David Lean if they were buried in the pet sematary and came back more disturbed and violent. It’s also far more exhilarating and fun than any movie about slavery has any right to be, in kind of an Inglourious Basterds-type way. As for DiCaprio’s role, it’s one of his career best and it’s a shame he wasn’t even nominated for an oscar for it. His vindictive plantation owner, Calvin Candie, is nothing short of terrifying as he menaces over every single frame he’s in with conniving faux-properness. Django’s quest is probably the most compelling Tarantino has ever crafted, as the audience is with him all the way in the quest to find his wife. Django Unchained comes together in the kind of way that all of Tarantino’s best films do, and it’s certainly one of them.

5- Kill Bill

It’s one film. This is not negotiable. It’s one story and Vol. 2 picks up at the conclusion of Vol.1. It works best as a complete, glorious, 4-hour whole. The Bride is the second best Tarantino character (the best has yet to come on this list), and she’s played with masterful determination and sorrow by Uma Thurman. None of the main villains aren’t fleshed out (especially the eponymous one). In a feat incredibly rare for something of its length, not a single scene feels out of place. The house of blue leaves scene is one of my absolute favorite scenes in cinematic history, and Bill’s death is one of the greatest death scenes ever constructed. It’s a first-order epic, and everyone either loves or hates it. I’m a full-on devotee to the “love” side. It spans pretty much every genre, zigzagging from a Samurai film to anime to a western to a sort of exploitation horror-type thing (the box). The cliffhanger at the end of volume 1 is one of the best, and it’s scientifically impossible to watch it without immediately watching volume 2 (trust me, I know science and stuff). It’s impeccable, awesome, and brilliant. It’s the film that Quentin Tarantino would make if given an infinite budget and access to any actor he could want. How Thurman and David Carradine didn’t get oscar consideration baffles me.

4- Reservoir Dogs

Where it all started. Reservoir Dogs launched a half-dozen careers (including QT’s), revitalized a couple more (Harvey Keitel and Lawrence Tierney) and firmly entrenched itself into cinematic history. It’s one of the all time greatest independent films, and it’s an independent film to its very core (although it doesn’t really feel like it). It’s so famously low-budget that the iconic suits were provided for free by a crime film fan and the other clothes worn by the characters were the actors’ own. There’s so many iconic scenes, such as the opening diner scene (Like a Virgin and Steve Buscemi’s tipping monologue in the same scene), the slow-mo opening credits scene (one of the greatest opening credits sequences ever) and of course, that one. Michael Madsen’s psychotic lunatic torturing a cop to Stealer’s Wheel’s Stuck in the Middle with You is many things, including the greatest needle drop ever, possibly Tarantino’s finest scene, and the beginning of one of the greatest filmmaking careers of the modern era because, let’s face it, without it the film wouldn’t have been as big of a success. Reservoir Dogs is another one that just comes together perfectly, combining stellar performances, spectacular writing, and tension that you can cut with a knife on every single watch. Reservoir Dogs is a pop culture landmark and a cinematic masterwork, and it doesn’t even manage to crack Quentin Tarantino’s top 3 films.

3- Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood

Tarantino’s latest is one of his absolute best, which is odd considering how much it diverges from his other work. It’s far less urgent and tense, it progresses slowly, and it takes a far more humane and tender approach to its characters. (What could be construable as spoilers approaching) Its revisionism is done with glee, similar to Basterds and Django, but there’s a softer edge to it. These characters, for all of their outward projections of toughness and machismo, care about each other. But yet for all of Hollywood’s rarities, it couldn’t have been made by anyone else. It meanders and often stands still, but it contains sequences of tension unparalleled even in his own filmography. The Spahn Ranch sequence is one of his absolute best- it felt to me reminiscent of Basterds’ basement bar scene. And the climax is as shocking, violent, and brilliant as anything he’s ever done. Overall, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is essential Tarantino. It’s a completely unforgettable masterpiece. The further removed I am from my first viewing, the more I feel that this placement is right. Who knows? After further viewings, it might be even higher.

My full review of this film is here.

2- Inglourious Basterds

This was unbelievably close to taking the top spot. It’s another one of Tarantino’s latter-career revisionist history epics, an oddly specific genre he would return to for Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight (and, as it turns out, Once Upon a time in Hollywood). Basterds seems to get better with every rewatch, as every one of the aspects that makes it great holds up. Brad Pitt is at his best, Michael Fassbender is ridiculous in his two or three (not so brief) scenes, Christoph Waltz (duh) turns in an all time performance, and god it’s so much fun to watch Hitler’s skin slide off of his head. The climactic theater scene is incredible and it’s still not the best scene in the film. The half hour basement bar scene is possibly the greatest thing Tarantino has ever done, and it’s a masterclass in screenwriting, acting, and tension (soooo much tension). It’s so much fun, brilliant on a technical level, and unexpectedly funny (Hugo. Stiglitz.). It’s worth noting that Mike Myers is in it, and also Winston Churchill is played by Rod Taylor, who happens to be the male lead in Hitchcock’s The Birds (this isn’t necessary information, I just want as many people to know as possible). And now the time has come to talk about Waltz. His Nazi Hans Landa is disarmingly courteous and sophisticated, and he views his work as just that: work. He’s conniving, he’s terrifying, and worst of all- he’s charming. He’s Tarantino’s greatest character, period. He’s an all time great villain, and the secret to the whole thing. The opening scene at the farmhouse is one of the best acted ever, and it would work as a short film on an oscar-worthy level. Inglourious Basterds is perfect. It just might be Tarantino’s masterpiece.

1- Pulp Fiction

Shocker, right? There’s a reason that Pulp Fiction is consistently hailed as Tarantino’s masterpiece, and it’s that it’s simply one of the greatest films ever made. Endlessly rewatchable and quotable, Pulp Fiction is another one that has totally ingrained itself into pop culture. It features one of the all time best death scenes (Aw man, I shot Marvin in the face), is absolutely hilarious, (He hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up his ass…, also Marvin’s aforementioned demise). It’s Christopher Walken at his absolute best, if only for one scene (similar to his role in Annie Hall). Harvey Keitel is at a similar best in his iconic turn as The Wolf. Any number of scenes have become iconic, from the jackrabbit slim’s twist contest to the scene in Brent’s apartment (try to pick a favorite between “SAY WHAT AGAIN” and “ENGLISH, MOTHERF***ER”). Bruce Willis is in peak form, as are (obviously) Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta. The final scene in the diner stands out as one of the most well-written in all of Tarantino’s films. Don’t even get me started on the theory that the briefcase contains Marsellus Wallace’s soul. There’s too much to talk about with Pulp Fiction and most of it has been said already, so suffice it to say that it’s a masterwork that works ceaselessly throughout its entire runtime. As close as Inglourious Basterds may be, this is the obvious number one. In the 25 years since its release, Tarantino has never topped it, nor has anyone else (with the exception of maybe Barry Jenkins with Moonlight). Tarantino’s career is as illustrious as anyone’s, and this is the film that epitomizes that. I’ve been writing for two hours now, so if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go home and have a heart attack.