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The Films of Quentin Tarantino, a Homage to the Seventies
Part 1.
In the first films of Quentin Tarantino >
Reservoir
Dogs (1992) and >
Pulp
Fiction (1994) the genre
of the Nouvelle Violence was defined, but he was also the initiator of the
Seventies revival in the movie-theatre. From the second half of the Nineties
a considerable amount of films have been released that are situated in the
Seventies. Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine (1998) leads us back to the
glamrock of the Seventies, while the Last Days of Disco (Whit
Stillman, 1998) and 54 (Mark Christopher, 1998) revive the disco era.
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| Quentin Tarantino (l.) and Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction |
Remakes
The loose sexual morality returns in Ang Lee's The Ice Storm,
Anderson's Boogie Nights, Spike Lee's Summer of Sam (1999),
Moodysson's Together (2000). Next to these period films, over the
last decade there have been several remakes of films and t.v.-series from
the Seventies, including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper,
1974/ Marcus Nispel, 2003), Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero, 1978/
Zack Snyder, 2004), Assualt on Precinct 13 (John carpenter, 1976/
Jean-Francois Richet, 2005), Charlies Angels (1976-1981/ McG, 2000; Charlies
Angles: Full Throttle, McG, 2003), (The Incredible) Hulk
(1978-1982/Ang Lee, 2003) and Starsky & Hutch (1975-1979- Todd
Philips, 2004).
Ear-slicing
The >
films of Quentin Tarantino
have this unmistakable Seventies feel which feature all of his work up to
now. In Reservoir Dogs the music of radio station K-Billys plays a
part in the narration with the Super Sounds of the Seventies Weekend. The
grimness of the ear-slicing scene (inspired by Corbucci's Spaghetti Western Django,
1966), is lightened by the uplifting tune of the Stealer Wheel's Stuck in
the Middle With You, with the text giving an ironic comment to the
action. And thanks to the success of the film and the soundtrack, George
Baker (Little Green Bag) has been rescued from oblivion.
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The infamous ear-slicing scene in Reservoir Dogs |
John Travolta
While Reservoir Dogs was situated in the Eighties (the Madonna-hitsong
Like a Virgin from 1984 is discussed), Pulp Fiction is
somewhat difficult to place in time. Yet, also in these films of Quentin
Tarantino there are plenty of references to the Seventies, in the music, the
cars and off course in the presence of John Travolta. Travolta, who
performed in two box-office hits in the Seventies, Saturday Night Fever
(John Badham, 1977) and Grease (Randal Kleiser, 1978), films that
overshadowed his further career up to Pulp Fiction. When the Travolta
character Vincent Vega is tempted by Mia Wallace to participate in a dance
competition in a Fifties-retro diner, we are instantly reminded of his
breakthrough films. Travolta is part of the Seventies, just like the
nostalgia for the Fifties.
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Samuel jackson (l.) and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction
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In the second part of this article sequence on the >
films of Quentin
Tarantino and his ode to the Seventies, we'll
focus on the adrenalin injection sequence in Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown and
the Kill Bill diptych!
Click here for more articles on numerous subjects within >
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