It’s no secret thatQuentin Tarantinoloves old movies and is a massive fan of referencing many of his favorites in his films. It’s one of his trademarks, and he’s widely celebrated (and sometimes criticized) for the way each movie he directs feels like a cocktail of different older movies blended into something that ends up feeling unique. While it’s hard to say how many films he has referenced,this listby a Letterboxd user suggests it’s at least 500, and who knows how many truly obscure movies he’s referenced in ways viewers haven’t even picked up on yet.
RELATED:Every Quentin Tarantino Movie Ranked from Worst to Best
It isn’t easy to judge which references are the best or most effective, given there are so many, but it is possible to take a look at the ones he took significant cues from. All of these are good movies in their own right and are worth checking out for any fans of Tarantino, as it’s always interesting to see where he gets his inspiration from.
‘Django’ (1966)
This is one of the clearest examples of a film Tarantino loves and has referenced, given the name was borrowed for his own 2012 western,Django Unchained. 1966’sDjangois a spaghetti western filled with brutal violence and a gritty atmosphere and involves a lone gunman getting mixed up in a massive conflict between two gangs in a particularly wild depiction of the west.
RELATED:Quentin Tarantino Wants to Make a Spaghetti Western Comedy
The original Django actor,Franco Nero, makes a neat cameo inDjango Unchained, and the film’s brutal violence indeed inspired the explosive shootoutsTarantinofilmed. Also worth noting is thatTarantinotook inspiration fromDjangoin his first film,Reservoir Dogs, as both films feature infamously graphic scenes where someone gets their ear sliced off.
‘The Dirty Dozen’ (1967)
The Dirty Dozenis a fantastically exciting WW2 movie that depicts one grizzled soldier putting together a team of prisoners and sending them off on a suicide mission, with the promise that should they survive, they’ll have their sentences canceled.
If it sounds moreSuicide Squadthan Tarantino, then maybe that’s because it is, but it was a key influence on Tarantino’s 2009 film,Inglourious Basterds. Each involves assembling a squad for a dangerous WW2 mission. Both have very high body counts, and the violent finale ofInglourious Basterdscertainly takes inspiration from the carnage found in the final act ofThe Dirty Dozen.
‘Band of Outsiders’ (1964)
Band of Outsidersisone of the most famous filmsby French New Wave directorJean-Luc Godard.It involves a trio of bored youths bonding over their love of movies before deciding to try their hand at pulling off a heist, crime film-style.
The film features a famous dance scene in a restaurant, which Tarantino likely referenced in the dance scene withUma ThurmanandJohn TravoltainPulp Fiction. Also, while not tied to a specific movie, the original French title for this film,Bande à part,was referenced in the name of the production company Tarantino co-founded, A Band Apart Films, so surely that counts for something?
‘The Thing’ (1982)
The Thingis one of the best horror movies of the 1980s andone of the best remakes of all time. It tells a simple yet gripping story about a shape-shifting alien life form that terrorizes a group of scientists isolated at a base in Antarctica.
RELATED:Quentin Tarantino Explains How John Carpenter’s ‘The Thing’ Helped Him Create ‘Reservoir Dogs’
While Tarantino hasn’t made a horror film or a science-fiction film (yet),The Thingapparently influencedReservoir Dogswith its general themes of trust and uncertainty. It was also a big inspiration for his 2015 western,The Hateful Eight. Both have cold, snowy settings, a group of characters, confined in one location, tensions and distrust bubbling throughout among its characters, and each gets pretty bloody near the end, too. Plus, it’s also worth mentioning thatKurt Russellstars in both!
‘Shogun Assassin’ (1980)
Shogun Assassintakes the first two films from the Japanese samurai film series,Lone Wolf and Cub, condenses them into one movie, and adds an English dub (interestingly,another American take on the storyhas been stuck in development hell for years).Shogun Assassinis a film that shows the violent and exciting adventures of an ostracized samurai and his very young son, who he wheels around in a wooden cart that’s also loaded with weaponry.
Broadly, the film was a likely influence on Tarantino’s love for samurai swords and high-pressure blood sprays, both of which feature particularly heavily inKill Bill Vol. 1. ButShogun Assassingets a more direct reference inKill Bill Vol. 2, where the main character watches it with her young daughter near the end of the film. It is not an appropriate movie for a child to watch, but it makes sense given parental themes abound in both Shogun Assassin and Kill Bill Vol. 2.
‘Thriller: A Cruel Picture’ (1973)
The title ofThriller: A Cruel Picturedoesn’t lie. It’s a thriller, and it’s incredibly cruel and brutal to watch at times, depicting a young woman’s relentless quest for revenge against a group of men who horrifically abused her and left her mute.
As a memorable cult film that tackles the theme of revenge, its influence can be felt in Tarantino’s own revenge epic,Kill Bill. An additional reference comes from the way the character of Elle Driver wears a distinctive eye patch throughoutKill Bill, just like the protagonist ofThriller: A Cruel Picture.
‘Gone with the Wind’ (1939)
Gone with the Windstands as a film that’s equal parts famous and infamous. A story of love and loss during the American Civil War, it contains some great sequences and impressive filmmaking while also presenting some racist and dated values that are hard to stomach today.
It’s referenced briefly inDjango Unchained, with some text informing viewers the characters are in Mississippi, passing across the screen the same wayGone with the Wind’sopening titles do. GivenDjango Unchainedconfronts and criticizes the racism of the American West whileGone with the Windromanticizes that time period, the reference is a quick but effectively pointed one.
‘City on Fire’ (1987)
City on Fireis a lean, mean Hong Kong crime-thriller starring the excellent and charismaticChow Yun-Fat. It involves an undercover police officer infiltrating a gang of dangerous jewel thieves, which…
…is a big part of the plot in Tarantino’sReservoir Dogs, from 1992. Even ifReservoir Dogsmight emerge as the more remembered film, the basic premise is pretty similar. At least the reveal of an undercover cop in the gang is treated as a mid-point plot twist of sorts inReservoir Dogs, which is admittedly a key difference.
‘Lady Snowblood’ (1973)
One of the clearest examples of an older film inspiring aTarantinofilm isLady SnowbloodandKill Bill. Each features revenge,exploitation cinema-style violence, samurai sword battles, a one-on-one duel in the snow, and both tell their story in two parts.
Kill Billis unique enough that despite the similarities, it doesn’t feel like it plagiarizesLady Snowblood. It does help thatVol. 2does branch off and become more of a western with less action, causing the references to be most evident inVol. 1. But they’re certainly there, and if anything,Kill Billhas led to a whole new generation of moviegoers discoveringLady Snowblood, so it’s done some good in that regard.
‘Vanishing Point’ (1971)
Vanishing Pointis a pretty simple B-movie about a guy who drives a car very fast and is chased by the law. That’s really all there is to it, and Tarantino took influence from it and some other car-heavy 1970s films for his exploitation throwback, 2007’sDeath Proof.
Each film has some incredible stunts and terrifyingly fast speeds, and inDeath Proof, a couple of characters even reference the title ofVanishing Pointdirectly. WhileDeath Proofmight not be one ofTarantino’sbest, watching it with a film likeVanishing Pointdoes show how well the director managed to homage those car-themed, low-budget action movies of the past.
