Quentin Tarantino at 60: how to watch iconic director’s best movies - will he retire after his next film

Tarantino will direct his 10th film The Movie Critic this year, and it could be the 60 year old director’s last project
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Quentin Tarantino is one of Hollywood’s most iconic directors - his cinematic style is instantly recognisable for its over the top violence, black comedy, and (very) strong language - his back catalogue features more than 900 swear words.

As the Oscar-winning screenwriter turns 60 today (27 March) we look back at a career which includes some of the greatest genre-defining films of all time. Tarantino, whose films are inspired by classic directors of the '60s and '70s, has in turn inspired a whole new generation of filmmakers.

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With an impressive body of work which has made more than $1.7 billion dollars at the box office, he is one of Hollywood's hottest properties, but he may not be in the director's seat much longer, as his newest film, due out next year, is expected to be his last.

What films has Quentin Tarantino directed?

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Reservoir Dogs was Tarantino’s first film, and is still recognised as one of his best - the film follows a group of gangsters who have just robbed a jewellery store and are trying to make out with the diamonds with the police on their tail.

Rendezvousing at a warehouse with one of their number seriously injured and several others dead, the thieves realise that there’s a rat in their midst. The taut thriller features the disturbing ‘Stuck in the Middle’ scene wherein Michael Madsen’s Mr. White viscously tortures a police officer. 

Reservoir Dogs also has arguably the greatest ending of all of Tarantino’s films, with the police closing in, and the rat finally revealed, the gang’s world comes crashing down. Reservoir Dogs is available to watch on ITVX now.

Quentin TarantinoQuentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino

Pulp Fiction (1994)

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The film that made Tarantino a name in Hollywood, Pulp Fiction regularly reaches the top spots in greatest films lists. The crime drama follows the intertwining stories of two hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits in a violent tale of crime, punishment, and redemption.

Pulp Fiction features an all star cast, many of whom would collaborate with Tarantino several times, including Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, and Ving Rhames. It won Tarantino his first Oscar - he took the award for Best Screenplay, a feat it would take him another 18 years to replicate.    

Pulp Fiction is available to watch now on Netflix, Paramount+, and NOW. You can also rent the film on Amazon Prime Video and AppleTV.  

Jackie Brown (1997)

Tarantino’s third effort is often considered to be his weakest film, but there’s a lot to love about Jackie Brown. It sees a flight attendant picked up by the ATF for drug smuggling and pressured to work as an informant against the dealer she works for.

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It’s certainly slower paced than his other movies, but with incredible performances from Pam Grier and Robert De Niro, whose character is a real piece of work, Jackie Brown is not one to be skipped.

You can rent or buy Jackie Brown on AppleTV+ and the Sky Store from £3.49.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004)

So far, Kill Bill is the only Tarantino film to get a sequel, though the two films were shot back to back and make up one longer story. They follow a mysterious woman and former assassin known as The Bride (Uma Thurman) who wakes up from a four-year coma and goes after the people that put her out of action.

The extremely violent revenge flick, heavily inspired by classic martial arts movies, sees The Bride dispatch her fellow assassins in inventive and bloody ways as she attempts to get to Bill, the man she holds ultimately responsible. 

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Kill Bill has in turn inspired plenty of later films - the John Wick quadrilogy shares many similarities with the double feature. You can rent both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 on AppleTV+ and the Sky Store from £3.49 each.

Tarantino considers Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 to be one filmTarantino considers Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 to be one film
Tarantino considers Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 to be one film

Death Proof (2007)

One half of the Grindhouse double feature, titled Death Proof, alongside Planet Terror, which Tarantino worked on as a producer. Death Proof stars Kurt Russell as a stuntman who stalks young women in his Dodge Charger and murders them in violent fashion.

One of Tarantino’s less well known movies, likely because of its release as a double feature, the film is a strong part of his portfolio. With a great soundtrack and strong supporting cast with Rosario Dawson and Zoë Bell, the film is a tight, darkly funny thriller.

Death Proof and Planet Terror are available to rent from Amazon from £2.49 and AppleTV+ from £3.49.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

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After a five-year wait, Tarantino returned with this action packed anti-historical war film following a fictionalised tale of American Nazi hunters during the Second World War. Tarantino’s status was by now firmly cemented and this film features a cast of huge Hollywood names including Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Diane Kruger, and Michael Fassbender.

One again Tarantino blends black comedy with bursts of extreme violence in this cathartic piece of cinema the ‘Say auf wiedersehen to your Nazi balls’ scene a case in point. It was Tarantino’s first foray into historical settings - although the ending really did a number on Second World War history - but it was a theme to be repeated in each of his subsequent films.

Inglourious Basterds is available to stream on Netflix and Amazon Prime, and you can rent it from the Sky Store and AppleTV+. 

Django Unchained (2012)

A controversial film on its release, not least because of its extreme violence, Django Unchained, inspired by the classic Spaghetti Western Django, follows a freed slave (Jamie Fox) who teams up with German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

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Harrowing in its depiction of the brutality of American slavery, the film offers a violent release as Foxx wreaks a bloody path of revenge across the south. The film also benefits from an excellent supporting cast in the form of Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Django Unchained won Tarantino his second and latest Oscar, again for Best Original Screenplay. You can watch the film on Amazon Prime and NOW, or rent it on AppleTV+. 

The Hateful EIght (2015)

Another of Tarantino’s films that doesn’t always get the recognition it deserves, The Hateful Eight is a remarkable slow burn western set in post-Civil War Wyoming. A bounty hunter and his charge, and several other interesting characters from both sides of the earlier conflict, are stranded in a log cabin.

The group become wary of each other and it soon becomes clear that they won’t all make it out alive and old rivalries come to the surface. The Hateful Eight returns to Tarantino’s roots with a similar structure and setting to Reservoir Dogs, but clocking in at almost three hours in length it may be one of the director’s most self indulgent releases.

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The Hateful Eight is available to rent on Amazon from £2.49 and AppleTV+ from £3.49.

The Hateful EightThe Hateful Eight
The Hateful Eight

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

If there’s one Tarantino movie more self indulgent than The Hateful Eight, it’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - an homage to filmland in the 1960s. Probably a film that he couldn’t have got away with making early in his career, Once Upon a Time is a brilliant odyssey into the dark past of the nostalgia of the ‘60s.

The film follows a fading western TV star and his stunt double as they hope to build a lasting legacy towards the end of Hollywood’s golden age. With another excellent cast, led by returning Tarantino collaborators DiCaprio and Pitt, the movie also features Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate in one of her best film roles to date.

One again, Tarantino plays fast and loose with history, but the movie is a love letter to Hollywood, even if it doesn’t show that world in the best light. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is available to watch now on Netflix and to rent from Amazon and AppleTV+.

Will Quentin Tarantino’s next film be his last?

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Little is currently known about Tarantino’s next project, titled The Movie Critic. However, it is reported to be set in 1970s Los Angeles and feature a female lead. It has been rumoured that the film will be a biopic about the influential film critic Pauline Kael.

The Movie Critic will be Tarantino’s 10th feature film as director, and he has long said that he will retire after his 10th movie (he considers the Kill Bill movies to be one film). He has already written the script and is expected to begin filming this autumn, ahead of an expected 2024 release.

Speaking ahead of the release of Django Unchained in 2012, Tarantino said: “I want to stop at a certain point. Directors don’t get better as they get older. Usually the worst films in their filmography are those last four at the end. 

“I am all about my filmography, and one bad film f**ks up three good ones. I don’t want that bad, out-of-touch comedy in my filmography, the movie that makes people think, ‘Oh man, he still thinks it’s 20 years ago.’ When directors get out-of-date, it’s not pretty.”

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But even if The Movie Critic is Tarantino’s final film, fear not as he has other projects in the works - he is expected to produce the western drama Bounty Law, based on the series featured in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and is also likely to be involved in Kill Bill: Vol. 3.

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