Quentin Tarantino

[zedz]

Why do Some Like It Hot, The Seven Year Itch and Kiss Me, Stupid all seem like they pause to have a TV laugh track inserted after every punchline?

Well, I can answer that question. Because they have a real-life laugh track inserted after every punchline when you watch them with an audience in a cinema (you know, like you're supposed to). Without those pauses, you couldn't hear the ensuing dialogue over the gales of laughter. I've only seen this effect in action with Some Like It Hot, but can verify that Wilder had the audience (even an audience that wasn't even born when he made the film) pegged with great precision.

[MichaelB]

Why do Some Like It Hot, The Seven Year Itch and Kiss Me, Stupid all seem like they pause to have a TV laugh track inserted after every punchline?

Well, I can answer that question. Because they have a real-life laugh track inserted after every punchline when you watch them with an audience in a cinema (you know, like you're supposed to). Without those pauses, you couldn't hear the ensuing dialogue over the gales of laughter. I've only seen this effect in action with Some Like It Hot, but can verify that Wilder had the audience (even an audience that wasn't even born when he made the film) pegged with great precision.

Absolutely. Annie Hall is another good example - after test screenings, Woody Allen extended the start of a scene to make sure people heard its opening dialogue, because previously it was being drowned out by the gales of laughter that greeted the cocaine gag immediately beforehand.

And the Marx Brothers road-tested all their gags prior to filming them, so they had a very good idea of exactly how much space to leave for audience laughter. Again, their films play much better to a large audience, and I have very fond memories of the Everyman Cinema's regular Christmas quadruple bills in the 1980s and 90s.

[zedz]

Maybe that Dark Energy guy needs to develop a tool that will re-edit vintage comedies for sullen loners?

[swo17]

I use the extra beats to catch up on my knitting, thank you very much.

[colinr0380]

Why do Some Like It Hot, The Seven Year Itch and Kiss Me, Stupid all seem like they pause to have a TV laugh track inserted after every punchline?

Well, I can answer that question. Because they have a real-life laugh track inserted after every punchline when you watch them with an audience in a cinema (you know, like you're supposed to). Without those pauses, you couldn't hear the ensuing dialogue over the gales of laughter. I've only seen this effect in action with Some Like It Hot, but can verify that Wilder had the audience (even an audience that wasn't even born when he made the film) pegged with great precision.

Absolutely. Annie Hall is another good example - after test screenings, Woody Allen extended the start of a scene to make sure people heard its opening dialogue, because previously it was being drowned out by the gales of laughter that greeted the cocaine gag immediately beforehand.

And the Marx Brothers road-tested all their gags prior to filming them, so they had a very good idea of exactly how much space to leave for audience laughter. Again, their films play much better to a large audience, and I have very fond memories of the Everyman Cinema's regular Christmas quadruple bills in the 1980s and 90s.

It also works with horror films - I remember the director of the first Final Destination film saying in his commentary track that he had to extend the opening of the scene following the hit-by-a-bus death because the audience were squealing and laughing so much that they missed the next bit of plot. Thereby neatly illustrating once again the fine line between tragedy and comedy.

On the 'final four films' question, I think Tarantino is wrong - nothing is better than to watch what could be considered the sad tail off period of a director's career. In fact watching something like The Osterman Weekend or the late Hitchcocks can actually help to highlight just how great the earlier works where everything came together perfectly were. By, say, showing similar themes or obsessions from the 'classic works' which are often not as well concealed within the structure of the 'final, wonky films', the later films can often act as a neat key to appreciating the workings of seemingly effortlessly crafted 'golden age' films better! And those films can still often show flashes of greatness within sequences or individual performances even if they don't really work as a whole (yes, even Topaz!).

Plus if he wants to maintain a spotless copy book, I would argue that Tarantino has already messed up with Death Proof!

[cinemartin]

Not to mention Four Rooms.

[Mr. Ned]

Plus if he wants to maintain a spotless copy book, I would argue that Tarantino has already messed up with Death Proof!

I've never understood all the animosity for Death Proof and it is, in fact, my favorite Tararntino. It may not have the tight script of Reservoir Dogs, the interweaving threads of Pulp Fiction or the vaunting pretentiousness of Inglorious Basterds but it does contain a certain insatiable joy de vivre that increases for me on every viewing. Things I love about ut: the nods to disparate genres and films--everything from Psycho to Vanishing Point; the ingenious foot fetish Tarantino slips in throughout, consciously placing the director on the side of the antagonist; Russell's performance that captures the several differing aspects of Stuntman Mike; the charming talkiness of it all; and the best car chase on film in the last 30 years. Tarantino is not trying to rewrite history or genre-mash with some sense of grandeur in Death Proof, he's just having a lot of fun making a film, and it shows. I'll take The Osterman Weekends and Frenzys any day of the week; they all have a certain charm.

[Brian C]

Maybe that Dark Energy guy needs to develop a tool that will re-edit vintage comedies for sullen loners?

The irony is, I think every one of the Wilder films I've seen have been in an actual cinema. I don't watch nearly as many of these newfangled disc things as you basement-dwelling whippersnappers do.

[Jeff]

Why do Some Like It Hot, The Seven Year Itch and Kiss Me, Stupid all seem like they pause to have a TV laugh track inserted after every punchline?

Well, I can answer that question. Because they have a real-life laugh track inserted after every punchline when you watch them with an audience in a cinema (you know, like you're supposed to). Without those pauses, you couldn't hear the ensuing dialogue over the gales of laughter. I've only seen this effect in action with Some Like It Hot, but can verify that Wilder had the audience (even an audience that wasn't even born when he made the film) pegged with great precision.

Here some elucidation on that from Cameron Crowe's indispensable Conversations with Wilder. I'm far too lazy to transcribe it all, so this will have to do. This entire passage is a quote from Wilder.



Brian, with the possible exception of Some Like It Hot, you've cited some of Wilder's worst pictures. Tell me you've seen The Apartment, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, and Ace In the Hole too and think more highly of them! As far as late period works from great directors go, I know Buddy Buddy and Fedora are widely dismissed, but I think his film just prior to those, Avanti!, is one of his best.

[ianthemovie]

Tarantino discusses the four-last-films thing at length here (apologies if this has already been posted). He says that Hitchcock fits his rule about a director's last four films being weak, with the exception of Frenzy; he says that he finds it interesting to see Hitchcock working within the freedom of an "R" rating for the first time. He also indicates that he feels Death Proof is his own weakest film and says something to the effect of, "'Death Proof' needs to be the worst film I ever make" (though it too has its fans, myself among them).

The whole interview is worth a listen. As self-obsessed as Tarantino is, I think he emerges as the most intelligent and interesting of the bunch here. David O. Russell seems to have trouble following Tarantino's train of thought at times, and Ben Affleck gives the impression that he's way out of his depth. The most embarrassing moment comes when the interviewer mentions Renoir and Affleck very anxiously starts dropping Renoir titles seemingly to prove that he knows who he is ("Yeah, Grand Illusion and Rules of the Game!") The look on Tom Hooper's face whenever Tarantino is talking is also priceless. He looks physically pained.

[Brian C]

Brian, with the possible exception of Some Like It Hot, you've cited some of Wilder's worst pictures. Tell me you've seen The Apartment, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, and Ace In the Hole too and think more highly of them!

Hey, I thought I was being disciplined by not also mentioning The Major and the Minor!

Sure, I've seen all four of those, and like everyone else I love The Apartment ... in fact, I'd rank those four in descending order, as you listed them. I'm not all that enamored of Ace in the Hole, and would describe that also as being an example of Wilder's mishandling of tone. I know it's designed as a polemical, but it seemed like the material called for it to be a satire but instead it was played as mostly straight drama. I thought it was pretty graceless and brought out some of Douglas's worst instincts as an actor. (I should slightly revise my earlier statement - it's the only Wilder film I've seen that I have not seen in a cinema.)

At any rate, I've long thought of Wilder as one of the canon's most overpraised directors, although like I said I admire him considerably as a writer. It's nice that he intentionally built in time for laughs, but like you and me and everyone else I've seen plenty of comedies that weren't paced like a TV sitcom, so I'm not sure I should automatically give the tactic a pass because he said he did it on purpose.

[Roger Ryan]

Also, the whole "timing the gags" idea that the Marx Brothers did with OPERA and RACES was born out of the notion that their previous films (HORSE FEATHERS, DUCK SOUP) were too quickly paced to be successful. Perhaps fifty years or more makes a difference, but I've seen both of the earlier films with an audience and they played beautifully.

[mfunk9786]

Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair is screening in Philadelphia on June 21st and 22nd.

This is the first time this cut has been screened outside of Cannes and Los Angeles (it's the only 35mm print in existence, from Tarantino's personal collection). There's conflicting information on how long the cut is out there, but the listing here says it's 215 minutes.

Tickets are $17 for International House members, $20 for non-members - on sale now for members (even if you're just signing up today), on sale Thursday at 1 PM for non-members, though they warned me when I called (and got my membership) that tickets will likely be gone before Thursday even with the membership restriction.

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

There were also some 2007 screenings at the original Alamo Drafthouse in Austin. Officially it was only shown once, but Tarantino put on at least a couple of unannounced late-night screenings. It was the same print used at Cannes, complete with French subtitles.

Not really spoilers unless you absolutely positively don't want to know the differences before going in

It's basically the Japanese cut of part 1 paired with the Asian (?) cut of part 2, minus the revelation at the end of part 1 and the direct address at the beginning of part 2. The new animated sequence Tarantino talked about for years isn't there, though the existing anime scene has a bit more gore that was already in the Japanese version.

[mfunk9786]

Hm. Perhaps Exhumed Films, who are putting this screening on, have some of their facts mixed up. French subs would be a buzzkill, but I'm still so excited.

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

If it's the print that played in Los Angeles, it indeed has French subtitles. It's not very distracting though.

[mfunk9786]

Just confirmed that it is. Beggars can't be choosers.

[flyonthewall2983]

Speaking of Kill Bill, this is probably relevant.

[matrixschmatrix]

Still wondering why Uma Thurman's character (better known by her codename "Black Mamba") was chosen for the honor?

Uh... I don't think they actually watched the movie

[med]

Of course, Kobe Bryant is the real Black Mamba

[stroszeck]

http://themoviedeedat.wordpress.com/?p=391&preview=true" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ouch.

[mfunk9786]

That is some badly written blog entry. "Now that's a though" indeed.

[lefeufollet]

In case you weren't able to get tickets to either International House screening of The Whole Bloody Affair, International House has just added a matinee on Saturday, 6/22. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (3/23) at 1:00p.

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

Morricone also said that Tarantino “places music in his films without coherence”

I feel you, Ennio, particularly these last ten years or so.
EDIT: This reads like snark-and-run, but I guess it's more of an afterthought to this.

[Kirkinson]

I thought I had posted this already, but apparently not. Ennio Morricone says he was quoted out of context and offered a more measured assessment of his thoughts on Tarantino:

What I read about my statements on Quentin Tarantino is a partial writing of my thoughts which has deprived the true meaning of what I said, isolating a part from the rest. In this way my statement sounds shocking, penalizing me and bothering me a lot.

I have a great respect for Tarantino, as I have stated several times, I am glad he chooses my music, a sign of artistic brotherhood and I am happy to have met him in Rome recently. In my opinion, the fact that Tarantino chooses different pieces of music from a work in a film makes the pieces not to be always consistent with the entire work.

The risk for me, when I compose, is not to be consistent with the film work and my desire is that the director accepts my consistency.

Tarantino proposed me to work for Inglorious Basterds, which I consider a masterpiece, but I could only had two months to work since I had to compose the soundtrack for “Baaria” directed by Giuseppe Tornatore and it was not possible.

Regarding Django, the thing is that I cannot see too much blood in a movie due to my character, is how I feel and impress me especially with a film that is made very well and where the blood is well shot. But this has nothing to do with my respect for that Tarantino which remains great.