Quentin Tarantino on Hitchcock and Brian De Palma

Quentin Tarantino on Hitchcock and Brian De Palma
Fantastic book about Tarantino and his films: amzn.to/3dqpHVo
A fascinating book on Brian De Palma: amzn.to/39imAvm
Great book on Hitchcock: amzn.to/3dtql4l
Another great read on Tarantino: amzn.to/3dupwZ9
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[@00001sarthak]

Brian de palma is legendary not many people appreciate his work it’s just so good.

[@bighands69]

He is just not at Hitchcocks level.

[@Balthazar2242]

He's kind of worldwide renowned, actually

[@IanM92]

@@bighands69 he’s even better

[@bighands69]

@@IanM92 HItchcock made The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Rebecca, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Rope, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Vertigo, North by Northwest, The Birds and Psycho. Any of those films on their own would be considered in some of the greatest films of all time. Tarantino made Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction which would be considered as great films but that is it. Hitchcock made over 50 films at one point was making two films a year with Rear Window and Dial M For Murder coming out in the same year. Tarantino is not in the same league.

[@IanM92]

@@bighands69 I was saying De Palma was better

[@buzzcrushtrendkill]

Interesting that so many commenters purposely clicked on a Tarantino clip giving his honest opinion and influence of De Palma and Hitchcock, just to deride him. Thank you for adding so much to the conversation.

[@corneliusdobeneck4081]

Agreed. Personally I think Tarantino is a highly intelligent person but I don't like him or his movies for several reasons. I'm not saying he's always wrong but he does talk a lot of crap when it comes to "making" movies. He knows a hell lot about movies but just to point out what I mean ... Tarantino on digital produktion (freely remembered): "Its all bullshit, digital sucks so much blah blah, no. Bad movie making ... " and so forth. David Lynch on digital produktion (freely remembered): "I love that. So much oportunities. Now I can do camera shots that have been impossible before or would have been super expensive." and so forth. Tarantino is more concerned about yesterdays spirit then actually pioneering the media like David Lynch, Hitchcock, Lang, Howard Hawks, Gaspar Noe, Jean Luc Goddard and so many others. Quentin Tarantino is more of a Franchise then a movie maker. ;)

[@kuribo04]

Well to share their own opinion, nothing wrong with that

[@buzzcrushtrendkill]

@@kuribo04 Freewill. As I post my own observation.

[@44excalibur]

I think Frenzy showed where Hitchcock would have gone if left to his own devices. It was the most modern thriller that Hitchcock ever made.

[@amonite]

Indeed and one of my faves by Hitchcock. Tarantino is my fave director he is just explaining his preference, he aint dissing on Hitchcock. They are all awesome directors.

[@MrGreen-ci2mm]

Watched it last night, Masterpiece of his !

[@k-slay4407]

💯 agreed. I literally said this out loud while watching the clip.

[@shamelesshussy]

And it’s so funny (the policeman’s wife and her culinary experiments) De palma never had a deft hand with humour. Hitchcock did.

[@brgreg8725]

DePalma is the definition of criminally underrated

[@brgreg8725]

@Brandon Horror Collector I saw Scarface in 1984 so it didn’t have the hype but I still love that movie. Also I love Carlitos Way (1993)

[@cartel1976]

Hitchcock still the original master.

[@kianucollis3929]

Tru dat

[@TTM9691]

Absolutely. I like Quentin, but the people he disses, and the people he champions is often ridiculous. De Palma's ok, but he's not even in the top five of his generation, much less number one, as Tarantino claims.

[@chitown1782]

I agree as well, but Brian de palma is also a great filmmaker!

[@Balthazar2242]

@@TTM9691 That's why it's called an opinion. He has his and you have yours, and nobody can be wrong.

[@TTM9691]

@@Balthazar2242 Wow, Steven, heavy. lol.

[@bencarlson4300]

Even if Hitchcock wanted to make films with the freedom in which DePalma made them, the brilliance of Hitchcock only shines as bright as it does because he was able to overcome the restrictions of his era. Idk if either DePalma or Tarantino would have been as successful in Hitchcock’s era because of said restrictions.

[@groundzerorocks]

Very interesting though. I'd never thought of it like that.

[@seanpanigel5494]

I agree. Actually, In my opinion, the way Hitchcock "surpassed" the restrictions in some of his films is actually a great example of how much of a genius director he was. For example, the shower scene in Psycho is incredibly genius. The way he surpassed all the restrictions, the way he avoided it and shot the movie because of those restrictions, is genius. In the shower scene, how he quickly changes the shot whenever the knife is coming closer to the body, and the angles in which he did those shots so you wouldn't see the actual stabing and nudity, is just genius directing right there

[@JohnD0121]

I agree with Tarantino when he says Hitchcock didn’t have the freedom to make exactly the movies he wanted to make due to censorship. Although he did push the envelope for it’s time, you do see the direction he wanted to go with Frenzy from 1972 when the cuffs came off a bit.

[@johndowns3839]

My father told me Psycho completely freaked out the group of people he went to see it with. Like in-shock freaked out. Michael Powell's Peeping Tom elicited even more extreme reactions from people.

[@bighands69]

Post 1950s American went into decline and so did its film industry. Nothing in the 1970s barring The Godfather was at the level of 1950s film making.

[@TucoRope2Tight]

@@bighands69 Different times, different movies.

[@alvarohigino]

Hitchcock himself said he dind't pursue violence, he made Psycho in black and white to not to show the colored blood in the shower scene. He just became more violent in his late years, and I think because it was fashionable in that period and he was getting "surpased".

[@eddieadams6050]

Tarantino and DePalma, two of my heroes. Their films are the essence of cinema.

[@vr3405]

Have you seen Domino ? Serious let down of a movie .

[@aydenvavra2153]

@@vr3405 I will give credit to De Palma he admitted Domino was a let down.

[@ligeiaztomb2755]

Their films are the essence of plagerism

[@carl_anderson9315]

I agree to some extent with what Tarantino says. Perhaps Hitchcock’s popularity and reputation held him back to be a little more risky in his portrayal of graphic violence, but for that same reason he exploited way better the human psyche and behavior than others, including De Palma. His scrips were like chess games, sharp and so smart.

[@garydelaney6841]

Hitchcock is number 1

[@cevahirileri7594]

I love you, Quentin.

[@TheWaynos73]

Just watched Femme Fatale for the first time tonight. that movie was terrific.

[@caraveldrawing9867]

A good director, talking about a good director and a genius.

[@thewandering525]

And the name of that genius was Brian De Palma.

[@caraveldrawing9867]

@@thewandering525 Hitchcock you puddle of piss

[@thewandering525]

@@caraveldrawing9867 De Palma is better.

[@caraveldrawing9867]

@@thewandering525 bless yeah, I can’t really argue with someone who has two glass eyes and elbows for ears. So I won’t.

[@thewandering525]

@@caraveldrawing9867 You also can't argue with me because you're dumb and wrong.

[@marcevan1141]

I agree. DePalma is often phenomenal and Pauline Kael wrote about him.brilliantly.

[@jacobfield4848]

Hitchcock and Brian De Palma are both great.

[@joemckim1183]

Tarantino just referenced Gremlins 2, so awesome.

[@jjranch4]

Brian De Palma said about Hitchcock "If you want to know anything about cinematic storytelling Hitchcock is it" and then said " Hitchcock pioneered a whole-type of film grammar, he taught us how to express things as clearly, visually as they can be expressed, just like good grammar" he went on " when Hitchcock is expressing an idea, the whole cinematic sequence he puts the camera in the exact right position, he has exactly the right shot, everyone else is sought of muddleheaded birdbrain in relationship to Hitchcock", he is a genius and has never been duplicated". Brian De Palma forgot more about movies than Tarantino ( with all of his 9 films ) will ever know. I would advise people to take everything Tarantino has to say with a grain of salt.

[@matthewrocca4197]

De Palma did say those things and Tarantino actually agrees. He’s stated in a very recent podcast that Hitchcock was one of the greatest directors of all time, then went on to discuss how Hitchcock brilliantly skirted the Hays Code as best he could for the time. Tarantino is just as influenced by De Palma as he is by Hollywood classics, Spaghetti Westerns, Kung Fu action spectacles, Giallo, French New Wave, and New Wave Hollywood. So no, his opinion absolutely cannot be taken with a grain of salt. He is among the most studied minds of the art of cinema that there is, alongside folks like Scorsese for encyclopedic knowledge of the form. Love, hate, or disregard his films, that much is an undisputed fact.

[@jimmyl324]

Always loved DePalma movies

[@bomtown]

I can't watch Kate Miller getting cut across the side of her neck in the semi slow X cut. The slashing of her hand was startling but quick and palatable. Accompanied by her cries the scene was terrifying. The film was beautifully shot and De Palma is still my favorite director.

[@citeriorcf]

Hitchcock is miles better than De Palma. And I like De Palma a lot. Hitchcock was the best from his era. De Palma has been overshine by his friends Scorsese, Spielberg and Coppola.

[@LuisCarmezim]

De Palma was only overshined by Scorsese. His style is better and more distinctive than that of Coppola and Spielberg. Scorsese keeps delivering gems to this day. Coppola just didn't care after the 90s and Spielberg has been hit n' miss since Minority Report. De Palma simply doesn't give a fuck, he makes his movies is own way. Always did. Good or bad, he still got that going on

[@casrifay]

I think that De Palma is more visually appealing than Scorsese. But Scorsese is a better story teller

[@cockoffgewgle4993]

@@LuisCarmezim Coppola's 70s work is beyond anything De Palma did. And De Palma's works is very derivative. He rips off so many shots, mostly from Hitchcock.

[@briankopp8560]

Man this guy knows film. Blows my mind. Gotta listen to his podcast.

[@ivana7431]

He made vertigo and rear window in 50s🙄😒

[@histubeness]

Not to mention Dial M for Murder and North By Northwest. I like tarantino's movies, but other than Pulp Fiction, he can't touch Hitchcock's classics from the 50's.

[@lukaz3336]

@@histubeness Quentin's films are pretty damn good. So I wouldnt say they cant touch Hitchcock's.

[@Dock76]

He never said Hitchcock sucked. He said he was a victim of the era he was in.

[@aces553]

@Ivan A Duh no shit. And many more films, as most people know. You make your comment like you are informing people. Do you really think most people don't know about Hitchcock? Hitchcock is a huge part of American cinema history and culture. And if you are young and don't know a damned thing, and don't have a mentor to teach you about such things, you can always google it.

[@jonasseorum5471]

@@lukaz3336 reservoir dogs and pulp fiction are the only two movies that can stand side by side with the films mentioned above.

[@justinrampley4834]

I honestly think Quentin just doesn't associate himself with anything before the 60's. His main influences were the French New Wave, Spaghetti Westerns, Blacksploitation films, and Kung Fu films. So sure, the Hitchcock films from the 50's like Vertigo, Rear Window, and North by Northwest certainly wouldn't resonate with him as he sees these films as dated since he didn't grow up with them. The film brats like Scorsese, De Palma, and Spielberg grew up with these films, as they are older than Quentin. He also doesn't like Orson Welles either, which is likely because he doesn't ever refererence anything pre 60's in a good light. It's been well documented.

[@javierforster8313]

Tarantino is a big fan of classic hollywood filmmakers like Howard Hawks, Douglas Sirk, Anthony Mann and Samuel Fuller.

[@citeriorcf]

He like Howard Hawks

[@simonemancuso3576]

He referenced Citizen Kane in Kill Bill though

[@roxas3124]

And "Stagecoach" in The Hateful Eight

[@mikeywise3411]

THANK YOU! de palma is hitchcock fully realized

[@scottbarkley496]

De Palma himself says that Hitchcock is his inspiration .. Tarantino's ego is unbearable

[@JSTNtheWZRD]

Bullsh*t. They were both held back. And both totally stifled creatively, but that's where the true creativity comes from if truly creative.

[@copperdog]

lol Tarantino is talking complete nonsense here. Hithcock did have limitations but achieved his potential anyways and he worked with those limitations. A violent movie and more R rated movie doesn't. make the movie better per se. I like De Palma, but I always felt he was trying to be the next Hithcock and kind of failed. He made very good films but never as good as Vertigo, Rear Window, Pyscho or North by Northwest.

[@bighands69]

1950s film was the greatest period of American film.

[@e32b61]

😂 Having to listen to Quentin Tarantino is the opposite of listening to Orson Welles.

[@haineshisway]

This is a person who said North by Northwest is a mediocre movie. He should make such a mediocre movie. But someone has it right in a comment below - like the people who came of age in the 1980s, he loves the films he came of age with - the 1960s and 70s - it's a rather limited world view, IMO, but he does love the pronouncements.

[@dylan9040]

NXNW was mediocre when i saw it months ago. Tarantino > Hitchcock, by far. Even his first movie reservoir dogs is better than anything hitchcock has done

[@haineshisway]

@@dylan9040 What are you, twelve? You don't have the ability to watch a classic film, therefore your opinion is meaningless to me. Anyone who would call North by Northwest mediocre knows nothing about filmmaking - Reservoir Dogs is not a patch on the ass of any Hitchcock film. But I understand that you can't see beyond your own generation - it's ridiculous but sadly true of people your age.

[@dylan9040]

@@haineshisway i do like "classic" films you oldcel. Tarantino > Hitchcock and it isn't close.

[@haineshisway]

@@dylan9040 Oh, do tell what classic films you like - let's hear your list and go from there. Right now, you're just a troll who just saw North by Northwest for the first time three months ago - that tells me the story, really. But troll away, chum, let's hear the list and be sure to not just Google, just list films you've actually seen.

[@dylan9040]

@@haineshisway depends what your definition is. 60s-70s? good bad and the ugly, clockwork orange, the shining, blue velvet, blade runner, the thing, dirty harry, taxi driver, apocalypse now, die hard, rumble fish, terminator, etc. my opinion of best movie of the 60s is good bad and the ugly, best movie of 70s apocalypse now, and best of 80s either blue velet or blade runner or die hard. i couldn't care less if you think boring ass movies from 1940s or 1950s are better

[@kuribo04]

That thing about Hitchcock being held back is BS. Like who cares anyway when his films are masterpieces. Why talk about hypothetical alternate versions of them that don't exist.

[@yallowrosa]

I would like to see Quentin to remake 50' classics of Wilder, Welles, Hitchcock, Kubrick ...

[@claykeough7898]

I love tarantino but he's out of his mind about hitchcock. Hitchcock paved the way for these baby boomers and beyond !

[@malafakka8530]

He doesn't deny that. He just thinks that Hitchcock would have gone further with his ideas if he had lived at a later time.

[@johnwayne8494]

@@malafakka8530 It's hard to say if Hitchcock would have "gone farther" considering he pushed the envelope of his time.

[@debbiesroommate]

Tarantino criticizes Hitchcock = Art forger criticizes Michelangelo

[@jodythomas4324]

Hitchcock < De Palma but you can see so much more of De Palma work and how it influenced QT.

[@joelalbertogarza7048]

Tarantino sniffing REAL hard here

[@FuturePast2019]

Who wanted to see the ear being cut off in Reservoir Dogs? Who wanted to see the knife in Janet Leigh's body. And De Palma's most popular film Scarface, isn't really a typical De Palma film at all.

[@Locadel2003]

He talk so fast Tarantino

[@johndowns3839]

De Palma's The Clams, which premiered on SNL, is probably his greatest film.

[@schizofrito]

I dig De Palma, specially after the 80's, but am i the only one who thinks that Dressed to Kill is such a boring and silly movie, and it feels like De Palma tried to be on Argento's shoes in that one, but he couldnt fit, he didnt have the mystique from Argento.

[@triplezs6307]

Love listening to Quentin when he on that booger sugar

[@pmc1649]

Vegan sausages have just as much fat as regular ( "beef" / "pork" ) sausagess.

[@dennisneo1608]

If you need grahpic violence to tell a story, then you're no filmmaker.

[@theredbaronlives9889]

Reservoir Dogs remains the only tarantino film I liked from start to finish. Find Tarantino to be overrated and his politics turn me off. He can dissect other directors pretty well though.

[@Revolver1981]

TheRedBaron Lives! I agree he's definitely overrated. But I think Pulp Fiction was his best film. Reservoir Dogs spends too much time in that warehouse which is dull and boring. I actually think the best movie he wrote was From Dusk Till Dawn.

[@lukaz3336]

@@Revolver1981 That's the great part of Reservoir Dogs, that its very raw in the sense that there wasnt much to work with yet it was a great film. It was his first film, which is incredible.

[@lukaz3336]

@Vincent H. Really you dont like Django and Inglorious Basterds?

[@lukaz3336]

@Vincent H. I agree with Hateful 8, I wasnt a big fan of it either but you really like Death Proof more than Django?

[@lukaz3336]

@Vincent H. Still haven't watched OUATIH

[@karlkarlos3545]

Lol. Good ol Quentin. Still believing the main goal of every filmmaker is always to put graphic violence on screen.

[@declanoreilly5034]

clearly didn't listen

[@ted__ryan]

Karl Karlos more like performance in dialog. Better than any CGI bullshit these days *cough* marvel super hero movies

[@NealDamiano]

Karl Karlos that’s one of the funniest ignorant statements I’ve seen on KZbin lmfao

[@johna3863]

....and getting the n-word in there a couple hundred times...

[@amsheel9921]

It's better than meaningless violence in superhero movies these days

[@benfisher1376]

De Palma films are usually schlocky messes. I dknt agree with Tarantino here.

[@patcharisma]

Tarantino don't need us to tell a lesson on DePalma & Hitchcock, cos his own movies are all subtle-less and soul-less CRAP! (Pat, Switzerland)

[@neilwiththereeldeel]

There is the formal complexity of both Hitchcock & De Palma. Hitch plays it straight, but De Palma plays with it. Hitch is better; Hitch is objectively the second greatest filmmaker ever, behind Spielberg; no question about that. But De Palma is more interesting. Yet both are masters. Those are facts. That is that. That said, it is obvious Tarantino prefers De Palma cause those films were coming out when he was a young man. What follows is an obvious influence & succession of the work. But that's just preference. I admire both greatly, but I think I agree with my second fave (after Kubrick) filmmaker: I jive more with De Palma. For many of the same reasons. Hitch, in the technical/thematic sense, went way further in the '50s than the '40s/'30s, expanding film technique vastly beyond what it was before, even further with regards to content (and the former two aspects) in the '60s/'70s. After Torn Curtain, he went too far for his own good. So there, QT's analysis is inadequate (as it always is 😂😂). Hitch went as far as he could go, but he could never hit De Palma territory because that was far beyond his grasp, given the far more culturally conservative society he had grown up in. When the mantel was ready to be taken up, De Palma filled his shoes greatly, as did Carpenter & the other HItcockian filmmakers (though, you could pretty much just call those "filmmakers" 😂😂)...but HItch went just about as far as he could go, when he was making quality films, and the lack of quality of his most "outgoing" films showcases that he had a limit