Cinema Speculation is such a book: a gift from a friend and not in my normal wheelhouse. But it is a blessing because it is sometimes good to get out of one’s comfort zone.
Cinema Speculation is Quentin Tarantino’s examination of a select group of movies from the 1970s. At first, I thought they were his favorite films from the era and his adolescence, but while some are probably among his favorites, others are not. I think they represent films that were formative for the future Oscar winner and that represent, in his speculation, a new era in Hollywood filmmaking.
Some are Oscar winners (Bullitt, Deliverance, Taxi Driver), others obscure (The Outfit). Some are iconic (Dirty Harry), others all but forgotten (Sisters, Hardcore). Some I’ve seen, others I’ve not, but with one exception, I now want to.
I’m not a film buff (reader after all), and I feared this book would be quite esoteric. But it’s pretty accessible. Tarantino does drop a lot of names I’m unfamiliar with, and he refers to many other films for comparison, often films I’m not familiar with. Still, it was a pretty easy read. He does a good job of speculating what made a film work or fail – almost always a combination of screenwriting, casting, acting, and directing. Things that, for me, a casual filmgoer, are largely transparent and not something I give a lot of thought to.
For example, after discussing Martin Scorsese’s gritty masterpiece Taxi Driver, Tarantino speculates on what the film would have been had Brian De Palma directed it. In Scorsese’s version, the cabbie is perceived as a bit of a nut but also a sympathetic hero. Tarantino speculates that in De Palma’s version, he would have been more of a deranged killer.
Tarantino brings out many points I’ve never considered, like Taxi Driver was a thematic remake of John Ford’s The Searchers. I see it now.
Well, there’s much more: lots of anecdotes about changes in actors, screenwriters, and directors and how they changed a film. Or how a movie almost wasn’t made and how and by whom it was rescued. Again, this is mostly stuff I’d never thought of before, and much of it insider stuff I couldn’t know unless someone like Tarantino writes about it.
A very thought-provoking read. Warning: this shouldn’t shock anyone, but Tarantino drops the F-bomb…A LOT.
And as the friend who gifted this to me said in his inscription, it…”will also make you want to rewatch these 70s classics.”
Indeed!
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