Everyone raves about Reservoir Dogs, almost all has a superlative comment on Pulp Fiction and ultimately says Quentin Tarantino is THE director. QT, as he is better known, has other movies like Oscar nominated Inglorious Basterds or story board Kill Bill or Jackie Brown or Death Proof.
Death Proof has very few raving about. I seen this movie without knowing it is a QT movie and I was wondering all along who directed this noir-istic thriller in a Russ Meyer style. All along movie has a feel of the hippie 70's, the age of flower girls and butterflies.
The start of the movie drags along with some bunch of girls, all three in number, having their shit talk. Pretty boring. Can girls be sensible at any time? Bitches can talk only about sex and guys as fuckabilly rides. Girls are really whorish, not beautiful. Then comes Kurt Russell as Stunt man Mike in his great car, which he calls as death proof. He meets up with girls and starts to scare them. And what a use of Robert Frost. Couldn't imagine such a line in those setting. What ensues is a great close up shots of a lap dance set to some of the best tunes of the age. I guess, Rose McGowan might have thought this movie was a lot better than sleeping with Marylin Manson. She dies in the car, cos as Mike says, to get the benefit, she had to be in his seat. Then he starts for his other three girlfriends and slams them to death by his car.
Now the state is Texas, and the sheriff is a cowboy. He ain't looking for trouble nor he is interested in some shit accident. He knows what happened, but he doesn't give a damn as long as his town is safe. So Stunt man Mike is left in the hospital bed to be seen after 14 months.
This is where the story kicks off. This time, frame is in black and white. Another bunch of girls, three in total, again talking. Same scenes re-enacted by different actors but this time, the one of them is silent. No shitty talk from her. The whole tone of movie is different from first. You begin to wonder if she is different! And then they stop at a store, she is still lying down. Other girls goes and gets what she asked for. Enter Stunt man Mike and sees her feet. The voyeur inside him needs to see her and he does it in real creepy style. She wakes up, and Mike races his car away. She is not impressed, and tells her friend so. Then she goes and leans on the hood. The scene cuts off and B&W is off. You see a cherry red top and sexy Grey skirt, with long boots on the body of voluptuous Rosario Dawson, on top of a yellow Mustang(i guess). And her friend is in cheerleader dress, yellow again. And they discuss Italian Vogue. What the fuck? These are same kinda girls as you have seen before. Another death proof murder. Then another girl enters, making it four as before. Wait a minute.
As the other girl enters, the two(other than voluptuous and cheerleader) are stunt girls. They want to ride a Dodge Challenger. Well, this is different. They go and do some really wacky dialogues to get to the ride. The three girls are going to do some ships mast. You don't know what it is and when you see it, you say 'cool'. Stunt man Mike, the voyeur, spies them and comes to scare them. They are driven all over the country till somehow they manage to make a dent in his arm. He goes off saying it was fun to the girls. The girls are not impressed. They chase him down and kicks his butt, making him cry out. He was not a male, never a male, crying and making as if he is sorry for what he did. Then they take turns to kick him and knocks him off which brings 'The End' on screen.
The contrast from first half of the movie to the second half is glaring. It defies convention, defies in making you jumping into conclusion for the movie, and makes you look at colour, dialogue and music together to get the feel of movie. I believe this is the best movie by QT. If all the elements of a movie is made to fit together as a piece by Mozart, then truly it is a work of art. I have later learned that this movie is part of double feature Grindhouse. Other part is directed by Robert Rodriguez, a master director, for me.
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