tarantino

The focus of controversy during its original release, THE WILD BUNCH is now universally regarded as an American classic, enduringly influential on directors from Scorsese to Woo to Tarantino. A band of outlaws are caught between a vengeful railroad company and a corrupt Mexican army on the disappearing frontier of the early 1910s. Brutal and elegiac, cynical and heroic, subversive and respectful of western conventions, this volatile masterpiece is held together by Lucien Ballard’s richly detailed cinematography and Peckinpah’s ultradynamic editing style. Restored director’s cut. 35mm widescreen. (MR)

Under tough-guy director Scott, Tarantino’s script got the full Hollywood treatment, with a movie nerd’s wet dream of an ensemble that also includes Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Samuel L. Jackson, and Christopher Walken. A geeky Detroit comic store clerk (Slater) falls for a ditzy hooker (Arquette) and ends up in L.A. on his honeymoon with a suitcase full of somebody else’s drugs. A helping of saccharine love is cut with a dark dose of kung fu vengeance and a pinch of Elvis. 35mm widescreen. (BS)

The fury of The Bride (Thurman) knows no limits as she seeks assassins, betrayers, and scumbags for a fate worse than death. She’s not just a woman wronged, she’s a mother with empty arms, and somebody’s gonna pay. Nothing quite like Tarantino’s electric/eclectic approach to genre cinema has ever hit the screen before. See this cool combo again or for the first time, and revel in the complete story as the director intended it to be seen. In English, Japanese, and French with English subtitles. 35mm widescreen. (BS)

Tarantino revived the career of ‘70s blaxploitation star Pam Grier in this rich adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Rum Punch. Jackie is a flight attendant who picks up extra money by smuggling cash for a gun-runner (Jackson). When she gets pinched, it's a no-win scenario of jail time or risking her life for the feds. Meanwhile, she catches the eye of a soft-spoken bail bondsman (Robert Forster) who has a plan of his own to ensure they never have to work again. (CS)

In what is widely considered their best film, Forties comedy kingpins Abbott & Costello play baggage handlers who mishandle the coffins of Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange) and Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi in top form); Larry Talbot aka The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.) also drops in for a visit. Tarantino credits this childhood favorite with teaching him to boldly mix serious and facetious material: "The scary parts are really scary and the funny parts are really funny. Frankenstein actually kills people. He throws the nurse through the window, and she's dead." 35mm. (MR)

Stone took Tarantino’s screenplay about murderous lovebirds on the lam and ran with it, channeling 90s apathy and angst and the emerging obsession with the 24-hour news cycle (it was released in the wake of the O.J. Simpson trial). Mickey and Mallory Knox (Harrelson and Lewis) may be the most famous and outrageous serial killers the media has ever seen, but nobody gets off easy; they’re pursued and exploited by an oily celebrity cop (Tom Sizemore), a showboating prison warden (Tommy Lee Jones), and a self-obsessed TV personality (Robert Downey, Jr.). 35mm. (CS)

Tarantino’s masterpiece won him an Oscar for best screenplay, made careers for Uma and Sam (and revived Travolta’s), and set the tone for modern indie crime films. The story follows the intersecting lives of two hitmen (Travolta and Jackson), a gangster and his moll (Ving Rhames and Thurman), and a washed-up boxer (Bruce Willis) who catches a lucky break through the most unlikely of circumstances. Tarantino’s smart, rapid-fire dialogue and the near endless parade of great cameos (Christopher Walken, Harvey Keitel, Eric Stoltz) still pack a wallop. 35mm widescreen. (CS)