Tarantino likes watching movies, too

Jacob T. Swinney, Video Essayist and Editor for Playboy, Slate, Fandor, & IndieWire, has compiled scenes from eight of Quentin Tarantino’s films, as well as from over thirty old movies, which strikingly coincide with scenes from Tarrantino films and sometimes are even replicated exactly by Tarantino, into a brief funny video clip.

‘Quentin Tarantino’s Visual References’ is a part of Swinney’s “Genius Directors in Three Minutes” series.

‘It is a well known fact that Quentin Tarantino is a self-proclaimed cinephile. But the writer/director’s love for cinema is most obviously expressed in his own films.

In addition to showing his characters spending a great deal of time discussing cinema, Tarantino’s films are jam-packed with homages and visual references to the movies that have influenced him throughout his life.

Many filmmakers pay homage to their favorite movies, but Tarantino takes things a step further by replicating exact moments from a variety of genres and amassing them together to create his own distinct vision.

Just like ‘Kill Bill: Vol 2’ (2004) draws on ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ (1966) and ‘Samurai Fiction’ (1998), Tarantino’s work often reflects Spaghetti Westerns and Japanese cinema – both new and old.

His unique way of referencing other films allows him to bend genre boundaries and shatter the mold of what we expect to experience. While his methods are often criticized and he is accused of “ripping off” other filmmakers, it seems that Tarantino is simply writing love letters to the art he is ever so passionate about.

From German silent-cinema to American B movies, the following video uses a split-screen to demonstrate a few of the hundreds of visual film references over the course of Tarantino’s career.’

Tarantino Films:


• ‘Reservoir Dogs’ (1992)
• ‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994)
• ‘Jackie Brown’ (1997)
• ‘Kill Bill: Vol. 1’ (2003)
• ‘Kill Bill: Vol. 2’ (2004)
• ‘Death Proof’ (2007)
• ‘Inglourious Basterds’ (2009)
• ‘Django Unchained’ (2012)

Referenced Films (in order of appearance):


• ‘City on Fire’ (1987)
• ‘Django’ (1966)
• ‘Band of Outsiders’ (1964)
• ‘8 1/2’ (1963)
• ‘The Warriors’ (1979)
• ‘Psycho’ (1960)
• ‘Kiss Me Deadly’ (1955)
• ‘The Flintstones’ (1960-66)
• ‘Superchick’ (1973)
• ‘The Graduate’ (1967)
• ‘Citizen Kane’ (1941)
• ‘Goke, Body Snatcher From Hell’ (1968)
• ‘Lady Snowblood’ (1973)
• ‘City of the Living Dead’ (1980)
• ‘Black Sunday’ (1977)
• ‘Game of Death’ (1978)
• ‘Miller’s Crossing’ (1990)
• ‘Death Rides a Horse’ (1966)
• ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’ (1974)
• ‘Samurai Fiction’ (1998)
• ‘Blade Runner’ (1982)
• ‘The Searchers’ (1956)
• ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’ (1968)
• ‘Five Fingers of Death’ (1972)
• ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ (1966)
• ‘Convoy’ (1978)
• ‘The Bird With the Crystal Plumage’ (1970)
• ‘Unforgiven’ (1992)
• ‘The Searchers’ (1956)
• ‘Metropolis’ (1927)
• ‘Django’ (1966)
• ‘Gone With the Wind’ (1939)
• ‘The Great Silence’ (1968)’A Professional Gun’ (1968)

Music: “Little Green Bag” by George Baker Selection