With classic movies under his belt like Pulp Fiction and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, director Quentin Tarantino has a pretty large fanbase.
Over on the subreddit r/movies, a group of fans debated where they should rank the director’s 2007 film Death Proof. User Runj0n posed the question and provided the following rationale for it:
“Death proof is considered Tarantino’s worst movie, although He agrees with that statement. He says that’s actually not a bad statement if that’s considered his worst movie being that it’s still a good movie. My question to you is do you think that death proof is a good movie overall. If you didn’t know, Sylvester Stallone was his original choice over Kurt Russell. Sylvester Stallone turned down the role because of the subject matter being that he has young daughters. So where does Quentin Tarantino’s death proof rank in his movies?”
User Unlikely_Layer_2268 said they enjoyed it but understood that it wasn’t one of the director’s best.
“It’s one of his films. I enjoyed it and Planet Terror when Grindhouse was released to theaters.
I’ve rewatched Death Proof more than Planet Terror.
I see a familiarity with Duel that kept me hooked. Even when Stuntman was in the background and out of his car he was the proverbial truck chasing down a victim.
I love Duel. I appreciate the 70s drive in flicks he was emulating.
He put as much into that film as all the others. He only laments that with this one most people didn’t join him in his cinematic love of yesteryear.
Seemingly his first failure while doing the same thing that made him so successful.”
User Agent_Tomm said that calling it his worst was not the right way to put it.
I guess I’m a glass half full guy, because I prefer to phrase it as “his least good movie”. Saying it’s his worst movie makes it sound like it’s terrible, when in reality it’s very good just maybe not as good as the rest of his work.
Others shared a similar point of view, like cestquilepatron: “It left me wanting more, which isn’t the worst thing to say about a movie. It had solid performances and a premise that he could have done so much more with.” User KMoosetoe also disagreed that it was his worst: “I’d rank it among the better half of his work.”
User astroK120 said they simply hadn’t seen the movie in a long time, and it might have improved with age.
“For me it ranks near the bottom, though it wouldn’t surprise me if it were to climb my rankings after a rewatch. I haven’t seen it since theaters. That’s obviously been a long time and my tastes have probably changed, but even if they haven’t I wonder if taking it out of the Grindhouse context would make me appreciate it more. Very possible, but it’s hard to rewatch a movie I didn’t care for the first time around (especially at this life stage).
The only other I’d put down that low is Hateful 8, but that’s not entirely fair since the only version I’ve seen is the extended miniseries version. And I watched it at like 2 in the morning while up feeding a baby each night.”
While acknowledging it’s not his best, Delonce said it’s a great movie to watch while you’re doing something else.
“It’s a great ‘background movie.’ Throw it on while you do something else like clean up around the house or something. You can do what you need to, and look over and catch the cool bits in the movie, then go back to what you were doing. Or, you can just sit and get absorbed by the characters.”
User wamcood had a fresh take on the film after having recently watched it.
Coincidentally I watched it this morning and it was the last movie of his I hadn’t seen. I probably rank it 3rd worst, ahead of Reservoir Dogs and Django Unchained. I’m sure it’s even better in the context of the Grindhouse double feature, which I’ll have to watch one day, just didn’t want to watch the “missing reel” version first
Of course, this comment is a singular one because the other two movies are incredible.
Regardless, fans seem to exist in a realm where the movie is simultaneously not great but also watchable, like CRoseCrizzle.
“It’s his worst film imo. That said, I actually really enjoyed it when rewatched a few months ago. It’s a lot of fun. Kurt Russell does really well in it as the villain.
Maybe it’s not his worst film. The only one I could consider putting it ahead of is the Hateful Eight. But that doesn’t quite feel right.”