Tarantino - Visionary or Plagarist?

by HakSnider33
Previously, we explored what happens when a hack director pays homage to a scene from a superior film by clumsily directing a scene that plays like a pale facsimile of the original scene.   However, when done correctly, an homage can breath new life into a cliched or inferior scene.  The man who is obviously known as the master of this is Quentin Tarantino.  Although his detractors label him a poseur without an original bone in his body, his films have exposed many film aficionados to older and forgotten films through his clever homages.

Examples include KILL BILL VOLUME 1 (2003), which introduced many to 70’s cult Asian films such as LADY SNOWBLOOD (1973) and MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE (1977), PULP FICTION (1994), which introduced younger viewers to films by French New Wave directors such as Truffaut and Godard and of course, Tarantino’s JACKIE BROWN (1997), which started a revival of interest in Blaxpoitation films such as FOXY BROWN and SUPERFLY.  However, it is the homage that Tarantino’s first feature film, RESERVOIR DOGS (1992), pays to Ringo Lam’s 1987 Hong Kong gangster film CITY ON FIRE that his critics point to as evidence of his originality. Read More