My favorite chapter in Quentin Tarantino’s Cinema Speculation is “The Outfit” (1973). Tarantino writes about how his obsession with movies began as a 6-year-old kid when his mother used to take him to see films on a weekly basis in “Little Q Watching Big Movies.”
The Outfit, based on a “Richard Stark” (aka, Donald E. Westlake) caper novel, follows the professional thief who takes on criminal syndicate. John Flynn directed The Outfit, starring Robert DuVall as Macklin (aka, “Parker”), Karen Black as Bett, and Joe Don Baker as Cody.
Tarantino prefaces his review of The Outfit with an analysis of the Parker series of caper novels and the movies based on them. Tarantino disagrees that Lee Marvin is the quintessential Parker in Point Blank. He doesn’t like the Mel Gibson remake, either.
Tarantino considers the best movie Parker as Robert De Niro as “Neil McCauley” in Michael Mann’s Heat. But, he doesn’t like the conclusion of Heat.
Whether you like Quentin Tarantino and/or his movies or not, reading Tarantino’s opinions on many classic movies provides insights and acute observations. If you’re a movie fan, there’s plenty here to delight you! I hope Tarantino is working on a sequel. GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Little Q watching big movies — 1
Bullitt (1968) –31
Dirty Harry (1971) — 47
Deliverance (1972) — 69
)The Getaway (1972) — 89
The Outfit (1973) — 117
Second-String Samurai: an appreciation of Kevin Thomas — 137
New Hollywood in the seventies: the post-sixties anti-establishment auteurs vs. the movie brats — 159
Sisters (1973) — 177
Daisy Miller (1974) — 199
Taxi Driver (1976) — 211
Cinema speculation: What if Brian De Palma directed Taxi Driver instead of Martin Scorsese? — 235
Rolling Thunder (1977) — 247
Paradise Alley (1978) — 273
Escape from Alcatraz (1979) –299
Hardcore (1979) — 313
The Funhouse (1981) — 331
*Floyd Footnote — 351
INDEX — 373
I read this a couple of months ago. I love his passion for film. I tend to agree with him more often than not. He likes Paradise Alley which I thought was awful. I like his thoughts about Bullitt, Dirty Harry , Deliverance, The Getaway, Escape From Alcatraz, The Outfit especially.
Steve, I agree with you: Tarantino’s takes on BULLITT, DIRTY HARRY, DELIVERANCE, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, and especially THE OUTFIT really hit the mark!
Well, as a director and scriptwriter, Tarantino is highly self-indulgent…I won’t gainsay his fandom, his love of the medium. I suspect I’d approach this one they way I’d approach the Bob Dylan songwriting book.
What if De Palma directed TAXI DRIVER instead? An orgy of self-indulgence and a less interesting film, I’d say.
Todd, I wan’t confirm or deny your guess about “What if De Palma directed TAXI DRIVER instead.” But…you’re warm!
Todd, I like your comparison of Tarantino and Dylan. They are unique and their books are special!
I love QT’s movies and I loved this book, which I read over a period of 3-4 weeks last year while revisiting many of the sixties and seventies movies covered. I’d seen most of them when they were originally released and saw several others I’d missed. Of the ones I’d seen years ago I thought DELIVERANCE held up best even though I was never a Burt Reynolds fan. And while I wouldn’t want to discourage anyone who hasn’t seen it, there’s not much to BULLITT except for the great car chase and McQueen’s indomitable cool. THE OUTFIT holds up well too, and John Flynn’s later effort, ROLLING THUNDER, is also a must. And I still have several others I want to get to. Anyone who loves this book as much as I do will finally understand why they’re paying for so many streaming services.
I have to disagree about BULLITT, despite some goofiness at certain points (not least his name). Love the opening (or is that opining) credits design and the music throughout, like that Jacqueline Bissett is a civil engineer and also a kinetic sculptor, like even the entended non-auto chase sequences and utter villainy of Vaughan and Fell. The cast is pretty uniformly used well…Simon Oakland as a no-bullshit police captain is unsurprisingly a standout, particularly given how less than perfect some of his other most visible roles were in their writing.
Todd, Tarantino loved Vaughan’s performance in BULLITT. From THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. to BULLITT, Good Guy to Bad Guy.
Michael, I have the same reaction to CINEMA SPECULATION that you did: I want to watch all of these movies…again! Especially THE OUTFIT.
Ah, BULLITT. Fond memories of Kitty’s only expression of violence in all the years I’ve knew her. We were watching it in a theater when it first came out and (naturally) holding hands. Then came an unexpected and violent shoot-out scene that startled her so much she damned near broke my thumb. It was sore for weeks — about the same length of time that she kept apologizing to me. Because it was based on a Robert L. Fish novel, I foolishly expected a completely different type of film. But McQueen was pretty cool driving that car.
Jerry, BULLITT was a far cry from Robert L. Fish’s MUTE WITNESS. I really enjoyed Tarantino’s analysis of Steve McQueen’s “cool.”
Agree with Steve about PARADISE ALLEY – it sucked. I haven’t read this but might. I like some of Tarantino’s films – ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD was pretty good – but Todd is right about the self-indulgence always there. But since I like a lot of the movies he covers, maybe.
Jeff, you might not always agree with what Tarantino has to say about these movies in CINEMA SPECULATION, but he makes you reflect on these films…and want to see them again!
I’m hit or miss with tarantino. Agree with his passion for movies, but think he indulges himself a bit too much. He does make movies I’ve enjoyed.
Hope everyone is surviving all the varied weather problems over the country, and world. We’ve had a lot of much needed rain, but yesterdays paper said after this storm that it might be mostly done. Wish we could syphon snow from the north and east. A pipeline for good.
Maggie, California weather has been the lead story on the evening news for weeks! I hope this rain helps with your draught…but I’m seeing a lot of flooding happening! Stay safe!
luckily for me, it’s northen calif that is getting the brunt of it
Maggie, Art Scott says Livermore got a lot of rain, too!