I recently completed viewing The hateful eight by Quentin Tarantino (recommended viewing, will surprise you). And it reminded me to complete this post about 'From Dusk till Dawn' (FDTD) which is one of the most ‘wild’est movies I had seen, which was written and directed by Tarantino’s friend, and featured Tarantino as one of the lead roles.
I had first heard of FDTD when a sequel ‘Desparado’ was released by the same director, starring Antonio Banderas and Selma Hayek. One of my office colleagues then who was heavily into films insisted we see this sequel. Desperado was God Awful and we cursed him, and asked him why he wanted to see this in the first place, and he mentioned the first movie was great fun - FDTD. This was in 1995.
I finally got to see FDTD much later, and absolutely fell in love with it. Its hard to describe it, except that its a cult classic that combines horror, comedy, into a complete ruckus with such lack of finesse that you simply enjoy every moment of it.
The story is about two fugitive brotherss George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino who are trying to escape to Mexico and hold a retired Priest Harvey Keitel, with his children, using their van to reach Mexico.
As they reach Mexico, they decide to take their hostages for one final encounter with their dealer, and also repay them by treating them at the bar where a transaction is to take place, enabling the brothers to stay in Mexico. This is a haunted bar whose name cannot be published here, which might indicate what tone the film takes for most of its duration. There;s a huge fight between the bar staff and dancers who turn into vampires and zombies, and the customers incl. clooney & gang. The only survivors as the film ends is George Clooney and the daughter of the priest.
How does one make a movie like this without oodles of poker faced bravado and flair. in India, its only now that the horrid terrible movies made by the Ramsay Brothers (who ruled this niche genre for decades) - have now a cult following.
But FDTD has priceless pearls dropped in every scene, the language the actions, the situations are simply too hilarious. There are various cameos who indulge the director and keep a straight face as they go through the baloney. George Clooney pulls this off with total panache, and quentin Tarantino seems to be a natural fit to his character who is one the edge.
Most of this is not for kids or those sensitive to foul, puerile language and adult humour. My favorite scene from this was just outside the Bar where there’s a salesman who is trying to get people to come into the bar/ bordello that also features pole dancers and nude girls. (This is by a Tarantino regular who plays several parts in this movie). His ‘spiel’ is hilarious and I had to pause, and rewind it - I was howling with laughter - I think most folk would be revulsed by this. But if you can tolerate it or find it funny, then you are likely to enjoy most of the movie.
Tarantino and his friend tried to replicate this movie across other sequels but couldnt. Its a cult classic that cant be replicated.
No comments:
Post a Comment