Faster, Pussy Wagon! Kill! Kill!

Back from the dead with the new Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino exposes the dick drive, movie ultraviolence, and his foot fetish

A A A Comments By R.J. Smith Tuesday, Sep 30 2003

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The House of Blue Leaves scene will be what people remember from this movie—it will keep their heads ringing. Tarantino says it's meant to be his equivalent of the Apocalypse Now "Ride of the Valkyries" scene, and it succeeds in part because the making of Kill Bill approached the crazed, against-nature vibe of the making of Apocalypse Now.

"The hardest thing about that scene was simply capturing the movie I had in my head," says Tarantino. "Because the one in my head was as good as any action sequence I've seen in my life. I didn't do all this to be OK. I didn't do all of it to be on a learning curve all right, so that the next action movie I do will be really good.

illustration: Justin Wood

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"I've always considered action directors to be the most cinematic directors—a good action sequence is cinema in its purest form. There's other directors with more resonance, with more depth of feeling, depth of behavior, whatever, but when it comes to pure cinema it's usually a really good action sequence." For all the screams and punchlines, for the soundtrack by the Wu-Tang Clan's RZA and the incredibly well-mic'd way the swords come out of bodies, you almost don't need ears. As for the director, we may be wishing that he pipes down any day now, but he's made a vivid and livid silent movie for the 21st century.

Related Article:
J. Hoberman's review of Kill Bill Vol. 1