The Films of Quentin Tarantino: From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) 

Directed by: Robert Rodriguez.

Written by: Quentin Tarantino and Robert Kurtzman (story).

Starring: George Clooney (Seth Gecko), Quentin Tarantino (Richard Gecko), Harvey Keitel (Jacob Fuller), Juliette Lewis (Kate Fuller), Ernest Liu (Scott Fuller), Salma Hayek (Santanico Pandemonium), Cheech Marin (Border Guard / Chet Pussy / Carlos), Danny Trejo (Razor Charlie), Tom Savini (Sex Machine), Fred Williamson (Frost), Michael Parks (Texas Ranger Earl McGraw), Brenda Hillhouse (Hostage Gloria Hill), John Saxon (FBI Agent Stanley Chase), Marc Lawrence (Old Timer Motel Owner), Kelly Preston (Newscaster Kelly Houge), John Hawkes (Pete Bottoms, Liquor Store Clerk).

 

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are good friends, and share a lot of things in common – most notably, a love of old grindhouse films – violent, sexual, exploitation films made on the cheap. And yet, there is no doubt that as filmmakers, they have very different approaches in how they use those influences to make their films. Tarantino usually tries to elevate (I hate that word, but perhaps it fits) his influences – putting them all into the blender of his brain and coming up with something that has the DNA of all of his influences, but feels completely original – completely his own. Rodriguez is more content to try and recreate the films he loved with a DIY look and feel. You can see this in Grindhouse (which I won’t review as part of this series as it’s harder to find – and I own Tarantino’s extended cut of Death Proof – which is a better overall film) – and you can see it in From Dusk Till Dawn, a film written by Tarantino and directed by Rodriguez. For the most part, I love Tarantino’s style much more than Rodriguez’s – but here, it makes sense that Rodriguez’s approach works. From Dusk Till Dawn is pure B-movie – a guilty pleasure of a film that turns half way through from one film to another – both of them work. It’s easy to say that the first half is more Tarantino and the second more Rodriguez – and its kind of true – it’s not entirely.

 

The first scene though, is pure Tarantino. A liquor store clerk (an early role for John Hawkes, who shows how great he already was) is working when a Texas Ranger (Tarantino favorite Michael Parks) comes in. The two shoot the shit for minute upon minute – talking about nothing for much of it, but then the Ranger mentioned the Gecko brothers – one of whom broke the other out of jail, and they’ve been murdering their way South – leaving a trail of bodies in their wake on their way to the Mexican border. When the Ranger goes to the bathroom – we see that those brothers – Seth (George Clooney) and Richard (Quentin Tarantino) were there the whole time. They aren’t happy with the liquor store clerk – he was supposed to get rid of the cop ASAP – and it doesn’t seem to be going that way. They hide again when the cop comes out – but they don’t stay hidden for long – and the place erupts in violence, before it quite literally erupts.

 

That opening scene pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the Gecko brothers – both are capable of incredible violence – but Seth is more controlled and smart about it – he doesn’t want to kill everyone unless he has to. Richard’s first reaction is to always start shooting – and keep going to extreme lengths. Eventually, the pair of brothers end up kidnapping a family – father Jacob (Harvey Keitel), a pastor struggling with his faith since the death of his wife, his daughter Kate (Juliette Lewis) and teenage son Ernest (Scott Fuller) – who are driving to Mexico in a Winnebago. The Gecko’s see this as their chance to get across the border unnoticed. Once across, they plan to meet some associates at a bar called the Titty Twister – which seems like so much fun, until it becomes clear that it is really just a front for vampires – and more and more people start to die.

 

Tarantino wrote the screenplay for the film, and it does kind of feel like something he tossed off rather quickly – which perhaps it was. He wrote it at the request of Robert Kurtzman, a makeup specialist, as a kind of payment to him for working on the ear scene in Reservoir Dogs. There were times when Tarantino himself was going to direct – but he decided he wanted to concentrate on his performance as Richard – and Kurtzman himself was going to direct. But I think with Rodriguez, they landed on the right director. He does a good job in the first half – he stays out of Tarantino’s way in that opening scene (which is probably the best in the movie) and has a few nice touches (I love the way he reveals what Richard did to the hostage in the hotel room when Seth returns). But when he reaches the Titty Twister, he lets his freak flag fly – and fully embraces how insane they violence gets, while finding the right notes of humor throughout. The film here is overwritten – in the right way – he embraces it. It’s fun and insane, and he casts it well – with Tom Savini and Fred Williamson as a couple of bikers, Cheech Marin playing multiple roles, and Salma Hayek as a stripper – who pours whiskey down her leg for Tarantino to drink off her foot (which may well be something Tarantino insisted on). As a director, Tarantino could have done this sure – but Rodriguez does it better.

 

The casting of the Gecko brothers is strange. This was Clooney’s first lead role after ER made him a star. I’m not sure he’s quite right for the role – Seth is smarter and more mature than Richard, but he’s still a heartless killer. Clooney makes him likable – which works for the role – but it may have been better had he not been quite so charming. As for Tarantino, well, I think the film shows why he never had a role this big again. He’s not bad – but the role is a plum one, one that should showcase a great actor. Tarantino is fine – but imagine someone like Steve Buscemi or Michael Madsen in the role, and you have a classic. Harvey Keitel is fine as the pastor – although it kind of feels like he’s phoning this one in. Juliette Lewis is good as Kate – although I wonder if she’s slightly too old for the role, or perhaps, after Natural Born Killers this kind of innocent shtick that worked so well for her in Cape Fear, just wasn’t as genuine.

 

From Dusk Till Dawn is a fun film – a guilty pleasure. As a teenager, I saw it probably about 10 times – but I haven’t felt the need to revisit it probably since 2000 or so. Watching it now is somewhat nostalgic – not just because I loved it as a teenager, but also because it’s a reminder of the type of film that used to be in multiplexes in the late 1990s, that don’t really exist anymore. If he had started making films then, S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99 and the upcoming Dragged Across Concrete) would have been a mainstream director – now he’s essentially an arthouse director. I miss those days. Watching this film today, I don’t love it the way I did as a teenager – but I still had a great time watching it. It’s fun, B-movie, grindhouse tribute. The type of film Rodriguez does well, and type of film that Tarantino normally would have done something more with. He doesn’t here – and that’s fine. The film works as is.