This concludes the Quentin Tarantino portion of our list, the 6th and final entry from the director. (Currently tied with 5 other directors, but below Scorsese and Spielberg.) I start with this because as of this writing Tarantino is coming up on 10 years since his last feature, seemingly paralyzed with what he plans to end his career with. Increasingly people notice the irony of what would happen if his last film turns out terrible, which is probably what’s stalling him. It’s a problem similar to the pressure he put on himself to follow Pulp Fiction, which is why he turned to adapting the Elmore Leonard novel Rum Punch. Even then, Tarantino was concerned Leonard would hate the changes made to the novel, and didn’t hear back from the author until shooting was about to begin. Luckily, Leonard said it was the best adaptation of his work ever.
Samuel L. Jackson has also called this his favorite Tarantino film. The script was so strong that Robert De Niro thought he was going to play Max Cherry. Tarantino explained that the role was written for Robert Forster, and then convinced De Niro to try something new with the dim-witted Louis. As for Forster, he was out of the business at the time, Tarantino had to have the Studio track him down. Unlike Jackson, Forster and Pam Grier have a zen-cool that comes from years of experience. They make a great team, both able to think on their feet when they need to. Tarantino wrote the part for Grier and during filming could bring up moments in her previous films that she could channel into the scenes. Grier gets a big moment early in the film when Jackson tries to dominate a meeting and she bluntly shows how she has the upper-hand in their situation.
After Jackie Brown, Tarantino felt he had taken his indie film style as far as he could. It would be six years before he made another film, and working with Robert Richardson as his Director of Photography, re-invented himself with the more epic and stylized Kill Bill.
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