Quentin Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool [Paperback]

Jeff Dawson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2000

At the beginning of 1992, no one had heard of Quentin Tarantino. By mid-1995, Quentinmania was in high gear, and he was being hailed as the hip new Oscar-toting messiah of film making. In this irreverant personal biography and in-depth study, Jeff Dawson interrogates Tarantino about his early influences, his use of violence, and accusations of plagiarism. Dawson takes the reader behind the scenes of Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Destiny Turns on the Radio, to get a glimpse of Quentin through the eyes of Harvey Keitel, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth and other Tarantino gang members interviewed for this book. Includes dialogue that didn't make it into the final cut, as well as the original plot twists for True Romance and Natural Born Killers that got axed by the censors. Includes great color and black & white photos throughout.

Product Details

• Paperback: 214 pages
• Publisher: Applause Books (February 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557832277
• ISBN-13: 978-1557832276
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,198,991 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE pop bio of the quintessential 90's pop auteur, August 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Quentin Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool (Paperback)

Well-paced and revealing, this "not-too-long," "not-too-short" bio reads like the Everyman-movie-geek fantasy that it is. The author spent considerable time following Tarantino around as he began his attack on Hollywood in 1992, with Reservoir Dogs, and as such, he was given enviable access to the celebrities that found their way into the young director's orbit. Extensive one-on-one interviews-- with such H'wood players as Samuel L. Jackson, Tony Scott, Harvey Keitel, as well as collaborators Roger Avary and Laurence Bender, not to mention the man himself--offer an entertaining glimpse into the mind of the struggling actor who decided he would have a better shot at success if he wrote his own screenplays, and went on to direct arguably the best film of the 1990s, Pulp Fiction.

Bonus revelations include Tarantino and Co.'s experience acting in the indie flick Destiny Turns on the Radio, QT's reaction following both the 1994 Cannes D'Or Award and the predictable Forrest Gump Oscar landslide of 1995 that left Tarantino & Avary holding only the Best Screenplay statuette, as well as Tarantino's side of the story regarding his battle with the producers of Natural Born Killers. An all-around good read that is honest enough to suggest Tarantino as perhaps the next Orson Welles-as-washed-up-has-been, and wise enough in the end to bet against it.

4 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Cin-enema of Fools, April 22, 2004

By 

Jacques (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quentin Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool (Paperback)

(...) Tarentino's films are universally and fundamentally boring for anyone who has ever lived a real life and not just fantasized about having one. His dipictions of violence eminate from his own personal lack of sexual energy. Sadly, teenage males without girlfriends seem to like these slammed together video games that are being called brilliant, and continue to support the trash factory that generates this type of hyper garbage. (...)