Quentin Tarantino’s ten best film songs
Few directors use music as brilliantly as Quentin Tarantino. Here are his ten best film songs.
1. Bobby Womack: “Across 110th Street” (Jackie Brown)
The blaxploitation typography, Jackie’s profile walking through the airport, a rushed step that suggests her difficult life. Womack’s 1972 song about losers becomes a homage to the main character – as precisely as if it had been composed for Tarantino’s opening credits.
2. Santa Esmeralda: “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” (Kill Bill – Volume 1)
Older television viewers know the clatter of hands as the accompaniment to the goal of the month in the “Sportschau”. Here it is the start of the duel between the “bride” and O-Ren. Far Eastern martial arts in flamenco rhythm, Tarantino’s riskiest pairing to date.
Quentin Tarantino’s ten best film songs
3. Stealers Wheel: “Stuck In The Middle With You” (Reservoir Dogs)
“It’s my personal favorite,” says Mr. Blonde, then cuts off Nash’s ear to the sound of pop songs. David Fincher and Eli Roth later copied Tarantino’s misappropriation formula for their films: Nothing offers a more traumatic listening experience than pairing torture with beautiful music.
4. Ennio Morricone: “L’arena” (Kill Bill – Volume 2)
Defeat, burial, resurrection. The piece from “The Feared Two” (1968) illustrates with pathos the hardest path of the “bride”: How to, six feet under buried alive, comes out of the coffin.
5. Dick Dale & The Del Tones: “Misirlou” / Kool & the Gang: “Jungle Boogie” (Pulp Fiction)
Self-absorbed and disrespectful, Tarantino swaps the record with an audible swoosh during the opening credits. The switch from surf to funk is also intended to show the eclecticism and speed with which he mixes film genres.