Quentin Tarantino is one of the greatest filmmakers of this generation (or any other). He’s produced such hit films as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds, and Django Unchained, just to name a few. Having directed only ten films in his career, anytime a Tarantino movie comes out it feels like an event. His films are known worldwide for their over-the-top violence, extensive dialogue, and star-studded ensemble casts. A Tarantino film has a particular feel, an undeniable vibe, a style that the director pulls off time and time again.
Updated: January 2023: To keep this article fresh and relevant by adding more information and entries, this article has been updated by Dylan Reber.
Tarantino has recently expressed his desire to have been able todirect the 2000 hit Japanese film Battle Royale, and thatgot us wondering: Imagine if Tarantino had applied his special cinematic eye to other popular movies throughout history. The laws of time and space do not apply to the following list in any way, shape, or form. Let’s travel to a world where Tarantino was alive and directing with an established style in each one of the years that these films debuted, some of which he was already active during. Without further ado, let’s talk about some of the films we wish Quentin Tarantino had helmed.
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10 No Country for Old Men (2007)
No Country for Old Men is a classic film its own right, and one of the best pictured directed by the famed Coen Brothers. But that doesn’t stop one from wondering what it would have been like had it been directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film moves at a slow and deliberate pace under the direction of the Coen Brothers and is by all accounts a modern day western. Tarantino’s love for westerns, his experience having directed one or two himself, along with his penchant for deep and intricate dialogue, would have taken No Country for Old Men to even greater heights. A character like Anton Chigurh in the hands of Tarantino would be a match made in heaven.
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9 Elvis (2022)
Warner Bros.
Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis may be a fantastic biopic, but it’s worth considering how Tarantino would have chosen to depict Elvis’s life. Darker, more violent, and drug-fueled to an almost nightmarish degree? Almost certainly. A larger-than-life figure like Elvis, with his tumultuous stardom and tragic death, is a perfect subject for Tarantino to tackle. In his hands, the film would likely be far less accurate than Luhrmann’s version, but Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has shown that Tarantino can do historical revisionism right.
8 Harakiri (1962)
Shochiku
Widely considered to be on of the best Samurai movies of all time, Harakiri tells the story of Hanshiro Tsugumo, whose desire it is to commit seppuku, a form of ritualistic suicide in Japanese culture. This request and visit to a Japanese clan sets him on a path of discovery, all while challenging the clan itself. Along with Westerns, another genre that has a heavy influence on Taratino’s style is the Samurai genre, clearly seen in films like Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2. We truly wish we could see the scope and fight scenes of Harakiri through Tarantino’s eyes.
7 Evil Dead (2013)
TriStar Pictures
2013 saw the release of a fairly bland re-imagining of the cult horror classic Evil Dead. While we wouldn’t want Tarantino to touch Sam Raimi’s original, we do wish he had stepped in to helm this remake/reboot. For all his love of genre films, Tarantino has never directed a horror movie. It’s a pretty sizable gap in his resume, and one we hope he fills before retiring. If he had taken on 2013’s Evil Dead, we would have gotten something far more violent, funnier, and memorable than what we did get. The campy fun of the Evil Dead franchise makes it a perfect fit for someone like Tarantino. Just imagine the fireworks if he and Bruce Campbell worked together.
6 12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Angry Men might not seem like a movie that would fit the Quentin Tarantino model of filmmaking. The classic drama primarily takes place in just one jury room as twelve men attempt to decide the fate of a young man on trial. There is no action or violence, and the plot itself is a slow burn, all things that we do not see in Quentin Tarantino films. What makes 12 Angry Men the perfect film for Tarantino to flex his cinematic muscle is in the dialogue. Think back to the tipping conversation that opens up Reservoir Dogs, the interrogation of a French farmer by Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds, or the final conversation between The Bride and Bill in Kill Bill Vol. 2. Quentin Tarantino knows how to write dialogue and move a story through it. A film like 12 Angry Men, which speaks on themes of democracy and American civic duty, is one of the most intriguing films we wish Tarantino had directed.
5 Star Trek (2009)
Paramount Pictures
This one feels a bit like cheating, as Tarantino has long wanted to direct a Star Trek film of his own. It’s long been speculated that he was working on an R-rated entry in the franchise for Paramount, as Variety reports. Though it never came to light, we can imagine how things would have gone if Tarantino had directed the 2009 reboot film, Star Trek. Goodbye Chris Pine, hello Samuel L. Jackson? If it sounds crazy, that’s because a Tarantino Trek movie would be crazy. The recent films have been fairly tame in terms of sex and violence, but that would all change in Tarantino’s hands. It would be a refreshing change of pace for the franchise, to say the least.
4 The Departed (2006)
Of all the entries on this list, The Departed feels most like it could be a Quentin Tarantino movie. The film features several high profile actors, all participating in separate yet interconnected story arcs; the dialogue is fantastic, and it features extreme violence at times. What could Tarantino bring that Martin Scorsese did not? Scorsese is the master of the gangster genre, a category of films that many wish Tarantino would dip his toes into. Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction have hints of a gangster film, but all subsequent Tarantino films fall into different genres. Film fanatics want a Quentin Tarantino gangster film; we just wish he could have helmed one of the best gangster movies ever made.
3 Casino Royale (2006)
MGM
Yes, Casino Royale is one of the best Bond films ever made. That doesn’t make it any less fun to imagine what Tarantino’s version of the first Daniel Craig Bond movie would have looked like. Maybe it’s time for an R-rated, ultraviolent, profanity-laced spin on the spy thriller. Though Tarantino will probably never helm a Bond film in the future, Cheat Sheet reports that he originally wanted to direct Casino Royale before the rights were bought by someone else. We were this close to seeing Tarantino’s Bond - now all we can do is dream.
2 Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Once Upon a Time in the West is widely considered to be one of, if not the greatest westerns ever made, and a film that is still revisited 50+ years after its release (per Film Inquiry). It also had a profound impact on Quentin Tarantino’s own western films. You can see it in his work on Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight, and even a more modern tale that almost shares a name with the western, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. An aspect of the spaghetti western that made it so intriguing when it was released was the casting of Henry Fonda as the villain of the tale. Fonda had a reputation for playing the good guy, and his role in Once Upon a Time allowed him to showcase a different set of skills. This is something Tarantino does with actors in his own films.
Casting a beloved actor like Leonardo DiCaprio and turning him into the vile Calvin Candy, transforming Jennifer Jason Leigh into the foul-mouthed Daisy Domergue, or taking ’80s action star Kurt Russell and casting him as a psychopathic stuntman in Death Proof -these things would be possible under Tarantino’s direction. He has skill at taking actors and casting, writing, and successfully directing them against type. While there is more to Once Upon a Time in the West than Fonda’s role, the compelling villain is what helps make this western stand the test of time, and it’s a story we wished we could have seen taken on by Tarantino.
1 The Thing (1982)
Universal Pictures
Along with the gangster genre, one set of films moviegoers would love to see Tarantino tackle is the horror genre; more specifically, the body-horror genre. One of the best body-horror films of all time and one of the most frightening horror films from the ’80s is John Carpenters The Thing. Having found great success working with Kurt Russell and his love of graphic hyper-violence, a dream of Quentin Tarantino’s The Thing is one we wish could have come true. In fact, there’s nothing stopping Kurt Russell from reprising his role as R.J. MacReady in a Tarantino-led remake or reboot.
