Quentin Tarantino has long been rightly hailed as a Hollywood legend for his unique style of filmmaking. Known for nonlinear storytelling, dark humor, and, in some cases, putting his own spin on history, Tarantino has blessed audiences with fantastic films like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Django Unchained, and Inglourious Basterds. Throughout his career, as both director and writer, he has been awards by some of the most prestigious institutions in the industry, from the Golden Globes to the BAFTAs, with much of the awards won for his screenplays.
Indeed, Tarantino is arguably one of the best writers in the industry today. Not just screenplays, too: per IndieWire, his film history book Cinema Speculation hits bookstore shelves on October 25. Of course, it’s his screenwriting that has effectively helped him build the film career he has today. Not many people can craft stories with complex characters the way he can. In fact, there are a handful of film for which Tarantino served as an uncredited writer. Here are six movies you probably didn’t know were written by the auteur.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
6 Past Midnight (1991)
New Line Cinema
It’s true that 1992’s Reservoir Dogs was Tarantino’s breakthrough work as a screenwriter. However, in 1991, he provided re-writes of the script for Past Midnight, ultimately going uncredited. That said, Tarantino did receive credit as an associate producer of the movie, which marked his first official screen credit. While the film was poorly received by critics and audiences alike, Past Midnight featured several trademark pop culture references, including a cop at a crime scene saying, “It makes Nightmare on Elm Street look like Charlotte’s Web."
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
5 Four Rooms (1995)
Miramax Films
Four Rooms is an anthology black comedy film comprising four separate stories playing under the same hotel roof. These stories were each written by Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez, and, of course, Tarantino. Loosely based on the works of Roald Dahl, Four Rooms sees the protagonist Ted (played by Tim Roth) crossing paths with multiple deranged guests on his first day on the job during New Year’s Eve and his struggles to survive these situations. Notably, Tarantino wrote and directed the segment, “The Man from Hollywood.” This segment was adapted from Dahl’s Man from the South. Despite Tarantino’s involvement in Four Rooms, the movie was a box office flop, along with getting tagged by film critics (via Rotten Tomatoes) as a “particularly uneven — and dismayingly uninspired — anthology effort.”
4 From Dusk till Dawn (1996)
Miramax Films
The action horror film From Dusk till Dawn is one of the many cult classics of the 90s. It sees Robert Rodriguez as the director and George Clooney and Tarantino as the leading protagonists. The movie was ultimately a commercial and critical success that opened the gateway for several pop-culture ventures, including video games, television series, and much more. Tarantino’s involvement in From Dusk till Dawn was not limited to just playing the character of Richard Gecko. In fact, the actor wrote the screenplay and served as the film’s Executive Producer.
3 The Rock (1996)
Buena Vista Pictures
Helmed by Michael Bay, The Rock is a story of Stanley Good (played by Nicolas Cage) and John Mason (played by Sean Connery). It sees Stanley, an FBI Chemist, and Mason, an SAS pilot, going toe-to-toe against rogue US Marines who have threatened to release nerve gas over San Francisco if their unusual demands are unmet. As fans might know, the screenplay of The Rock was written by David Weisberg and Douglas Cook, but that’s not all. The film, as highlighted by IndieWire, also saw contributions from Tarantino and The Social Network writer Aaron Sorkin, both of whom assisted with re-writes of the script. Though Tarantino was never officially credited for this work, the film is widely a critical and commercial blockbuster and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Sound.
2 Crimson Tide (1995)
Tony Scott’s action thriller Crimson Tide is staged around the civil war in the post-Soviet era. The movie tells a tale of mutiny between the captain of a submarine and his deputy for command of the vessel. The screenplay of the Oscar-nominated film was written by The Peacemaker writer Michael Schiffer, but Scott, impressed by Tarantino’s work in True Romance, recommended his name to the studio for amendments to the screenplay. Tarantino consequently helped with the script of Crimson Tide, incorporating his trademark style of pop culture references in many sequences. For instance, on several occasions, the crew is seen discussing classics like Star Trek, Silver Surfer, submarine movies, and so on. Tarantino, however, was not credited for his work.
1 True Romance (1993)
Warner Bros.
The blockbuster success of Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs saw him join forces with Tony Scott yet again, this time for his second feature film, True Romance. Featuring Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Val Kilmer, and many more, True Romance was widely a box office flop. However, it was critically acclaimed and was consensually slated as “a funny and violent action jaunt” on its merit. Eventually, the film became a cult classic among pop culture-savvy viewers and is now dubbed as one of the best Tony Scott films to date and, even further, the best 90s American romantic crime movie.
