In my opinion, Quentin Tarantino is one of the greatest directors of all time. All his movies are very unique and he presents his stories with great details and finesse. Kill Bill and Inglorious Basterds are among my favorite movies of his, but Death Proof (2007) is still top of my list. The movie starts out in Austin, Texas, where four girl friends meet up at a bar to hang out before going to the lake for the weekend. At the bar they meet a former Hollywood stuntman who refers to himself as Stuntman Mike. As the night goes on, he offers one of the girls, Pam, a ride in his “death proof” stunt car. Soon after, Mike’s sick secret is revealed and he finishes her off right before going after her friends too. Fourteen months pass and the story picks up in Lebanon, Texas. Four girls are riding around, having fun, and are unknowingly spied on by Stuntman Mike. One of the girls, Zoe Bell, finds a guy who is selling a white 1970 Dodge Challenger that she wants to test drive. As the girls are taking it for a spin, Zoe decides to play “ships mast,” which is basically her riding on the hood of the car, only holding on to two belts fastened to the doors. Mike drives up to them, on an otherwise empty road, and tries to throw Zoe off the road. The girls become enraged by this, and decide to have some fun with him as well until they, at last, finish him off.
Death Proof was presented in a double feature named Grindhouse, along with Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror. I think this was a unique idea because it honored the double feature movie presentations of the past. The reasons why I love this movie are the story and its underlying insight, and its vintage-ness. The story is very original and I feel, in a way, that Tarantino is standing up for women by giving them the last laugh. Typage was obviously used during casting, for characters like Zoe Bell, which is the selection of actors based on their looks to properly convey the type of character the actor plays. Not only were the actors cast carefully, so were the cars. Stuntman Mike drives a black 1971 Chevrolet Nova rigged with a protective box around the driver’s seat. One of the girl’s drives a yellow with black stripes 1972 Mustang whose paintjob is a reference to the Pussy Wagon in Kill Bill. My favorite car in the film is the Challenger Zoe rides on, which is also the same car as in the classic movie Vanishing Point. These pretty cars are used in a classic style car chase, not seen since the 1990’s in movies like The Terminator. The numerous shots and stunts come together to result in the over ten minute long chase scene. Tarantino tried to make the film seem true to the time period of double features by adding occasional tears in the film and even adding a “missing reel” bit during the lap dance scene. I am not the biggest fan of the transition to digital movies, and I appreciate the attention to such detail. Although it is true to its R-rating, it also has some cheesy moments of past filmmaking, as, for instance, the leg hitting the road was purposely made to look fake. It is action-packed and keeps one of his/her toes.
Death Proof contains very detailed cinematography and an unique story, and is my favorite Quentin Tarantino film. I definitely give this movie an excellence rating of five out of five stars and recommend it to anyone who loves old-style movies or just plain exciting ones.
