Contrasting scenes of violence with upbeat pop favourites certainly appeared more often after the release of Reservoir Dogs. That said, Tarantino likely helped popularise the technique in more recent times. The Nashville group Bedlam also recorded original songs for the film. The Third Man represented one of the first examples of contrapuntal music in cinema (Photo: London Film Productions)Īs well as Stealers Wheel, the Reservoir Dogs soundtrack also renewed interest in songs like Harry Nilsson‘s ‘Coconut’, The George Baker Selection‘s ‘Little Green Bag’, and Blue Swede‘s ‘Hooked on a Feeling’. “Earlier films such as The Third Man is a great example of a film whose music, an upbeat zither in this case, remains unchanging and at odds with the more nefarious scenes unfolding visually,” says Carroll. Tarantino was not the first director to use the contrapuntal technique to subvert audience expectations. This meant he could play with audience expectations.” “They were largely all a few decades old at least by the time he made the film. “The other thing to consider is the age of the songs that Tarantino chose for Reservoir Dogs,” notes Carroll.
“I started thinking about this weird little thing Jimmy Cagney did in a movie that I saw, that’s where it came from,” explained actor Michael Madsen in an interview earlier this year. The twangs of southern rock as Blonde dances around his victim make for deeply unsettling but unforgettable viewing. That is so evocative.”Ĭontrapuntal: the use of music opposite to the emotion expected from the scene (also known as ‘soundtrack dissonance’) “Not least for the contrapuntal use of sound in the Stealers Wheel scene. “Ideology trumps individual effort, Ideology trumps good, ideology trumps entertaining.“The use of music is interesting,” says film and music theorist Beth Carroll. “Ideology is more important than art,” he grumbled about the cultural climate. Maher congratulated Tarantino for standing his ground against that and other attacks. While the film took up very little of the conversation, the minor controversies around the film did come up, especially the criticism of Margot Robbie’s character, Sharon Tate, having few speaking lines. Tarantino was on the show to promote the paperback book companion to his 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. While a political story in Israel isn’t in the cards, his guest said, “If you make a movie in Jerusalem, there’s nowhere you can point the camera where you’re not capturing something fantastic.” Tarantino was asked about potentially making his new home country the backdrop for a film, especially since it is, as Maher joked, “the revenge capital of the world” and thereby belongs in the director’s oeuvre. “Of course,” the filmmaker responded, though he noted the two places have a similar climate and “vibe,” though Israel is comparatively “tiny.” Maher asked Tarantino about Israel, where he lives with his wife and 15-month-old son, wondering if he misses LA. But he dribbles away with two more other ones, he doesn’t mean it.” “Don Siegel – if he had quit his career in 1979, when he did Escape from Alcatraz, what a final film! What a mic drop. “I know film history and from here on in, filmmakers do not get better,” he said.
Saturn Awards Winners: 'Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker' Leads With Five Prizes - Full ListĮven as his displayed his onetime video clerk’s acumen in making the point, Tarantino seemed sincerely committed to the plan.