Tarantino = Overrated??

[Ernest Rister]

It is amazing to me the high standards to which we hold our film artists -- Quentin Tarantino? Overrated? Orson Welles never directed a hit film in his life...some of you Welles experts are probably familiar with the story where a young man praised the purity of Welles films because they weren't tainted with commercial success and Welles turned on the guy and told him that commercial success was fundamental to a director, because that allowed him to continue to work. Welles lamented the fact that he made work that no one paid to see -- people praising it 30 years later did little good for him at the time. It broke his heart.

So here is Tarantino, who for better or worse influenced an entire generation of filmmakers and has had the blessing to continue working in the film business. Overrated? He is an a rare circle of filmmakers whose work changed film history. He's had his flops and his hits. You know what? If he never made another film again, his place in the eternity of film is secured, and I think he knows it. He has nothing left to prove. In fact, I'd say he's been pretty much screwing around and not taking himself seriously ever since Pulp Fiction.

I've been told numerous stories about Quentin, none of them good, by people who were very jealous of him and threatened by him. If half of the stories are true, then I can't say I respect Quentin as a man, but it is impossible to not respect his place in film history.