Name: Quentin Tarantino Is Proud To Be A Film Geek | Letterman
Uploaded: 2022-03-09T23:08:20.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Quentin Tarantino Is Proud To Be A Film Geek | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-03-09. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Quentin Tarantino Is Proud To Be A Film Geek | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-03-09. Transcript available.

You know, three years ago, our next guest was collecting late dues as a video
clerk,
and now he is one of the country's most talked-about film directors.
His latest effort, Pulp Fiction, opens on Friday.
Please say hello to Quentin Tarantino.
Yes, Jereb!
How you doing?
Very good, very good.
Let's tell the folks a little about it.
We alluded to that.
You worked, I guess, in a video store someplace.
Yeah, I worked in a video store in Hermosa Beach, California, called Video
Archives.
Is it still there?
It is still there, still doing okay business.
So people would come in and rent and buy videotapes from you?
Yeah, not buy so much.
It was more like a rental store and everything.
And you would handle every tape that they would take home?
Pretty much so, yes, exactly.
I would charge them for non-rewinding.
But you would touch them.
You would touch the tapes.
I would touch the tapes.
I would give that to them.
I know.
That's why I quit renting videotapes.
Exactly.
Because a guy's like me.
Because a guy's like me.
There's a guy in the store touching my tape.
Touching your tapes and everything.
Well, you know, they'd come in and everything,
and what I would do is they'd say,
well, Quentin, what should I see today?
Yeah.
All right.
And it was like people have been calling it,
well, this is sort of like your film school.
Like, well, no, it was sort of more like my village voice.
And I was like, you know, the head critic at the store.
So now, is it saying, no offense meant here,
but were you kind of like a little film nerd kind of guy?
Totally.
I was a film geek.
I call it film geek.
Oh, film geek.
There's a big distinction there, you see.
Now, is that a step up or down from nerd?
Well, it's a step up.
I don't have like pocket pencil holders or something in my pocket.
So the geeks would order the nerds around.
Yeah, exactly.
No, I could beat up the nerds.
I could beat up the film nerds.
See, the film nerds are the ones that have bad taste.
See, film geeks, you see, we have highly exalted film.
Elevated yourself.
Good for you.
All right, so now it's like Only in America.
From there, you write a couple of movies,
you sell a couple of scripts,
and then you get to direct your first film, which was what?
Which was Reservoir Dogs.
Yeah, it's a movie.
It's a big, big angelica crowd here.
And now, and now you've got this second one,
which I have been hearing about
and reading about for months and months and months,
this Pulp Fiction.
First of all, tell us about the title.
It refers to like back in the 30s and the 40s.
Is that what we have here?
Yeah, well, it's funny, because the whole term Pulp Fiction
has kind of become this antiquated term
that used to mean something specific,
and now it's kind of thrown around,
like film noir or B-movies,
where it doesn't really mean what it means anymore.
But what it used to mean was it was like,
Pulp Fiction was like it was the cheapest paper
that they could possibly use
and still print something on and get an image.
And it was violent and a lot of gore,
and it was cops and gangsters.
Yeah, it was cops and gangsters and lurid stories
and women getting raped and women controlling men,
and you'd buy them for a dime,
and they'd always have these really lurid covers and stuff.
And they were known as garbage fiction.
When you bought these books,
you didn't take them
and you didn't put them in your library.
I mean, what you did, you read it on the way to the work.
Got rid of them, sure.
You put it in your pocket and sat on it all day
and everything on top.
But weren't some very well-known American writers
responsible for that kind of thing?
Oh, very much so.
That's one of the things I actually like
about both art in this century
is a lot of the stuff always kind of comes in
through the back door.
Oh, sure.
You know, at the time, you know,
Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett
and David Goody's and, you know,
Cornell Woolridge, all the guys like that.
They worked in this.
Yeah, they worked in that.
And these books were not, like, held,
they weren't reviewed.
They were just, like, fodder for the masses.
But as time went on,
it caught up with them, you know,
and people were like, you know,
oh, yes, that's a famous book
and that's a great book,
and now you find them in libraries.
But not when they first came out.
Let's do a little scene
from your early life as a video clerk.
I'll be the customer.
Okay.
Oh, is E.T. back?
No, but we actually do have
last year at Mariband right over here.
Actually, if you're going to really be a customer,
this is what you would do.
You'd come in there and you'd say,
what's in that's new that's good?
Also, like a scene for my honeymoon.
Thank you very much.
But, you know,
you know, the thing,
I watched this movie
and I'm telling you something,
this thing is so entertaining,
it's so much fun,
and it's just seamless.
There's not a false note in the...
It's like three hours long, isn't it?
And one of the nice features of it,
you have quite a cast,
a diverse cast,
and they all do wonderful jobs.
I mean, Bruce Willis does a great job.
John Travolta dances again.
Exactly.
Well, see, John Travolta's always been
one of my favorite actors.
I've always thought he was like
one of the greatest stars
that Hollywood's ever produced.
But oddly enough,
it's really funny.
When I wrote the script,
I did not know I was going to cast
John Travolta in it.
All right, but that dance scene
was in the movie.
And so we got down on the set
to do it and everything,
and he was all into it.
Now, the thing is,
the way John would normally do a dance scene
was a little different
from the way I wanted him to do it
because I had very much both him
and Uma Thurman,
they do this twist contest in the movie.
One of the things I wanted,
I wanted them to have specific twists.
Like Uma Thurman,
I wanted her twist to be,
did you ever see the movie
The Aristocats?
With Zsa Zsa Gabor?
Well, Zsa Zsa Gabor,
that cat in The Aristocats
does this kind of like dance
like this, you know?
Nose up in the air,
very like this.
And then John Travolta.
That's good. That's good.
John Travolta. I wanted him to be very
like this.
You got any more Jurassic Park?
I just have a feeling this movie
is going to go through the roof, but boy, it couldn't
be a more entertaining piece of work. It was nice meeting you.
Oh, it was nice meeting you, too. Thank you very much for being here.
Brent and Karen Keenow, ladies and gentlemen.
We'll see you next time.