5. Jackie Brown
Pam Grier doing classic Pam Grier in QT's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's "Rum Punch." A bona-fide pioneer actress in many a blaxploitation pic, Grier's title character seems like an innocent flight attendant, but we quickly find out that she's just as bad-ass as Foxy Brown was. Sneaky and conniving, Jackie Brown pits the feds against her "employer," Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson) so she can sneak off with a big bag full of money. Co-stars Michael Keaton, Bridget Fonda, Robert Forster and Robert De Niro solidify this masterpiece of dialog-driven celluloid.
4. Kill Bill (Vol. 1 & 2)
"Kill Bill" is actually one whole movie that was broken into two parts. Uma Thurman stars as "The Bride," one-fifth of a team of assassins working for Bill (David Carradine). Beatrix Kiddo, a.k.a. "The Bride," opts out of Bill's gang and is on the verge of getting married and leaving her past skeletons locked up, but as fate would have it, Bill shows up at her wedding to prove that you can't run too far away from your problems. Bill and his cohorts massacre the folks at Kiddo's wedding rehearsal and leave her for dead; but she survives and decides that exacting revenge on those parties responsible for ruining her new life is the way to go.
In Vol. 1 she sets her sights on Vernita Green (Vivica A. Fox) and O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) before sending a recently limbless Sophie Fatale (Julie Dreyfus) to let Bill know that she's coming for him. Vol. 2. is the gem of the two though, thick with Tarantino's rich dialog and having perhaps the greatest sword fight ever filmed in a trailer between The Bride and the sinister and relentless Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah).
3. Reservoir Dogs
Tarantino's directorial debut was made possible by selling the script for True Romance in order to finance it. The film details the events prior to and following a bank heist gone awry. QT's signature dialog-filled scenes give his short-lived characters depth, despite having conversations that really don't have much to do at all with the story. "Reservoir Dogs" quickly went on to cult classic status, and although it was a box office bomb the film solidified Tarantino's place in Hollywood as one of the top up-and-coming directors.
2. True Romance
"True Romance" is the one Tarantino film that gets too often overlooked. Brilliant writing coupled with an array of stars ranging from Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette to Bronson Pinchot and Brad Pitt provide the backbone of the story; but it's the exchange between Dennis Hopper's cop and Christopher Walken's mob boss that steals the show here.
1. Pulp Fiction
Nominated for seven Oscars (including Best Picture), "Pulp Fiction" earned $212.9 million in gross revenue and was a blockbuster smash. This masterpiece remains today to be QT's best film, pairing uber-violence with rich dialog and a bevy of stars, including Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Eric Stoltz, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel and John Travolta (whose career was resurrected following the film's success).
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