Quentin Tarantino/List of Film References in Tarantino's Films

The films of Quentin Tarantino are literally packed chock-full of references to the hundreds upon hundreds of 70/80s grindhouse/exploitation films, Hong Kong martial arts action films, Chinese Wuxia films and Japanese Chambara films he soaked up in his youth. Here is a list of them, useful perhaps for those interested in seeing that which inspired his work; that is, if they can get ahold of copies (some are pretty darned obscure).

(This list is absolutely anything but complete. Add more, folks!)

Reservoir Dogs

 * City On Fire (1987, Ringo Lam) - This is very controversial since Tarantino has denied any knowledge of this film prior to making Reservoir Dogs. The plots are basically identical, the ending is the exact same.
 * The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - The Code Name system used by the bank robbers is taken from this movie.

Pulp Fiction

 * Charley Varrick - The "pair of pliers and a blowtorch" line was taken from this.
 * Deliverance (1972, John Boorman) - The rape sequence with the satisfactory salvage. In both movies, the largest guy gets raped while the other victim is tied up.
 * The Good the Bad And The Ugly (1966, Sergio Leone) - Both films feature a similar scene close to the beginning, where one of the main characters kills a supporting one after helping himself to his food.
 * Nam's Angels (1970, Jack Starrett) - Is the movie Fabienne is watching on television when Butch wakes up.
 * Clutch Cargo (1959) - Butch is shown watching this TV show as a kid when Cpt. Koons arrives.
 * Kiss Me Deadly - This movie features a nuclear bomb in a briefcase which glows when opened. The same imagery is used for the famous briefcase in Pulp Fiction, although it is anyone's guess what's inside.

Jackie Brown

 * Tarantino cast Pam Grier in the lead role and put Sid Haig in a cameo in order to invoke the feeling of Blaxploitation movies.
 * At one point, a character laments that people have watched John Woo's The Killer too often, resulting in many would-be criminals buying nine millimeter pistols when a different gun would be better suited.

Kill Bill

 * Pulp Fiction: Tarantino has said that the plot began as an extrapolation of the "Fox Force Five" pilot that Mia Wallace describes in this film.
 * The overall plot is a fairly obvious reference to films such as Coffy, Foxy Brown, I Spit On Your Grave, Lady Snowblood, Ms. 45 and Thriller a Cruel Picture. The latter of which, likely inspired Elle Driver's Eyepatch of Power.
 * The Blood Spattered Bride (1972, Vincente Aranda) - One of the film's "chapters" is named after this Spanish Lesbian Vampire epic.
 * Citizen Kane (1941, Orson Welles) - A shot of The Bride lying in a coma, silhouetted against her hospital window replicates a shot from early in Citizen Kane.
 * Dead and Buried (1981, Gary Sherman) - The shot of Elle Driver leaning in close to The Bride's comatose body in the hospital, disguised as a nurse replicates a shot from this film.
 * Death Rides A Horse (1967, Giulio Petroni) - The theme of this movie is played when the Bride calls out O-Ren Ishii. When the Bride sees one of her killers and the camera zooms in on her eyes and the picture is tinted red also happens in Death Rides A Horse with it's protagonist.
 * Eaten Alive (1977, Tobe Hooper) - In Kill Bill: Vol. 1, the hospital attendant 'Buck' delivers the line: "My name's Buck, and I'm here to fuck." This quote was originally spoken by Robert Englund in Eaten Alive.
 * Fist of Fury (1972, Lo Wei) - In the fight with the Crazy 88 the Bride spins around on the floor slashing legs as Bruce Lee did in Fist of Fury with nunchucks.
 * Game of Death (1978, Robert Clouse) - The Bride's famous yellow track-suit is a direct homage to the one worn by Bruce Lee in Game of Death.
 * Goke Body Snatcher From Hell (1968, Hajime Sato) - The orange/red sky in the model shots of the jet airliner that the Bride arrives in Japan on is a pretty clear visual reference to this film.
 * The Green Hornet - The Bride compares the Crazy 88's domino masks to Kato's.
 * The montage during which the Bride is on the plane and O-Ren is in her car is set to the TV show's theme song--a jazzy arrangement of Flight of the Bumblebee arranged by Billy May, conducted by Lionel Newman and featuring a trumpet solo by Al Hirt.
 * Kite (1998, Yasuomi Umetsu) - Animated O-Ren Ishii's murdered parents and school girl assassin shooting sequence also occur in Kite.
 * Lady Snowblood (1973, Toshiya Fujita) - Many references beyond the plot: the character of O-Ren Ishii; the duel in the snow covered garden; the division into chapters; the camera angle looking up at the heroine's attackers looking down at her; the animated sequence; the song "Flower of Carnage", sung by Meiko Kaji who is the star of Lady Snowblood, is heard in 'Vol. 1'; In the animated sequence, when O-Ren is getting her revenge; the line "Look at me closely. Do I look like someone...you murdered?" is taken directly from Lady Snowblood, except Snowblood says "raped" instead of "murdered." Also, O-Ren is dressed in the same kimono as Lady Snowblood.
 * Once Upon A Time In The West (1969, Sergio Leone) - The flashbacks where the antagonist Frank is walking through the desert towards the camera are recreated when the Bride walks to Budd's trailer after getting out of a tough spot.
 * Annie Hall: in the flashback where we see the [adult] Bride sitting in a classroom, like it's her childhood memory. Woody Allen does the same thing in the first scene of Annie Hall.
 * Patrick (1978, Richard Franklin) - The scene where the comatose Bride spits.
 * Seven Notes In Black (1977, Lucio Fulci) - The theme of this movie is played as Buck is walking back to the Bride's hospital room after the Bride has killed the trucker that tried to rape her.
 * Thriller: A Cruel Picture (1974, Bo Arne Vibenius) - Elle Driver from Kill Bill and Madeleine share numerous physical traits (eye patch, long coat, pant suit).
 * Twisted Nerve (1968, Roy Boulting) - The theme of Twisted Nerve is whistled during the hospital scene by Elle as a direct reference.
 * Natural Born Killers: Bill calls Beatrix "a natural born killer" during their conversation at the end of Volume 2, referencing the script that Tarantino wrote (and the movie adaptation of which he later disowned).

Sin City

 * Tarantino only directed one scene, the sequence in which Dwight drives to the tar pits and has a hallucination. While the entire movie is mostly a word-for-word and shot-for-shot adaptation of the comic, the coloring effects were mostly added for the film. Tarantino took those effects and ran with them in his scene which referenced a sequence from Suspiria.

Death Proof

 * Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965, Russ Meyer) - A character wears a T-shirt featuring an image from the film.
 * Vanishing Point - (1971, Richard C. Sarafian) - The second group of girls con Jasper out of his white 1970 Dodge Challenger, expressly because it is the same model used to famous effect in Vanishing Point; the film is discussed and mentioned several times; Stuntman Mike is seen wearing the same wristwatch as Kowalski.

Inglourious Basterds

 * Inglorious Bastards (1978, Enzo G. Castellari) - Title of 2009 movie is a take off on the English title of this movie.
 * The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929, Georg Wilhelm Pabst) - Along with other works of the Austrian director Pabst. Several scenes (notably, outside Shoshana's theater, where a revival is playing, and at the tavern with von Hammersmark) involve discussion of Pabst in general and Pitz Palu, a mountain climbing film starring Leni Riefenstahl, in particular.
 * In the screenplay of Inglourious Basterds, the first part of the film set in Paris was intended to have been filmed in black and white, using entirely natural lighting, in reference to the French New Wave. This was probably cut by Executive Meddling, on the grounds that most of the audience wouldn't get the reference, and came here to see an action movie, get back to the killin' already!
 * King Kong - This movie is briefly mentioned during a game.