I can already imagine the hackneyed homage Taran-beano has in store for us for his own "Inglorious Bastards." Next he'll probably come up with a dope remake of Williamson's wildly smart and funny revisionist western "Boss Nigger," just so he can bring back his own "dead nigger storage" gag and pay a proper homage to his own huckster-hipster ego. The guy is a serious asshole. He made three good movies and then became an idol of worship to millions of moronic fanboys who never even heard of a fuckin' grindhouse flick until Taran-beano led them into his faux-flick of Beano's bible of cool on the 70's. I'm glad he lost his ass on "Deathproof" and hope "Bastards" tops of his ignorantly inglorious career. Eat sh*t Beano.

Seriously, the man is a fraud. Both "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction" were based on earlier, better movies. Now this. I honestly thought that with a title like "Inglorious Bastards" we were finally going to see a genuine Tarantion movie. But apparently it has taken a long time for Quentin to rip off another story/director.

I'll grant you that "Reservoir Dogs" borrowed perhaps too heavily from "City on Fire," but what film in particular did "Pulp Fiction" rip off? Sure many elements nodded and winked at Don Siegal's 1964 version of "The Killers" (the 1946 Burt Lancaster version is worth seeing too, but an essentially different film), and the Bruce Willis/Butch character story line is also kind of a wink toward Robert Wise's "The Set Up" starring Robert Ryan (cool film--shot in real time).

"Pulp Fiction" is a better distillation of influences than you give it credit for. Tarantino certainly has a habit of laying on a little thick with "spot the influences" winking, but it gets a little boring when people with lazy opinions charge him with plagiarism then fail to provide any insight or any knowledge of the films he was supposed to have ripped off. It's almost as boring as Tarantino fanboys. Almost.

Okay, the Taranteenoteers always insist on a reference to one of his rips. In "Pulp Fiction" it's the glowing brief case that was lifted out of Robert Aldrich's "Kiss Me Deadly." There's more, but why lengthen out the bore. I don't know which file of forgettable QT should be filed under "dead idea storage" or "derivative idea storage." You decide.

I think I saw a mini-documentary somewhere that showed how "Reservoir Dogs" stole from an Asian film almost shot for shot. I am not sure whether to be offended because I am pretty sure the Asian film did not have an extended dialogue about the true meaning of "Like a Virgin," or funny bickering among characters who wanted different color-coded names. I likely would never have seen that Asian film anyway, and there is a pretty rich history of directors ripping each other off on both sides of the Pacific (how many U.S. film ripped off Kurosawa? What was the basis for Scorsese's one and only Oscar win?).

As for "Pulp Fiction," I never figured out what it copied from either. I have yet to see an Asian or underground film in which a character suffers a heroin overdose and is brought back to life by a needle stuck through her sternum, nor have I seen a film where a man who's supposed to throw a boxing match rushes home to retrieve the watch his father stuck up his ass, only to kill the hit-man sitting on the toilet and then end up chasing a crime boss into an S&M dungeon. Structurally, "Pulp Fiction" was nothing unique to anybody who was already familiar with Jean-Luc Godard or independent filmmakers like Hal Hartley, but since those people only number in the dozens, the chopped-up timeline was a lot of fun for everybody else.

Personally, "Pulp Fiction" annoyed me for two reasons: (1) The entire third act is based on some kid getting his head splattered in the back of a car, and it's played for shits and giggles, which is exactly what it got out of the audience -- well, at least giggles. Call me moralistic but I found that simultaneously mean-spirited and also kinda boring...so they need a cleaner to help them figure out how to get out blood stains? That's a story worth telling? (2) Quentin Tarantino made the fatal error of injecting himself into the scene and completely breaking the movie's spell with his ridiculously amateurish attempt at acting. (In "Reservoir Dogs" he had the good sense to kill himself off early.)

After those two films Tarantino was smothered in money and praise. He never really recovered.

By "fraud" I wasn't merely referring to the plots of the two films, though I know it came across that way. Someday Roger Avery will be given the credit he deserves for both "Reservoir Dogs" AND "Pulp Fiction" - the shared Oscar and "Story By" were both outrages. Don't believe me? Watch Avery's film "Killing Zoe" and compare. Especially the dialogue rhythms and wording. If anything it was Tarantino who most likely was the tail gunner.

The plural of court martial is courts martial, not court martials.

What about Sergio Leone's remake of Yojimbo? DePalma's remake of Blowup (and Scarface)? Scorsese's remake of Internal Affairs (and Cape Fear)? Carpenter's remake of The Thing? Oh my god. OH MY GOD! What a bunch of asshole hacks.

I can understand how Tarantino can get under your skin, I have mixed feelings on the guy, myself. I will say Jackie Brown is my favorite QT movie, and it's also his most uncharacteristic. What really made it for me was Robert Forster's performance.

If your bashing him for lifting ideas from other movies, whether it's directly or indirectly, you might as well bash any other director that's worth a shit.

It more describes his banal abilities. heffomite, I think the dude was doin' by Dolemite grammar, so really dude, relax.

You wrote: "What about Sergio Leone's remake of Yojimbo?"

Good point. There's also John Sturges' version of "The Seven Samauri." Of course Kurosawa was massively indebted to and used many of the same themes and elements that JOHN FORD used. Kurosawa also used the plots and motifs of many Shakespere plays for his films: "Throne of Blood" is "Macbeth." "Ran" is "King Lear." "The Bad Sleep Well" is "Hamlet."

Do we consider John Carpenter a hack for "ripping off" Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo" for "Assault on Precinct 13?" (Of course Hawks can also be accused of self plagiarism with 1968's "El Dorado"). Is the original Star Wars any less of a film because it borrowed elements from Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress?" Round and round we go.

Look, there's a lot to criticize Tarantino on; his films are for the most part shallow exercises in style and technique with a lot of macho posturing (possibly compensating for inadequacies?). Perhaps this is what people like Klytus and others who dislike Tarantino are trying to convey in their inarticulate and uninformed way.