That Quentin Tarantino is a nostalgia fetishist. Aside from ransacking cinema history for all the old genres, directors, and films he routinely references in his movies, the video-store-clerk-turned-filmmaker usually throws a cinematic bone or two to actors he considers among his personal faves. Actors who maybe haven’t worked in a while or whose projects haven’t exactly been top-shelf.
John Travolta is obviously the most notable beneficiary of a Tarantino career assist. Pulp Fiction catapulted him back to Saturday Night Fever levels of stardom after a cruel ’80s doldrums, and his wattage has more or less stayed the same ever since. A true child of the ’70s, most of the semi-forgotten actors QT chooses to rehabilitate with roles in his movies are faded Me Decade thesps, like Robert Forster and David Carradine. Oddly enough, though, it’s only male actors for whom the Tarantino Career Bounce really seems to work. We’ve ranked the success or failure of the following actors’ attempted career revivals by the following scale:
That’s a Bingo! (Total Career Revival)
Royale With Cheese (Moderate Career Revival, with some follow-up films that may be unworthy of the actor’s ability)
Zed’s Dead, Baby (No Career Boost Whatsoever)
Click here to see how we’ve ranked these actors’ QT-assisted comebacks:
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt
[Photo Credit: Miramax]
More:
In Defense of Quentin Tarantino’s Worst Movie, ‘Death Proof’
Five Films We Wish Quentin Tarantino Had Directed
’A Few Good Men’: Where Are They Now? (Moviefone)
Best Mother and Son Movies: ‘Forrest Gump’ and More! (Moviefone)
