Sally Menke – December 17, 1953 – September 27, 2010
One of the worst heatwaves ever in Los Angeles was pretty miserable even by our sun soaked west coast standards. Looking at the temperature gauge caused a double take and air-conditioning proved to be the single greatest invention of the last 1,000 years. Yet amidst all of this we lost a great artist, Sally Menke, a film editor and a true collaborative genius who made Quentin Tarantino’s singular cinematic vision a reality. Great directors need great editors and for proof one need only look at the multi-decade collaboration between Martin Scorsese and the brilliant Thelma Schoonmaker.
From Reservoir Dogs to Jackie Brown, Kill Bill parts 1 & 2 and most recently, Inglourious Basterds, it was Sally who brought the hundreds of hours of footage together. But let’s be honest it was 1994’s Pulp Fiction that took the fine art of editing to another level. At the time audiences were taken aback by the shifting points of view and time changes a la Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” and she’s the one who took Tarantino’s frenetic, manic brilliance and pared it down and made it make sense. She controlled it, timed it out and acted as a gatekeeper and partner in crime with a great director. She also made our experience as a moviegoer often excruciatingly visceral: remember the hypodermic needle to the chest scene?
In Sally Menke we have lost a great artist whose unsung contributions created some of the greatest films and film moments of all-time. If you don’t believe it go watch Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction again and see her true genius manifested on film.
