Quentin Tarantino, America’s variation of French New Wave auteur Jean-Luc Godard, has begun production on his sixth production (not including his contributions to the horrendously uneven Four Rooms and directorial cameo for Sin City) Death Proof, his half of a double-billed drive-in homage picture entitled Grind House, which Tarantino is co-directing with Robert Rodriguez.
The script, like all of Tarantino’s work, is seeping with intertextuality and a strong thrust towards turning genre conventions on their head. Moving away from his three favorite genres (noir, revenge, and kung-fu), Tarantino takes on a variation of the road/horror film a la The Hitcher or Duel. However, the results, on paper, are mixed.
The basic plot follows a trio of young girls (Jungle Julia, Arlene, and Shanna) as they spend their night bar hopping, going after and teasing boys, and getting trashed. Meanwhile, a muscle car driving stuntman named Mike (Mickey Rouke is rumored to be in the role) with a unique sexual fetish stalks the girls and, ultimately, uses his car to terrorize them.
The problem with Tarantino’s script is his manipulation of genre conventions could very well backfire this time around simply because of the fact that Tarantino does not really supply the audience with a firm sense of one character. Granted, the audience is given a sense of the Stuntman Mike character and Tarantino’s manipulation of the audience regarding his character is wonderfully done. However, Stuntman Mike is the villain and, for the most part, is vaguely drawn for us.
1. Last Race, The - Jack Nitzsche
2. Baby, It's You - Smith
3. Paranoia Prima - Ennio Morricone
4. Planning & Scheming
5. Jeepster - T. Rex
6. Stuntman Mike
7. Staggolee - Pacific Gas & Electric
8. Love You Save, The (May Be Your Own) - Joe Tex
9. Good Love, Bad Love - Eddie Floyd
10. Down In Mexico - The Coasters
11. Hold Tight
12. Sally And Jack
13. It's So Easy - Willy DeVille
14. Whatever-However
15. Riot In Thunder Alley
16. Chick Habit - April March
Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof Script
