Quentin Tarantino once mentionned that his favourite movie is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, a Sergio Leone western possessing certain similarities to 1994’s Pulp Fiction, which I screened last week at the Bloor Cinema.
Specifically, the films feature superb soundtracks, showcase low-key – yet realistic – performances, and break numerous conventions. Depicting characters who attempt to achieve righteousness while committing crimes, the films did not receive the recognition they merited at the time of their release because tradition withstands violence, irony, and other elements that comprise entertaining art. After all, How Green Was My Valley beat out Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, and Suspicion for the 1941 Academy Award.
Leone’s cinematography looks at the big picture, the dialogue emphasizes the importance of actions over words. Tarantino’s direction has a more narrow focus, achieving realism by filming extended scenes of mundane dialogue among chaos. Each film has influenced popular culture and standards, showing audiences that there are more than one way to fill the unforgiving minute.
The audience identifies with Jules and Blondie although they would never emulate their deeds. People wanted to drive a beer truck into the arena like Stone Cold Steve Austin did. James Stewart wouldn’t have done that but there are more grey areas today.
As they respectively search for that briefcase and two hundred thousand dollars worth of gold, the protagonists seek personal fulfillment. Several times Jules and Blondie benefit from Deus ex machina devices in order to escape death and they are inspired by and thankful for their survival (to various degrees). The search for treasure evolves from a purely material venture to a personal quest. Walking a road lined occasionally with aphorisms and verse, the two manage to reach their goal.
“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs.
– Rudyard Kipling, If–
(unsure if I recall that from a Sopranos DVD or the Everyman’s Library).
Unfortunately, Vincent and Angel Eyes had to bite the dust because they did not move on and develop themselves. Vincent may have shown some bright sports, but he did not move on beyond his inherent cynicism. He saves a life but is still -1 during the film. On a scale from Blondie to Angel Eyes, Tuco is a moral person – barely. Despite an imperfect past, it’s still possible to be a good person, making one’s own way through the world like Yojimbo.
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.
– T.S. Eliot, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
So why sweat the little things? Especially when they are almost all litte things.
Justify yourself to your own standards and move on.