The movies of Quentin Tarantino are infamous for their high death count, and the filmmaker even extended this to himself, as he’s notably died in several of his own films. Whether he’s playing a significant character or just in an unnamed cameo appearance, Tarantino has had no issue spilling his guts onscreen as he’s experienced gruesome fates, untimely demises, and desperately despicable deaths time and time again. It’s not just in Tarantino’s directional work that he’s bid farewell to this world, as he’s also been slain in movies he’s written but not directed.
Quentin Tarantino has had several cameos in his own movies, and while he does not always meet an untimely end, more often than not, his character has kicked the bucket before the credits rolled. With a filmography packed with over-the-top violence and extreme brutality, Tarantino does not mind meeting his maker onscreen, and his consistent deaths are just another intriguing addition to the fascinating cinematic world he has built. As Tarantino heads ever closer to his planned retirement, it remains to be seen if he will allow himself to be killed onscreen one last time.
5 Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Quentin Tarantino as Mr. Brown
The directional debut of Quentin Tarantino also included the filmmaker’s first acting role and signaled the beginning of a long tradition of him dying in his own movies. Released in 1992, Reservoir Dogs was an incredibly violent cult classic that was an immediate hit and a powerful showcase of the director’s unique sense of style. As the story of a simple jewelry heist gone wrong, things started heating up when the criminals began to suspect one of them was a police informant, which predictably led to bloodshed.
Tarantino originally wrote the role of Mr. Pink for himself in Reservoir Dogs (via Tarantino), but after meeting Steve Buscemi, the director thought he was a better fit. Instead, Tarantino played the more minor role of Mr. Brown, one of the men involved in the diamond heist. Mr. Brown was the team’s getaway driver, and after a civilian sets off the alarm during the robbery, he gets shot in the head by the cops.
However, Mr. Brown did not die immediately after being shot by Reservoir Dog. Instead, he survived the attack long enough to get to the getaway car with Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) and Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) before succumbing to his injury and being left in the car. While it was one of the smallest roles in Reservoir Dogs, Mr. Brown was also an essential addition to the team, and it’s a testament to his determination that he managed to drive the getaway car with a bullet to the head, even if he did crash it before finally dying.
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Quentin Tarantino’s feature-length debut Reservoir Dogs is an ensemble movie starring Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Chris Penn, and Edward Bunker. The 1992 film centers around a group of criminals who begin to suspect one of them is an undercover cop when their supposedly perfect diamond heist goes wrong.
Director Quentin Tarantino Release Date October 9, 1992 Studio(s) Live America Inc. , Dog Eat Dog Productions Distributor(s) Miramax Films Writers Quentin Tarantino Cast Quentin Tarantino , Tim Roth , Michael Madsen , Harvey Keitel , Steve Buscemi , Chris Penn Runtime 99 minutes Budget $1-3 Million Main Genre Crime Expand
4 From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
Quentin Tarantino as Richard Gecko
Quentin Tarantino wrote the screenplay and played a significant role in Robert Rodriguez’s cult classic From Dusk Till Down. With George Clooney as Seth Gecko and Tarantino as his brother Richie, the pair of criminals took a family hostage as they crossed the border into Mexico, only to find themselves trapped in a saloon of vampires. As a trashy combination of a crime drama and a supernatural vampire story, From Dusk Till Dawn was an enjoyable B-movie blend of Rodriguez and Tarantino’s unique sensibilities.
While Richie would meet his demise in From Dusk Till Dawn, that was not before a scene that made a lot more sense considering Tarantino’s notorious fondness of feet. This was when Richie drank liquor from and sucked on the feet of Salma Hayek’s character, the stripper Santanico Pandemonium, a foreshadowing of her vampiric character biting Richie and turning him into a vampire. This supernatural transformation meant that although Richie was the one who broke his brother Seth out of prison, he would now be forced to turn against him.
Once it was revealed that many of the patrons of the bar were vampires and that Richie had already been turned into one, Seth had no choice but to stake his brother in the heart. Although Richie had turned into an immortal, super strong, shape-shifting creature, he was not able to reap these benefits for long as he quickly died by his brother’s hand. While From Dusk Till Dawn was one of the rare Tarantino movies that he wrote but did not direct, he still continued his recurring tradition of being killed in his own movies.
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From Dusk Till Dawn is a horror movie directed by Robert Rodriguez and written by Quentin Tarantino. It follows criminal brothers Seth and Richie Gecko (George Clooney and Tarantino), who take a family hostage in a bar that turns out to be a haven for vampires. The film also stars Harvey Keitel, Juliette Lewis, and Salma Hayek, and has since become a cult classic.
Director Robert Rodriguez Release Date January 19, 1996 Studio(s) Dimension Films Distributor(s) MiraMax Writers Quentin Tarantino Cast Quentin Tarantino , Juliette Lewis , George Clooney , Ernest Liu , Harvey Keitel Runtime 108 minutes Franchise(s) From Dusk Till Dawn Budget $19 Million Expand
3 Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
Quentin Tarantino as a member of the Crazy 88
One of the best things about Quentin Tarantino’s movies was that he always wore his influences on his sleeve and paid homage to different film genres and styles. This was the case for 1970s blaxploitation films with Jackie Brown, and it was certainly true for Kill Bill, which acted as a love letter to Kung Fu cinema and martial arts movies. Kill Bill starred Uma Thurman as the Bride, a highly skilled former member of the Deadly Viper assassination squad on a quest for revenge after their leader, Bill, tried to kill her and her unborn child.
Kill Bill was separated into two parts, released in 2003 and 2004, respectively, and across this epic samurai-inspired story, the Bride encountered deadly foes, including the yakuza and many highly skilled fighters. One of her most notable adversaries was the Crazy 88 gang, an elite group of fighters working for O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Lui.) The Crazy 88 featured many notable martial arts performers, including Kung Fu legend Gordon Liu as their leader, but also boasted Quentin Tarantino in an unnamed cameo role as a member.
In Tarantino’s Kill Bill cameo, he played a Crazy 88 member whose throat was slit after Beatrix pulled out the eye of one of the gangsters. While Tarantino’s acting role was miniscule in Kill Bill, he received widespread acclaim for his writing and directing as the film introduced a whole new generation of viewers to Kung Fu movies of the past. When the two parts of Kill Bill are watched together as one movie, as Tarantino intended, it becomes one of his most wildly entertaining and accomplished works as a director.
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Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill is a classic tale of betrayal and revenge. When the Bride (Uma Thurman) awakens from a four-year coma, she sets out to settle the score with the team of assassins that betrayed her at the behest of her former boss, Bill (David Carradine). Tracking and killing the world-class assassins isn’t easy, but the Bride uses all the tools at her disposal in her relentless pursuit of revenge.
Director Quentin Tarantino Release Date October 10, 2003 Writers Quentin Tarantino Cast David Carradine , Michael Madsen , Uma Thurman , Daryl Hannah , Lucy Liu , Vivica A. Fox Runtime 111 minutes Franchise(s) Kill Bill Sequel(s) Kill Bill Vol. 2 Budget $30 million Expand
2 Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Quentin Tarantino as First Scalped Nazi
Inglourious Basterds was Quentin Tarantino’s World War II movie with a twist as, despite the real historical facts, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders and Adolf Hitler by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers actually succeeds. This alternative history confounded all audience expectations and led to a truly shocking conclusion, as its historical liberties meant the ending of Inglourious Basterds came as a complete surprise. However, Adolf Hitler was not the only fatality in Inglourious Basterds, as Tarantino himself met a gruesome end while playing a German Nazi.
Tarantino had two roles in Inglourious Basterds, as he played an American soldier in Nation’s Pride and as a dead German who was scalped by Jewish-American soldiers in a move intended to spread fear amongst Nazi forces. Scalping enemy forces was the trademark of Brad Pitt’s character, Lieutenant Aldo Raine, who was nicknamed “Aldo the Apache” for his gruesome practice. While Tarantino’s horrendous scalping scene only lasted a few seconds, its shocking depiction acted as a grim look at the horrors of war.
The practice of scalping enemies actually had some basis in truth, as there were known instances of Allied military scalping Axis troops during WWII, particularly the notorious German general Friedrich Kussin (via Battle Detective), who was believed to be scalped Indian-style by British forces. This horrific practice was yet another testament to Tarantino’s impressive skill as a writer, as even though his Nazi character’s ghastly fate felt like over-the-top violence, it was actually a glimpse into the dark recesses of WWII warfare and conflict. Inglourious Basterds received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.
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In Nazi-occupied France, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as “The Basterds” execute a mission to terrorize the Third Reich. Simultaneously, a young Jewish cinema owner plots to kill Nazi leaders attending a premiere at her theater. Both plans converge in a high-stakes showdown filled with action and revenge.
Director Quentin Tarantino Release Date August 21, 2009 Studio(s) Universal Pictures Distributor(s) Universal Pictures Writers Quentin Tarantino Cast Brad Pitt , Diane Kruger , Mélanie Laurent , Christoph Waltz , Eli Roth , Michael Fassbender , Daniel Brühl , Til Schweiger Runtime 153 minutes Budget $70 million Main Genre War Expand
1 Django Unchained (2012)
Quentin Tarantino as Frankie
Although the work of Quentin Tarantino featured many allusions to the genre, it was not until the release of Django Unchained that he made a full-blown Western. This revisionist revenge Western starred Jamie Foxx as the titular former slave training with a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) as he sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner in Mississippi. Django Unchained acted as an homage to the Spaghetti Western genre made famous by directors like Sergio Leone, as well as the 1966 Italian film Django, whose star Franco Nero appeared in a cameo role.
Another cameo appearance came from the director himself, with Tarantino actually appearing as two characters in Django Unchained. The first was Robert, also known as Bag Head #1, a Ku Klux Klan member who joined Big Daddy Bennet in his attempt to kill Django and Dr. King Schultz. While Tarantino’s face was not visible in this scene, he complained that he could see through his hood. Tarantino’s second role was as Frankie, the Australian miner transporting Django to be sold to a mining company.
As is typical for Tarantino’s movie appearances, Frankie met an untimely end as he was shot by Django while carrying explosives, causing him to blow up and die. Like many other films in this director’s oeuvre, Django Unchained was packed with violence, bloodshed, and character deaths. Although it may seem that Quentin Tarantino made a point to kill himself off in his movie appearances, he killed so many of his characters that his making it out alive would actually be more surprising.
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Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained follows Jamie Foxx’s Django, a Black slave who is freed before becoming a bounty hunter. After meeting German dentist-turned-bounty-hunter Dr. King Schultz, Django sets off to free his wife from the cruel and charismatic plantation owner Calvin Candie. Christophe Waltz stars alongside Foxx, with Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, and Kerry Washington rounding out the cast of Tarantino’s revisionist Spaghetti Western.
Director Quentin Tarantino Release Date December 25, 2012 Studio(s) Sony Distributor(s) Sony Writers Quentin Tarantino Cast Leonardo DiCaprio , Jonah Hill , Samuel L. Jackson , Jamie Foxx , Kerry Washington , Christoph Waltz Runtime 165 Minutes Budget 100 million Main Genre Western Expand
Sources: Tarantino, Battle Detective