I Finally Watched Grindhouse (2007)

Two great movies for the price of one!

If you've had the distinct pleasure of being a twelve-year-old Film Bro any time from October 14, 1994, to today, you've fallen in love with the movies of Quentin Tarantino. I specify the films because sometimes Tarantino himself can be a bit of a chore, but his movies are often unapologetic homages to the art of cinema, more often than not improving upon the movies that he's been inspired by. Some people think they're cool enough to grow out of them, but not me - Inglourious Basterds is, as of this date, my second favorite movie.

When I first had a buddy show me Pulp Fiction (it's always Pulp Fiction, isn't it?), I quickly devoured the back catalog and have seen every new entry since during opening weekend, if not opening night. I basically saw them all as soon as I could. That is, except for Death Proof.

And that's because, for those who don't know, Death Proof was meant to be watched in a movie theater. Sure, most movies are meant to be watched in theaters, but Death Proof, the second half of a double bill that includes Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror under the banner Grindhouse, was specifically designed to be a recreation of a 1970s moviegoing experience where you'd see a double feature of (awesome) crappy sleazy exploitation movies. Surrounded by fake trailers and commercials, it can only really be seen in a theater for the truest of experiences. As such, I waited and waited until I could see it the right way.

I did even better than a theatre, I got to see it at a drive-in, which is perhaps the best possible way to see these movies that were so very much inspired by the drive-in cinema of yesteryear. Living within (sorta) driving distance of the Mahoning Drive-In where everything plays on glorious 35mm film, I booked a ticket as soon as I saw it on their calendar. This would be it. I bought an overnight ticket (to sleep in the lot following the movies - long drive home), packed up my movie-loving dog, and finally saw Grindhouse presented start-to-finish the way it was intended.

If it wasn't clear already, I don't have the same intimate relationship with Robert Rodriguez's filmography that I do with Tarantino's. He was making kids movies at the same time I was a kid (Spy Kids, Sharkboy and Lavagirl), we reviewed The Faculty on our podcast, and I enjoyed his and QT's other collaboration, From Dusk till Dawn, but that's about all I've got.

The presentation begins with the first fake trailer, the one made by Rodriguez himself, Machete. The trailer is fun and I will inevitably see the full spin-off feature - I had to buy the Blu-ray to complete the De Niro section of my home library.

I'm glad that Planet Terror is the first of the two features because I think there's a chance that I could've checked out a bit if it was towards the end of the night. I've written before about how I don't really find zombies to be particularly interesting (I do plan on giving Night of the Living Dead another chance - I still feel bad about that!) Because they aren't my thing, Rodriguez is clearly not my guy, and the cast doesn't have any of my personal heavy hitters, I was just there to vibe. And I was able to do that just fine. I got my Mahoning popcorn, cuddled up to my puppy (it was a cold summer night in Pennsylvania), and had a fun time. As was expected, it's pretty funny (the "missing reel" gag was so perfect, I just wish it wasn't in both movies because Rodriguez did it way better) relentlessly dumb, and perfectly of the exploitation ilk.  

Before Death Proof, we get the rest (the majority) of the fake trailers: Rob Zombie's Werewolf Women of the SS (I would kill to see this movie), Edgar Wright's Don't (I wish I liked Edgar's stuff more!), and Eli Roth's Thanksgiving (I liked the feature just fine and plan on revisiting it this holiday season, but I would’ve much preferred to have seen the ‘70s version as seen in this trailer!) It was then that I learned that the fake trailer for Hobo with a Shotgun (which I knew about and was expecting) was only really shown in Canada, so I guess I'll have to see Grindhouse in Canada at some point to get the full experience.

Tarantino's contribution was such a treat. I'm glad I waited (I'm really glad I waited to see the whole thing the way it was intended) because years of listening to Quentin on his and others’ podcasts gave me such a clear idea of what he was trying to do here. His love of of '60s and '70s cinema is only more apparent in his work in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and this feels like a first draft of that film. Hell, he's even got Kurt Russell playing a stuntman in both movies! With a cast that's much more "me" (Mary Elizabeth Winstead!), I got along great with his more talky moments until the thrilling climax. The stunt car used in the film was on display in the drive-in lot and I was wondering why people were lying down on the hood...

I do still have some Tarantino-related bucket list items (I want to see Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair and I want to see Hollywood at his New Beverly Cinema), but waiting is half the fun. I'm sure glad I did it this time. Next, I need to watch the longer cuts of both features - each runs about 90 minutes in their Grindhouse versions but Planet Terror gets up to 105 minutes and Death Proof reaches 115, which is probably just 20 more minutes of talking.

The night ended with a secret screening of a grindhouse adjacent third feature, which turned out to be Ulli Lommel's 1983 movie Olivia, a movie that is the exact kind of crazy that demands you tell somebody the entire plot the next day so you can run it back in your mind and make sure it all happened. I woke up (later that morning, I suppose) after sleeping in the car, drove home, and did exactly that with Taylor over our late breakfast.

I'm so grateful for the Mahoning, great programming, 35mm projection, and awesome movies. I'll be back as soon as I can - maybe they'll do that full cut of Kill Bill sometime soon...

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