Quentin Tarantino, who broke through with his hugely successful 90s movies including Pulp Fiction, has a new book out which mainly focuses on his love of 1970s cinema. In the book, he singles out two movies by someone who many regard as the best director of the 1970s – Robert Altman – for being among the worst movies of all time.
Robert Altman made 13 movies in the 1970s – which range from war movie MASH, to neo-noir The Long Goodbye, to Westerns McCabe & Mrs Miller and Buffalo Bill & the Indians, and his masterpiece – the sprawling epic Nashville.
In his book, Cinema Spectacular, Tarantino says; “Brewster McCloud (1970) is one of the worst movies to ever carry a studio logo, and that’s fully acknowledging Altman also made Quintet (1979) for a studio as well. Quintet is just terrible, boring and pointless. But Brewster McCloud is the cinematic equivalent of a bird shitting on your head.” Brewster McCloud is a darkly comedic satire that features a lonely young man (Bud Cort) living in the Houston Astrodome stadium who dreams of being able to fly.
Quintet is a post-apocalyptic science fiction movie starring Paul Newman set in a dwindling city during an ice age which is slowly killing off humanity. The inhabitants only solace is an alcoholic drink made from moss, and a game called quintet – which soon turns deadly.
Quentin Tarantino also recently spoke about what he considers to be ‘perfect movies.’ These included The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Jaws, The Exorcist, Young Frankenstein, and Back to the Future. All of these films were released between 1973 and 1985, which demonstrates the fact that Tarantino clearly views a certain narrow period of Hollywood history as a golden age.
Have a look at our list of the best 80s movies for more old school Hollywood, and our new movies guide to what greats are coming up.