Quentin Tarantino’s book Cinema Speculation offers insights into some of the legendary director’s favorite films from his youth in the 70s and early 80s. The list features classics like Steve McQueen’s Bullitt and Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, as well as lesser-known cult movies like the 1981 slasher/horror The Funhouse and Peter Bogdanovich’s Daisy Miller adaptation. But where do these films rank by their Rotten Tomatoes scores?
Paradise Alley (1978) – 40%
- Director: Sylvester Stallone
- Starring: Sylvester Stallone – Lee Canalito – Armand Assante
Official Synopsis: Three Italian-American brothers, living in the slums of 1940s New York City, try to help each other with one’s wrestling career using one brother’s promotional skills and another brother’s con artist tactics to thwart a sleazy manager.
The Funhouse (1981) – 67%
- Director: Tobe Hooper
- Starring: Elizabeth Berridge – Shawn Carson – Jeanne Austin
Official Synopsis: Four teenagers visit a local carnival for a night of innocent amusement, but soon discover that nothing there is innocent or amusing.
Hardcore (1979) – 74%
- Director: Paul Schrader
- Starring: George C. Scott – Peter Boyle – Season Hubley
Official Synopsis: A conservative Midwest businessman ventures into the underworld of pornography in California to look for his runaway teenage daughter who is making porno films in California’s porno pits.
Daisy Miller (1974) – 75%
- Director: Peter Bogdanovich
- Starring: Cybill Shepherd – Barry Brown – Cloris Leachman
Official Synopsis: In this comedy of manners, Frederick Winterbourne tries to figure out the bright and bubbly Daisy Miller, only to be helped and hindered by false judgments from their fellow friends.
The Outfit (1973) – 80%
- Director: John Flynn
- Starring: Robert Duvall – Karen Black – Joe Don Baker
Official Synopsis: Earl Macklin robs a bank owned by the mob, serves his prison time and is released, only to start a private war against the crime outfit that owned the bank.
Sisters (1973) – 85%
- Director: Brian De Palma
- Starring: Margot Kidder – Jennifer Salt – Charles Durning
Official Synopsis: A small-time reporter tries to convince the police she saw a murder in the apartment across from hers.
The Getaway (1972) – 86%
- Director: Sam Peckinpah
- Starring: Steve McQueen – Ali MacGraw – Ben Johnson
Official Synopsis: A recently-released ex-con and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes awry.
Rolling Thunder (1977) – 86%
- Director: John Flynn
- Starring: William Devane – Tommy Lee Jones – Linda Haynes
Official Synopsis: A recently-returned Vietnam POW loses his family and his right hand during a violent home invasion, and seeks retribution against those responsible.
Dirty Harry (1971) – 89%
- Director: Don Siegel – Clint Eastwood
- Starring: Clint Eastwood – Andrew Robinson – Harry Guardino
Official Synopsis: When a man calling himself “the Scorpio Killer” menaces San Francisco, tough-as-nails Police Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan is assigned to track down the crazed psychopath.
Deliverance (1972) – 89%
- Director: John Boorman
- Starring: Jon Voight – Burt Reynolds – Ned Beatty
Official Synopsis: Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it’s dammed and turned into a lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a canoeing trip they’ll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.
Taxi Driver (1976) – 96%
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Starring: Robert DeNiro – Jodie Foster – Cybill Shepherd
Official Synopsis: A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action.
Escape from Alcatraz (1979) – 97%
- Director: Don Siegel
- Starring: Clint Eastwood – Patrick McGoohan – Roberts Blossom
Official Synopsis: Alcatraz is the most secure prison of its time. It is believed that no one can ever escape from it, until three daring men make a possibly successful attempt at escaping from one of the most infamous prisons in the world.
Bullitt (1968) – 98%
- Director: Peter Yates
- Starring: Steve McQueen – Jacqueline Bisset – Robert Vaughn
Official Synopsis: An all-guts, no-glory San Francisco cop becomes determined to find the underworld kingpin that killed the witness in his protection.
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