The Hateful Eight, Review: Bounty-hunters v/s cowboy gangs

Some things are characteristic Tarantino: Crime, betrayal and revenge; several guns going off at regular intervals; chapter-wise narrative; a central black character, repeatedly referred to as ‘nigger’; flash-backs or intertwined narrative; a large ensemble cast, with good footage to each actor; direct or indirect reference to the Bible or Jesus Christ. The Hateful Eight has all these elements, and even more QT traits. And why do I feel that the title could be a reworking of that classic western, The Magnificent Seven, in turn adapted from the Japanese, Akira Kurosawa masterpiece, Seven Samurai?

It sources its title numeral from Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino’s first film as director), where eight men planned a heist, and also gives all its main characters nick-names, as in RD (see below). The opening credits of this Weinstein Company production remind you that this is QT’s eighth film, so the name seems apt. Of course, if we count Kill Bill as two films, since it was released in two parts, the number goes up to nine. Not many persons who believe in numerology would be happy with number eight, with nine being a better option. That is only an observation, for nine or eight, are not very far apart (Pulp Fiction had seven chapters) but, on a rating scale of 1-10, the film scores 6. Which is just as well, since the film is in six chapters, the stage-coach has six horses and one character is called six-horse Judy.

Some years after the American Civil War (1861-65), in which the Union North was pitted against the slavery supporting Confederate South, Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a former Union army-man turned bounty hunter is transporting the corpses of three outlaws with prices on their heads to the town of Red Rock, Wyoming. His horse collapses and he is stranded in a blizzard. Luckily, a stage-coach arrives. Inside is bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell), handcuffed to dangerous outlaw Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), whom he is escorting to Red Rock. Ruth keeps his bounties alive so he can watch them hang, while Warren brings them in dead. After some scepticism, Ruth agrees to give Warren a ride, but takes away his guns.

Warren shows Ruth a letter he claims is from Abraham Lincoln to him. Not much later, the four find another man stranded in the snow. He is Lost-Causer militiaman Chris Mannix (Walter Goggins), who claims he is travelling to Red Rock as the town's new sheriff. He persuades Ruth and Warren to let him join them, as he will be the one paying their bounties. Ruth gives Warren back his weapons and the two agree to protect each other's bounties.

The group arrives at Minnie's Haberdashery, a stagecoach lodge, as a powerful blizzard approaches. Bob (Demián Bichir), a Mexican, says the owner, Minnie (known to Warren), is visiting her mother, and left him to look after the lodge. The other lodgers are Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), who introduces himself as the Red Rock official hangman; Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), a quiet cowboy who has come back after years to spend Christmas with his mother; and Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern), a former Confederate General. Ruth, suspicious of the lodgers, disarms all, but Warren. That makes eight, not counting the stagecoach driver. If you count him and the man who has yet to make his appearance, there will be 10. Would remind us of Agatha Christie’s suspense murder mystery, Ten Little Nigger Boys (made in India in Hindi as Gumnaam), if only there were more coloured parts. Something is brewing, even in the coffee, and the bounty-hunters might be soon facing a mutiny.

Beginning as a scriptwriter for True Romance and Natural Born Killers, QT has written most of the films he has directed. Here are the eight that he’s helmed: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Vol. 2 (2004), Grindhouse: Death Proof, Ingloriuos Basterds, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight. In his latest, we have a tribute to John Wayne (QT’s first exposure to a Western) and Sergio Leone (the man who made Clint Eastwood-starrer spaghetti Westerns in the 60s, from which The Good, The Bad and the Ugly is an all-time favourite of QT). QT also gets us a musical score entirely composed by Leone’s student days’ pal, Italian composer Ennio Morricone (now 87). He adds a whole new dimension to the landscape by bringing in snow blizzards as a peg to get so many people together, taking shelter in a haberdashery, with identities suspect and salt being rubbed into old wounds. Besides the really indulgent snow scenes, QT does not waste any footage on nature. But that old Christ carving on a crucifix in the first few seconds of the film is highly symbolic.

Scenes are slightly long, yet it’s time well-spent, and personality traits and details of the characters emerge naturally. A fair amount of suspense and sleuthing comes into the latter part, mainly by Warren. The plot is clever, but rather thin. Towards the end, it even looks a bit far-fetched. It is difficult to pin-point what is missing, but the film seems incomplete. Perhaps we miss a villain like earlier QT bad guys: Ving Rhames, Samuel L. Jackson, David Carradine or Christoph Waltz. One scene from Ingloriuos Basterds finds echoes: trap doors leading to secret hiding place below the wooden floor. Every angle is covered and explained. Except for the Lincoln letter, which is used to engage you into speculating whether it is genuine or a forgery? Some telling lines go with it, like “It disarms the white man. A black man can be safe among white men only if they are disarmed.”

Samuel L. Jackson is introduced stylistically, hat tilting upwards ever so slowly as he looks up, and you half expect the voice over to tell you, “The man with no name is back,” (From A Few Dollars More). Bald patch does not detract. One does feel that the fellatio scene in the snow was an overdone indulgence. Sixth time out with QT, Jackson sure is his favourite. And for good reason. Zoë Bell, with five pairings, is his next favourite. She plays six-horse Judy, so called because which woman will be able handle a six-horse stage-coach? Small role, easy on the eye. Kurt Russell digs into Joe Ruth real deep. QT brings him back from Death Proof. Jennifer Jason Leigh (Single White Female, The Hardsucker Proxy, Welcome to Me) is 53 and did not know how to play the guitar when started on the film, her first with Tarantino. Cut to her playing an Irish song on screen, about going to Australia as a prisoner. And she gives all credit to QT for inspiring her. Watch her pack a real mean punch as the only strong female character in the script.

Most of Walton Goggins (Lincoln, Django Unchained, G.I. Joe: Retaliation)’s heavy southern accent has gone, and it took some hard work to get it gone. Keep guessing about his game, and his acting will keep you involved too. Demián Bichir (Oscar nomination for Better Life) is a Mexican in the film. However, he started off as a Frenchman. But thanks to Tarantino's long-time friend Robert Rodriguez, he wound up being a Mexican. And a fine job he has done too. Tim Roth (British, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Planet of the Apes) is the closest one finds a character in the mould of Christoph Waltz. He’s equally menacing while being suave and all-knowing. Michael Madsen (Die Another Day, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill-1 and 2) appears a hardened cowboy, but he insists that looks can be deceptive. Bruce Dern (The Great Gatsby-1974, Family Plot, Django Unchained) as the unlikely pawn plays his bit as the bitter, defeated General, only to be provoked by his nemesis, the ‘nigger’, into a game of death. Craig Stark is cast as Chester Charles Smithers, the General’s son, who is subjected to demeaning torture, followed by violent death. Good support comes from James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Lee Horsley, Gene Jones, Keith Jefferson and Craig Stark. A late, powerful entry for Channing Tatum as Jody Domergue, but a tame exit. Tarantino’s cameo this time is in the form of the Voice of God, the narrator.

Ennio Morricone, who became synonymous with student days’ friend Sergio Leone’s Clint Eastwood westerns of the 60s, and The Five Man Army, comes back to the genre after 34 years. Buddy Goes West (1981), another spaghetti Western, was his last. Tarantino used Morricone’s music in four of his films, now he gets the entire score done by the Italian.

In these digital days, words like anamorphic lens, Ultra Panavision, and film gauges like 35, 70 and hold your breath, 65 mm may sound alien. But Quentin Tarantino just loves celluloid film, so here goes. The Hateful Eight was shot on 65 mm film, using Ultra Panavision 70 and Kodak VISION 3 film stocks: 5219, 5207, 5213 and 5203. The film uses Panavision anamorphic lenses with an aspect ratio of 2.76:1, a very widescreen image that was used on some films in the 1950s and 1960s. The particular set of lenses QT shot with had not been used since Ben Hur, 1957. And mind you, NO digital intermediate! So, enjoy the warm frames and texturised images, of an era that is almost over.

It isn’t Tarantino at his worst. It is not him at his best either. Having set a high bench-mark, and having evolved a distinctive treatment approach, he must now live up to his own standards.

Rating: ***

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnRbXn4-Yis

The nick (name) picks

Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren a.k.a. "The Bounty Hunter"

Kurt Russell as John Ruth a.k.a. "The Hangman"

Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy Domergue a.k.a. "The Prisoner"

Walton Goggins as Sheriff Chris Mannix a.k.a."The Sheriff"

Demián Bichir as Bob (Marco the Mexican) a.k.a. "The Mexican"

Tim Roth as Oswaldo Mobray (English Pete Hicox) a.k.a. "The Little Man"

Michael Madsen as Joe Gage (Grouch Douglass) a.k.a. "The Cow Puncher"

Bruce Dern as General Sanford "Sandy" Smithers a.k.a. "The Confederate"

Zoë Bell as 'Six-Horse' Judy

Gene Jones as 'Sweet' Dave