8 Movies You Didn’t Know Were Written by Quentin Tarantino

“Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino”. Those credits have bookended some of the best films of the last thirty years, and become so well associated with the eccentric filmmaker that they themselves have become almost a meme in their own right. Spearheading such classics as Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, and Inglourious Basterds,Quentin Tarantino and his instantly recognizable dialogue have become icons of modern-day filmmaking. The director also has never been one to shy away from the spotlight and, when coupled with the fact that the director claims he only wishes to make ten films, its perhaps surprising to learn that Quentin Tarantino has actually worked on several film’ scripts’ in lesser known or even uncredited ways.

Beginning his career in Hollywood as a struggling writer before getting his big break with his directorial debut Reservoir Dogs in 1992, Quentin Tarantino, formed crucial connections with fellow rising auteurs such as Robert Rodriguez and Paul Thomas Anderson. These and other connections led to Tarantino working on and helping out with a shocking number of projects other than the ones that he proudly proclaims as his films. Some of them are artifacts of the past that don’t quite hold up, others are classics in their own right, capable of standing up to some of Tarantino’s stellar filmography.

‘Four Rooms’ (1995)

Directed by Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino

One of Tarantino’s most frequent collaborators and closest friends is famed Machette, and El Mariachi director Robert Rodriguez. The two famous collaborated on the b-movie throwback double feature Grindhouse, but years before that campy blast from the past, the pair teamed up with fellow arthouse darlings Alexandre Rockwell, and Allison Anders for the anthology feature Four Rooms. This black comedy showcase features fellow Tarantino friend Tim Roth as a bellhop who becomes entangled in a quartet of equally stylish and equally eccentric situations during his first night on the job.

Tarantino wrote the film’s fourth and final chapter, ‘The Man From Hollywood’, in which he also stars as a zany and erratic director. Critics like Roger Ebert noted that Tarantino basically plays a satirized version of himself, which provides the segment with a humorous level of charm and novelty, even if it is typically agreed to be the weaker of the four segments. Featuring a shocking cast of cameos from the likes of Bruce Willis, Marisa Tomei, Kathy Griffin, Madonna (who won a Razzie for the film), and many more, Four Rooms is an intriguing time capsule of the 90s indie Hollywood scene and a glimpse into Tarantino’s world immediately post Pulp Fiction.

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Four Rooms

Release DateDecember 9, 1995

CastJennifer Beals , Tim Roth , Antonio Banderas , Valeria Golino , David Proval , Sammi Davis , Amanda de Cadenet , Madonna , Ione Skye , Lili Taylor , Alicia Witt , Tamlyn Tomita , Lana McKissack , Danny Verduzco , Patricia Vonne , Salma Hayek Pinault , Quentin Tarantino , Paul Calderon , Marisa Tomei , Kathy Griffin , Lawrence Bender , Kimberly Blair , Marc Lawrence , Paul Skemp , Laura Rush

Runtime98 minutes

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‘Past Midnight’ (1991)

Directed by Jan Elliasberg

Past Midnight is a by the numbers, straightforward, direct television crime thriller trying its best to feel like Cape Fear. And while Quentin Tarantino’s real first film may have been lost in a fire, this forgotten 1991 thriller bears the distinction of being the director’s first on-screen credit, as he was given an associate producer credit after helping rewrite the screenplay. While not up to the snuff of Tarantino’s later works, owing to its smaller scale and cheaper budget, Past Midnight is still a shockingly competent television film.

Originally released on the USA Network, the film stars Rutger Hauer as Ben Jordan, a recent parole who claims to have been falsely imprisoned for the murder of his wife. Its intriguing if not the most original setup for a crime flick, but unfortunately, in a decade filled with underrated thrillers, Past Midnight fails to do anything to stand out from the crowd. Even Tarantino’s lesser remembered crime thrillers, like Jackie Brown, are titans of the genre, so seeing his name on a project so forgettable is somewhat underwhelming.

‘It’s Pat’ (1994)

Directed by Adam Bernstein

After the runaway success of Wayne World, the 1990’s began pumping our Saturday Night Live movies at an alarming rate. Near universally agreed to be the worst of these endeavors is 1994’s Julia Sweeney vehicle It’s Pat. Based around a single joke of being of ambiguous gender, Pat was always grating and annoying, even for the length of a five-minute sketch, but stretched out to a feature film where one joke becomes unbearable and painfully unfunny. A fact that becomes clearer with every passing year as the films’ central source of humor becomes more and more outdated. And sadly, at least some of this comedic failure can be attributed to Quentin Tarantino himself. The same year that Sweeney would appear in Tarantino’s seminal Pulp Fiction, the director would help her with rewrites on It’s Pat, as has been confirmed by the director and Julia Sweeney herself.

While each of Tarantino’s screenplays has limited and controlled bursts of comedy with it, the writer-director has never made a dedicated comedy, let alone one meant to have the tone of Night at The Roxbury or Superstar. If the director ever were to lean headfirst into the humor genre, it would likely be a black comedy, as opposed to It’s Pat!’s coy cringefest (whether intentional or not). Audiences would hope that the whole-hearted Tarantino comedy screenplay would also age better. Nearly every Tarantino film, even ones that tackle harsh or taboo subjects, have stood the test of time. Meanwhile, it’s Pat’s singular joke around gender ambiguity that makes it one of the most poorly aged films of the decade. Which parts of the film heavily bare Tarantino’s fingerprints are still unclear to this day. However, in a very weird sense, this SNL relic is the modern indie darling’s only foray into the comedy world.

‘True Romance’ (1993)

Directed by Tony Scott

Crime genre stalwart Tony Scott was given the choice between two scripts in the early 90s. The first, Reservoir Dogs, he left for Tarantino himself to direct, the second he took for himself in what became the celebrated genre bending True Romance. Simultaneously a compelling thriller and one of the most romantic films of the entire 1990s, True Romance tells the story of Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette as two young lovers who stumble upon a bag of contraband and are forced to go on the run. It’s a violent, fast-paced, and hard-hitting film, creating the perfect juxtaposition between passion and collateral damage to both crime and love.

Slater and Arquette are joined in the film’s absolutely stacked cast by the likes of Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, James Gandolfini, and Samuel L. Jackson. The first of two Tarantino collaborations by Tony Scott, True Romance, more than nearly any other film, fits seamlessly alongside Tarantino’s own films. The film works as an action drama and romance and showcases the ability to not only slip between these modes, but to blend them into new and unique feelings. True Romance is widely considered Tony Scott’s best work, and, in no small part, thanks to his collaboration with Tarantino, easily lives up to that moniker.

Release DateSeptember 10, 1993

Runtime119 minutes

‘Crimson Tide’ (1995)

Directed by Tony Scott

Crimson Tide is the second of Quentin Tarantino’s collaborations with Tony Scott, and once again the duo of writer and director strike gold. While at first glance this 1995 wartime submarine thriller seems unlikely to involve the bombastic and eccentric Tarantino, the firmly established writer and director provided additional dialogue and rewrites to help spruce up the final product. Despite that help, however, Crimson Tide is decidedly a different tone from most of Tarantino’s other works, less over the top, less unconventional, but no less exciting. The film is one of the greatest submarine thrillers of all time, and shines as a serious drama which makes full use of it’s nuclear stakes.

Starring Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington in the role that made him a bona fide action star, Crimson Tide features the two superb actors as nuclear submarine officers in conflict over whether to launch their nukes. These immense takes, setting aside the backdrop of the political uncertainty which followed the collapse of the Soviet Union, provide ample material for the two Academy Award winners to work with, and seeing them go toe to toe is a delight for any audience. Washington in particular gave one of the best performances of his entire career, and while viewers may never know how much of his dialogue was written by Quentin Tarantino, the actor makes sure that every one of his lines is expertly delivered.

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Crimson Tide

Release DateMay 12, 1995

Runtime116 minutes

‘Natural Born Killers’ (1994)

Directed by Oliver Stone

When Tony Scott first took on True Romance, Quentin Tarantino was hesitant. The reason for this doubt is that Tarantino had also sold a screenplay for Natural Born Killers to Oliver Stone, and was watching the direction change rapidly before his eyes. By the time the film was released in 1994, it still featured the skeleton of what had originally been written, but had changed so much in tone and direction around that skeleton that Tarantino disowned the film and Stone. The film, which stars Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as a married couple who goes on a crime spree, was divisive at the time, and has only grown more so as the years have progressed.

Perhaps the biggest difference between Tarantino’s original vision and the version of Natural Born Killers that audiences got was just how stylized and controversial the final product turned out to be. Tarantino is known for over-the-top action, dialogue and sort of exaggerated reality, but Stone’s final film goes a step further, switching between black and white, psychedelic editing sequences, and even animated segments at a whim. Natural Born Killers is also overtly political and up front with its critique of media violence and the news coverage of crime in America. Tarantino films are far from non-political, but for all their over-the-top violence and blunt dialogue, their themes are never as explicitly stated as those of Natural Born Killers. Stone’s film is an intriguing piece of media, but in an attempt to critique how the news makes killing look cool, it itself made killing look cool and allegedly inspired real life crimes. Even prior to this controversy however, Tarantino felt betrayed by the film and distanced himself from the project to this day.

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Natural Born Killers

Release DateAugust 26, 1994

DirectorOliver Stone

Runtime119 minutes

From Dusk Till Dawn

Directed by Robert Rodriguez

Another collaboration between Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, From Dusk Till Dawn is not only considered one of the best Robert Rodriguez films out there, but also as a fantastic blend of his and Tarantino’s styles. Beginning as a crime thriller and devolving into a monster-filled, campy horror, b-movie extravaganza, From Dusk Till Dawn is endlessly original and entertaining in its inventiveness and style. Starring George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino himself as a pair of criminal brothers who kidnap a family and hold up in a vampire-infested nightclub. What follows is a slew of over-the-top action, excellent monster design and snappy dialogue as the unlikely group must fight their way through the night.

From Dusk Till Dawn is one of Robert Rodriguez’s first properly large-budgeted films, and he does not let that opportunity go to waste, bringing his unique voice and vision to the screen on a larger and more impressive scale than ever before. Not just an underrated crime thriller of the 90s but also one of the most thrilling vampire movies of all time. Rodriguez has one of the most eclectic filmographies of any director ever, spanning the likes of Spy Kids, to Sin City, to Alita: Battle Angel, but all share the same sense of boundless creativity that is on full display in this vampire crime thriller. When combined with Tarantino’s crime touches and his signature snappy dialogue and black comedy, From Dusk Till Dawn becomes a truly special cult film, and one that deserves even wider recognition.

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From Dusk Till Dawn

Release DateJanuary 19, 1996

Runtime108 minutes

‘The Rock’ (1996)

Directed by Michael Bay

If Quentin Tarantino is one of the most celebrated directors of the last 30 years, then Michael Bay is one of the most criticized and maligned. The auteur who brought viewers such works as Armageddon,Transformers, and Ambulance, is often critiqued for his films’ frenetic energy, hyper-violence and overly stylized visuals. Ironically, however, many of these descriptors have been used to positively describe Tarantino’s films, the distinction being that a film like Once Upon a Time In Hollywood blends substance with its style, something like Transformers: The Last Knight, trades it in for even more style. Maybe it isn’t too shocking then that Tarantino worked on Michael Bay’s best film, the 1990 action thriller The Rock.

Starring Nicolas Cage as a chemist and Sean Connery as an ex-British intelligence agent (not that one), The Rock tells the story of this unlikely pair infiltrating Alcatraz Island to stop an ex-military officer from launching chemical weapons at San Francisco. It’s an outrageously exciting and thrilling movie that showcases the absolute best of Bay’s hyper-stylized directing style. No doubt aiding the film, however, is its script doctor Quentin Tarantino. Though uncredited in the final release, Tarantino and other sources have confirmed that he helped develop the script for The Rock, a fact viewers may never guess given the distinction in tone between this action thriller and the writer/director’s usual work. Where films like Kill Bill prove that Tarantino is obviously no stranger to action, the type of fine-tuned, perfectly executed popcorn blockbuster action contained within The Rock is very different from his bloody and hard-hitting set-pieces. For nearly 30 years, The Rock has been recognized as holding some of Bay’s best scenes and best work, but perhaps it has secretly held some of Tarantino’s as well this whole time.

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The Rock

Release DateJune 7, 1996

Runtime136 minutes