It’s important for movies to have memorable characters. If you come out of the eighth movie in a franchise and you’re still referring to the characters by the actors’ names (i.e. Fast & Furious), then something’s very wrong. Quentin Tarantino has always been able to deliver memorable characters. From the Bride to Django to Hans Landa to Marsellus Wallace, there are countless iconic characters across Tarantino’s filmography.
And arguably just as important as memorable characters is giving those characters – or at least a couple of them – real relationships with one another. So, here are the 10 Best Duos From Quentin Tarantino Movies.
Ordell Robbie & Louis Gara in Jackie Brown
1997’s Jackie Brown is Quentin Tarantino’s only non-original film. All of his other movies “borrow” shots, quotes, costumes, music, and sometimes even titles from existing movies, but Jackie Brown is the only one that’s based on source material. Tarantino didn’t create Ordell Robbie and Louis Gara; Elmore Leonard did, for his literary universe that includes Rum Punch, the book on which Jackie Brown is based.
Samuel L. Jackson’s performance as gun runner Ordell is one of the most underrated of his career, while Robert De Niro’s muted, nuanced portrayal of Louis is strangely captivating. The tension is palpable as the two slowly turn against each other.
Mickey & Mallory Knox in Natural Born Killers
Natural Born Killers is much more of an Oliver Stone movie than a Quentin Tarantino movie since Stone took Tarantino’s script for a sort of “Bonnie and Clyde on acid.” He rewrote it to be an even zanier, more politically charged satire in line with the rest of Stone’s hold-a-mirror-up-to-American-society filmography.
But the dialogue still feels 100% Tarantino, particularly in the scenes shared by the leads, Mickey and Mallory Knox. Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis share a real chemistry as Mickey and Mallory in the movie, and even though they kill dozens of people with no remorse, their love for each other feels oddly real.
John Ruth & Daisy Domergue in The Hateful Eight
The depiction of violence against Daisy Domergue in The Hateful Eight was initially controversial, and that’s totally understandable. Daisy is the only major female character in the film, and she is constantly punched by male characters – primarily John “the Hangman” Ruth, the bounty hunter who’s taking her in alive so that he can watch her hang (the hangman’s gotta make a livin’, too…) – and it’s played for laughs.
Quentin Tarantino’s defense is that Daisy isn’t innocent; she’s a notorious mass murderer. And she gets retribution later in the movie when Joe Gage poisons the coffee and Daisy smiles as she watches John pour himself a cup, take a sip, and then violently vomit up blood and guts. She looks into his eyes as he dies and says, “When you get to hell, John, tell them Daisy sent you.”
Mr. White & Mr. Orange in Reservoir Dogs
The relationship developed between Mr. White and Mr. Orange in Reservoir Dogs is heartwarming…until the big plot twist, when it takes a sharp turn into “heartbreaking” territory. Following the police raid on the jewelry store heist, Mr. White and Mr. Orange ran off together to find a getaway car – having built a real rapport during the planning of the heist, almost like a father-son bond – and Mr. Orange ended up getting shot.
As he bled out on the backseat, Mr. White pleaded with him to hold on, promising to get him medical attention. When Mr. White finds out that Mr. Orange was the undercover cop all along, he’s devastated – so devastated that, depending on how you read the ambiguous ending, it was enough to make him give up on life.
Calvin Candie & Stephen in Django Unchained
Quentin Tarantino has said that Calvin Candie, Django Unchained’s sadistic, yet flamboyant villain, is the only character he’s ever created that he really doesn’t like. He could even see that Hans Landa was just a guy who wanted to do his job well (it was just a heinous job). Calvin is the most despicable human being featured in a Tarantino movie.
And that makes Stephen’s loyalty to him even more disturbing. If it wasn’t for Stephen, Django and Broomhilda would’ve walked out of Candyland scot-free. Stephen noticed the looks that the two were exchanging and deduced that they knew each other.
Clarence Worley & Alabama Whitman in True Romance
Although Quentin Tarantino didn’t direct True Romance, it is considered by fans to be a Tarantino film, because he wrote the script, and his distinctive style is all over it. Director Tony Scott left the script mostly intact. His only major change was to linearize the nonlinear storyline, and to keep Clarence and Alabama alive. The original script called for them to die, but Scott had come to care about the characters so much that he didn’t want them to die.
And the same sentiment applies to the audience. Clarence and Alabama are depicted as a kind of Bonnie and Clyde duo, but they’re much more lovable than that, mostly thanks to Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette’s performances.
Jules Winnfield & Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction
Whether they’re “in character” or not, Jules and Vincent are a lovable pair. Out of character, they discuss everything from animals having personalities to what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris.
There’s a great juxtaposition between the conversations they have – which Jerry Seinfeld reportedly felt was inspired by the bickering between himself and George Costanza in his self-titled sitcom (and it’s easy to see the parallels, whether it was intentional or not) – and what they’re doing (a contract killing). Their banter maintains the same comic energy, whether they’re talking about hash bars or “itty bitty pieces of skull.”
The Bride & B.B. in Kill Bill
The Bride’s reunion with B.B. is what makes it all worth it. Ostensibly, Kill Bill is the story of one woman’s quest for revenge after she loses everything. But as the plot thickens, it morphs into the story of a mother’s quest to reunite with her daughter.
The best way to tell a story is to take a character you like, put them through hell, and give them a worthy reward at the end. Quentin Tarantino put the Bride through the wringer across two whole movies, but at the end of it all, she gets to start a new life with the daughter she thought she lost. B.B. makes it all worth it.
Rick Dalton & Cliff Booth in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
When Quentin Tarantino created Rick Dalton and Cliff Booth, he realized he’d created characters so compelling that they didn’t even need to be a part of a plot to be interesting. This is why the second act of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is essentially a day in the life of Rick and Cliff (and Sharon Tate, but the movie kind of underserved her).
Rick and Cliff are both riveting, well-developed characters in their own right, but the dynamic they share pulls it all together. Rick is an actor who plays tough roles, but breaks down in tears every five minutes in real life, crushed by his insecurities. Meanwhile, Cliff is his happy-go-lucky, freewheeling stunt double, who regularly gets into actually dangerous situations and provides Rick with a shoulder to cry on (literally).
Django & Dr. Schultz in Django Unchained
Django Unchained interestingly subverts the tired, problematic “white savior” narrative. Dr. Schultz frees Django and takes him under his wing. He trains him to take up his trade as a bounty hunter and agrees to help him save his wife. However, at the end of the second act, the charming dentist’s ego gets the better of him, and he throws a major spanner into the works. Calvin is ready to make the deal to sell Broomhilda, returning her to Django and freeing her from Candyland. All Dr. Schultz has to do is shake his hand. But he can’t bear to do it, so he apologizes to Django and shoots Calvin dead.
After that, Django is recaptured, and he not only has to come up with a new plan to free Broomhilda; he has to come up with a way to free himself. And against all odds, he does it.
