Kurt Russell, Quentin Tarantino, Rosario Dawson

A creepy stunt driver whose taste for stalking lovely young ladies gets him into big trouble when he tangles with the wrong gang of badass babes. Their confrontation escalates to an extended mano-...( read more  read more... )a-mano car chase with one of the girls strapped to the hood of a thundering Dodge Challenger.

This was released with Planet Terror and a bunch of fake trailers as a double feature called Grindhouse. Grindhouse is not a whole movie itself that needs a separate profile.

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73% liked it

256,682 ratings

R, 1 hr. 40 min.

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino

Release Date: April 5, 2007

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DVD Release Date: September 17, 2007

Stats: 23,438 reviews

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  • October 31, 2007
    The ultimate "hell-on-wheels" spectacular! "Death Proof" packs on the action, suspense, & humor we've come to expect in a Tarentino movie. It's badass on the Nth degree.
  • November 28, 2009
    Okay, first of all, I was pissed that we didn't get the double feature together with Planet Terror here in Germany. But hey, it's a Tarantino, it had to be watched anyway. And surprise, the longer version of the movie works very well on its own. Tarantino wrote his best dialogues...( read more) since Dusk Till Dawn and that already says a lot. The first part of the movie takes its time introducing the bad guy and his victims, all in (intentionally) horribly edited and gritty scenes leading up to the nastiest car crash ever. A short interlude with a return of the hilarious Kill Bill sheriff Michael Parks and we're in the second half, when the fantastic Kurt Russell is starting to mess with the wrong girls. What follows are more awesome dialogues and an incredible car chase, both full of (really wrong) laughs. An unbelievable movie, just like Zoe Bell's car stunts. Tarantino remains the king of cool.
  • November 19, 2009
    Kurt Russell makes Death Proof. All the girls are gorgeous, and they do wonders with Tarantino's dialogue, but Kurt is still the star of the show. He goes from charming to murderous to a huge pansy throughout the course of the movie, and he's excellent at each and every one of th...( read more)ose tasks.

    Death Proof dramatically changes tone several times, which is to be expected from Quentin. I really dug each phase of the movie, from the chatter of the girls at the beginning to the epic chase scene and hilarious last few minutes. The music is great, the references to old movies as tv shows are as clever as you expect, and I have to say that again that the female actresses are damn good in their various roles.

    When I first saw Death Proof, as a part of Grindhouse, I think my impression of it suffered, due to the fact that it followed the hysterical and brilliant Planet Terror. Judged on it's own, it shines much brighter.
  • September 21, 2009
    My strange distaste for Quentin Tarantino is well-documented. It's strange, though, because there are not many of his films I actively dislike, and I tend to like him in interviews (and even in acting roles). Certainly his fans are often a big part of my distaste, many of them th...( read more)inking entirely too much of the man as a filmmaker. Still, I went to see Grindhouse in theatres for the people in it, and for Robert Rodriguez more than anything else. Death Proof was still interesting because I love Kurt Russell, but I was wary of it all the same. I remember the concept sounded nice, but I remember leaving the theatre with my friends as the only one who hated it and preferred Planet Terror. I picked up both films just for the sake of having them both (since they've continuously failed to release a single cut of the film).

    Stuntman Mike (Russell) is an out-of-work stuntman who hangs around in bars* and waits for intriguing victims to appear to sate his bloodlust. The first ones to take his interest are Jungle Julia (Sydney Tamiia Poitier, not to be confused with her father Sidney), a radio disc jockey and her friends Shanna (Jordan Ladd) and Arlene (Vanessa Ferlito). They discuss Jungle Julia's plans for Arlene, who has unknowingly promised a lapdance to the man who gives her the right lines--at least, Julia promised this unknown man said dance for Arlene. Mike asks for the lapdance and Arlene rebelliously accepts his advance. As they plan to leave for a lakehouse, Mike picks up Pam (Rose McGowan), who is in desperate need of a ride and shows her his car--which is death-proofed like actual stunt cars, with a roll cage and everything necessary for Mike to survive about any collision. Pam is dropped into a simple seat in Mike's car, and finds herself rapidly regretting her choice of rides. When Mike chases down Julia and friends, he puts his car's "death-proofing" to the test. Texas Rangers Earl (Michael Parks) and Edgar (James Parks) McGraw know Mike is responsible for the resulting deaths, but lack of evidence (and lack of alcohol in Mike's system) leave them without cause to prosecute him. Mike's next choice of victims is a group composed of Lee (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Abernathy (Rosario Dawson) and Kim (Tracie Thoms). They pick up their friend Zoë Bell (who plays herself, effectively) and discover her desire to drive a white 1970 Dodge Challenger in reference to Vanishing Point. Finding one of them, they play "ship's mast," where Zoë is held onto the car's hood by two belts as Kim drives it down the deserted highways at high speeds. Mike and his car begin to "toy" with the girls until they decide to turn the tables and pursue him.

    There's a simple and obvious problem with this film, and one I simply cannot get past: Tarantino and Rodriguez stated that their intention was to make a modern grindhouse experience, but what Tarantino did was make, well, a Quentin Tarantino movie. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, but the grindhouse setting fails to set the film apart from any of his others--which are all similarly inspired (not always specifically by grindhouse, but always with his affection for the "genre" somewhere inside them). The two groups of women go on and on and on and on (and on...) about various pop-culture oriented topics, from Julia's snobby comments on Pete Townshend (hopefully deliberately inaccurate to show her snobbery) on to discussions of whatever other banal topic crosses their minds. Zoë's group goes on and on about stunt driving and classic car films. It all feels simultaneously natural and contrived: speaking to the skill of the actors involved and to the monotony of Tarantino's dialogue when unrestrained. It's wearing thin after 15 years to hear the same kind of dialogue, which was once interesting for its unusual and fresh nature, repeated yet again by another set of characters. It's becoming unnatural for so many characters to speak this way, and to watch their endless conversations. This is not a grindhouse movie, not a parody of one, not a modern version of one, it's just yet another Quentin Tarantino movie. I references grindhouse movies, it pays homage to them, it has actors from them, it has stunts and cars from them, but it's another Quentin Tarantino movie--and none of those things is exclusive to this particular one.

    There's a moment, after the initial chapter about Jungle Julia, where the film goes black and white for no explicable reason and in the process loses all of the elements of intentional grindhouse damage, the film suddenly stunningly clear and bright and clean, as if it suddenly remembered, "Oh, right, I'm not REALLY a grindhouse movie." It's jarring and unpleasant, and really kind of a let down after a pretty decent opening. Tarantino apparently decided he couldn't make an actual slasher movie, so the description of the plot falls through the cracks--it's not really a slasher about a guy who kills with his car anymore, it is a Quentin Tarantino movie that happens to have a guy who happens to kill people using his car. It's taking the grindhouse motivation--gimmicks!--and forgetting to make the gimmick the central point. Of course, gimmicks were often lost (think of any cult/horror/sf fans you've ever known who talk about fast-forwarding to the "good parts") to banal plotting and dialogue, but they were never treated quite so much as a deliberate, thought out focus.

    Of course, the real killer (sorry) for me, is Tracie Thoms is unforgivably obnoxious at the end of the film. When she finds her angry spine, she turns into a caricature of the "Oh no you di-n't!" angry black woman and spouts unnatural, pointlessly profane and sexually suggestive dialogue. Stuntman Mike has turned into a "total bitch," as Tarantino himself puts it, and in the process my own jaw drops as Quentin shows absolute ignorance of all film since the 1970s and a complete lack of understanding of the majority of cult fans. Everyone LIKES the killer, even though they aren't "supposed" to. The "inversion" has been done to death. Nothing new here, yet the film--and some rather worshipful fans--act as if it is some kind of revelation that the tables are turned. When Mike turns into a blubbering coward, I was tempted to turn the movie off (which was very difficult in the theatre...). I just felt, as Tarantino says, like I was watching a totally different movie. Except I didn't like this one at all. I didn't feel sympathy for the girls anymore, as they quickly became intensely annoying as they repeated the same initially stupid dialogue over and over. I wanted Mike back, but he was gone, and I was left with another twenty minutes of film I had no interest in, after the beginning had such a tenuous grip in the first place.

    What a waste. It would have been more interesting as a strict slasher. And poor Kurt Russell...I love him still, and even loved him as a silly blubbering coward, and loved how much he threw himself into the crying loser, but the movie didn't support me in this and acted as if I should now suddenly root for his destruction. An epic failure of understanding of the entire convention the film is supposed to reference, pay tribute to and emulate. Bizarre coming from a man who has such an encyclopedic knowledge of these films. And yet another point I can effectively notch against Tarantino in dealing with his more obnoxious fans.

    *Please, no Python jokes.


    Initial commentary:

    "Meh. If I hadn't already seen inversion of these clichés, I might have liked it more. It also dragged on and on and on for the first hour, failed as a "grindhouse" movie, and didn't properly build my sympathies."
  • September 3, 2009
    I just want to start this review by saying I sometimes really hate Tarantino. He thieves others ideas and claims them to be his own. His ego is as big as his forehead and if he went fishing he would probably cast himself. I really hate his cameos in his own films, he can't act to...( read more) save his life, he can be a real Hitch cock!
    I also hate the way people act in his films now. Ever since the scene in the cafe at the beginning of reservoir dogs, everyone in his films acts the same and they read out his scripts like he would, even though no one else sounds as boring and stupid as he does.

    So...I was quite surprised when I watched Death Proof and found that i loved it! It had the feeling of the 70's exploitation film about it that he sought after, as much as i hate him, he knows his stuff. Death Proof turns out to be everything Jackie Brown wasn't. I liked the calm scenes in between the action, in fact, i preferred them. If the two films Vanishing point and Maniac had sex, Death proof would be their child.
    I really wanted to hate this one but I have to admit, love it!
  • December 6, 2009
    Too much dialogue dragged this one down. Kurt Russel was great.
  • December 5, 2009
    Please see my overall review for Grindhouse.
  • December 4, 2009
    Honestly, I really enjoy Tarantino movies. This, however, I did not. Ever since Tarantino talked about doing a grindhouse film, when Kill Bill came out, I was pretty stoked. Then this flick came out. I almost couldn't get through it. The only reason I continued is because I thoug...( read more)ht there would be some sort of redeeming value at some point............damn was I wrong. The most boring, annoying and flat out irritating Tarantino film ever. It sucks that Kurt Russell couldn't even save this film. I would have rather watched "Manos: Hands of Fate"
  • December 3, 2009
    I am a fan of Quentin Tarantino, yet I wasn't particularly interested in seeing this movie. I ended up watching it on tv, when I couldn't sleep and ended up loving it!
    Kurt Russell was perfectly cast. He can be such a cheeseball but it really worked here. I liked the entire fema...( read more)le cast and can always appreciate when there's the opportunity for women to kick some ass!
    Visually, very appealing. Loved the pop of colours.
    Gory, of course but you wouldn't expect anything else from Tarantino! It's done with such a flourish I can't help but appreciate it its artistic value.
    Another Tarantino trademark is the meandering dialogue peppered with plenty of foul language. Crass intellectualism. And of course there's a great soundtrack.
    Overall a must-see, especially for Tarantino fans. I Plan on watching Planet Terror sometime soon.
  • December 2, 2009
    It was alright, but the long conversations are a bit boring and annoying. I can see what he was trying to do with this but didn't quite pull it off. Could have been better.

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Comments


  • Marilynstates
    March 5, 2009
    Best movie (next to Kill Bill and someother ones) EVER!!!!
  • biddingwriter09
    August 22, 2008
    It's not junk, it's a masterpiece. No Tarantino fan would call it junk. I loved it and can watch it repeatedly. The dialouge is sharp, witty and the chase scene breathtaking. The only thing I dont like is Zoe Bell, annoying as hell.
  • NicoA18
    February 22, 2008
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  • alskavengerforlife
    February 15, 2008
    Nice to see a challenger kick ass. Love the car chase till the end. And rosario's betty hairstyle was hot!! And don't get me started on the music!!
  • markggroesbeck
    November 8, 2007
    n awesome homage to '70's car chase films and so much more. An exploitation flick about an insane serial killer, Stuntman Mike, who kills women with his souped-up Dodge, stunt car. I absolutely loved this film. Intriguing characters, and awesome Tarantino diaologue are two of the many things that set this film apart from other violent action flicks. Wonderful touches such as grainy images and jump cutting make the viewer feel like they're actually watching a film at the drive-in circa 1970. The climactic car chase at the end is not to be missed!
  • Waldheri
    November 4, 2007
    Ok - The grindhouse concept is cool, and it worked out ok for Planet Terror which I thought was entertaining. I ddin't think the same of this one. What is the use of making a film look old when it plays in modern times? The "old" theme was used throughout the film by means of old neon-lit bars with jukeboxes and old cars, but if you also see modern cars and cellphones, it kind of kills the effect. I am a great fan of dialogue in a film, but it must be meaningful. The dialogue was long, boring an tireing. The ending car-chase was long and the end of the movie was just absurdly abrupt. Tarantino may have produced oscar-winning titles, this stuff is, in my eyes, absolute junk.
  • mrbicklethepickle
    October 29, 2007
    Better than Planet Terror!
  • lovecyn4ever
    September 19, 2007
    It takes at least 35-40 mins for someone to die in this film.I did like the concept for Death Proof & Kurt Russell performance but the film needed more action not unnecessary dialog that takes forever & becomes boring.
  • chrismid259
    September 8, 2007
    Great movie.
  • danibop17
    April 28, 2007
    Amazing movie!!!

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