Kill Bill Vol.1: Where Does Homage End and Originality Begin? | Art of the Scene

The Crazy 88’s fight in Kill Bill Vol. 1 is one of the greatest fight scenes of all time. In this Art of the Scene, we’re going to look at how Quentin Tarantino used movie homages from Samurai, Kung Fu, and Spaghetti Western Films to make an action scene that simultaneously feels familiar and original at the same time.

This video is not meant to be a complete breakdown of all Kill Bill Vol. 1 homages or Kill Bill influences. If you’re looking for a “Kill Bill every reference”-type video, you should check out the Vanity Fair video “All 58 References in Kill Bill Vol 1”. (there’s a link at the end of the description)

Instead, we’re going to highlight some Kill Bill Vol. 1 references like the double exposure eye close-up in Death Rides a Horse or the eye gouge in the 1972 martial arts film Five Fingers of Death to talk about how Quentin Tarantino uses Kill Bill references to leverage their inherent ability to communicate narrative to amplify a specific element in this Kill Bill fight scene.

We’re going to dive deep into the moment when The Bride Arrives at the House of Blue Leaves to deconstruct how the Bride (Uma Thurman) calls out O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) using an homage to the 1967 Spaghetti Western Death Rides a Horse.

The video will also dive deeper into the Crazy 88s fight to talk about why Kill Bill Volume 1 has them sword fighting in black and white. Spoiler, it’s because the MPA wanted to rate it NC-17.

While the Kill Bill movies might be some of the best Tarantino movies, let us know in the comments if you’d like to see Art of the Scene episodes on some of his other Miramax films like Pulp Fiction, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, or Django Unchained.


For more on the Kill Bill (film series), check the links below:

All 58 References in Kill Bill Vol.1 | Vanity Fair
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCcoWwepHs0&t=0s

For some IGN Movies & TV Movie lists, be sure to check out:

Top 10 Action Movies of All Time - Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWa7a2fFid0&list=PL1AXWu-gGX6IcOGt0yaA9Cd_hkt_TwQlC&index=1&t=0s

Top 10 Action Movies of All Time - Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R31sQKJjR_k&list=PL1AXWu-gGX6IcOGt0yaA9Cd_hkt_TwQlC&index=1&t=0s

Top 10 Action Movies of All Time - Pa...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEnL3ukPauM&t=0s

This video was originally published on CineFix on Sept 10, 2021.