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‘Kill Bill’: How A Crappy “ghettoplex” Theater In Chicago And A Giant Rat Made Me Fall In Love With This Tarantino Classic

Amongst other reasons.

Dean Brooks
15 min readOct 6, 2024
Credit: Miramax

Chapter One: The Man From Knoxville, TN

I’m not a Tarantino stan by any means, though like many, I admire his work and his unique voice. I was too young to see his early stuff like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Only years later did I appreciate True Romance and Jackie Brown.

The two-time Oscar winner and pastiche-r of genres is kind of the patron saint artist for college students. Or cult leader, if you prefer. I would hear about him all the damn time and how great his movies are when I was in school. I think that’s why I put off watching them for so long. They were so constantly hyped up like “You gotta see it, bro!” that it had the opposite effect on me. I actually fell asleep the first time I was made to watch Pulp Fiction. I’m still kinda neutral about that one. I see the appeal, but it just never captured me, as most films featuring race as a prominent theme generally don’t. I have a younger cousin who loves it and calls it his favorite film.

Tarantino dominated the 1990s. His turn-of-the-millenium output has seen equal critical and commercial success, though maybe not in the same…

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Dean Brooks
Dean Brooks

Written by Dean Brooks

Novelist. I write about anything and I'm right about everything.

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