The Hateful Eight

Going to the movies these days is a pretty straightforward and simple form of entertainment. You can call up some of your friends, head down to the local multiplex and figure out which of the 20 different movies that are playing you would like to see without giving it much thought or effort. A night out at the movies wasn’t always this casual and routine though, from the early 1950’s through the 70’s going to a movie was a spectacular event in it’s own right. Seeing a new movie back then was akin to going to a Broadway show in modern times. People dressed up in their fanciest clothes, the theaters provided souvenir programs, an overture would play before the movie; sometimes even with a live orchestra, attendees would have reserved seats, and the longer films would have an intermission in the middle to split them up in two parts. Classic epics such as Ben-Hur, Cleopatra, and Lawrence of Arabia made full use of these roadshow experiences taking advantage of new widescreen and stereophonic sound technology to create breathtaking sights and sounds to be enjoyed by patrons at their special night out at the movies.  

Noticing the recent lack of enthusiasm by today’s moviegoers, filmmaking virtuoso Quentin Tarantino has tried to reignite this nostalgic roadshow viewing flame with the release of his new film The Hateful Eight. On Christmas Day The Hateful Eight was released in only 100 theaters across America. These were roadshow events complete with illustrated programs, a 10-minute overture, and an intermission, all things that are not heard of anymore in today’s modern movie watching vocabulary. These weren’t just any 100 theaters as well, since The Hateful Eight was shot in Ultra Panavision 70mm (another staple of the great epics that were released during the roadshow heyday) many theaters across the country had to be fitted with projectors that could actually play the film. Since most theaters these days have digital projection as the standard, this was a massive undertaking by the studio and distribution heads. 70mm film compared to the 35mm that we usually see is a much wider high-resolution film.  It can show more detail and lets you see a wider range in a single frame, which makes it ideal for projection on much larger screens. When you put all these crazy ideas together, Tarantino has created a reason for you to get excited about going to the movie theater again. Many people lately have been resigned to sitting at home watching Netflix and waiting for a movie to come out on-demand rather than wanting to spend money for a night out at the movie theater. When I first heard of The Hateful Eight’s unusual release plan I couldn’t wait to go out and experience a refreshing way to watch one of my all time favorite director’s new films.

The Hateful Eight is Quentin Tarantino’s eighth film and his second Western after 2012’s Django Unchained. It is a murderous mix of mystery, terror, and violence set in post civil war Wyoming. It features an ensemble cast of Tarantino all-stars including Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Kurt Russell, and Walton Goggins, and features first time Tarantino performances from Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bruce Dern, and Damien Bechir. Together they make up the group of 8 mysterious individuals stuck together inside a stagecoach stopover in the middle of the Wyoming wilderness during a deadly blizzard. It may not sound like your typical Hollywood epic, with only two major settings: a six-horse stagecoach roaring through the snowy mountains, and inside “Minnie’s Haberdashery” the stagecoach stopover that brings all the characters together, but it is Tarantino in his purest storytelling form. His sharp and witty dialogue dominates the movie, while his craft for creating ingenious shots is on display both with the sweeping snowy western landscapes and the formulaic positioning of all of the characters inside Minnie’s. In fact I couldn’t imagine a better way to experience a brand new Tarantino film. Legendary composer Ennio Morricone, known for composing Western Classics such as The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West, composed the overture and score that lingers throughout, giving you a sense of the impeding doom creeping up on the characters as the mystery unfolds. The intermission was used as a perfect break in the action of the 3-hour plus movie, and the large 70mm presentation provided astonishing depth to the picture. Since the frame and the screen are so large, in any given moment you have to notice what is going on in the foreground as well as the background. Once we are inside Minnie’s the 70mm format provides you with the opportunity to keep your eye on any given character to see what they might be up to even if they are not the focus of the frame.

Of course since Christmas Day, The Hateful Eight has seen a much wider release in the standard digital projection format. While this version of the film does not have an overture or intermission and is about 15 minutes shorter (about 167 minutes run time) it is still a captivating story told in a way only Quentin Tarantino could and is still worth getting off your butt and going down to your favorite theater to see. You could wait until the movie comes out on DVD, or even try and watch it on your iPad or iPhone, but there is still something magical about watching pictures move at 24 frames per second on a big screen with a bunch of strangers. Bigger may not always be better, but in this case it was true.