Establishing himself as one of cinema’s most important indie filmmakers with the one-two punch of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino has been using unique Easter eggs, like the fictional Red Apple cigarette brand, as a connecting motif in almost all of his films. In fact, only one of Tarantino’s movies don’t seem to have a direct connection to the others—the criminally underrated Jackie Brown, which instead is a part of the Elmore Leonard universe of films.
As reported by Esquire, Tarantino has referred to two shared universes in his films. This is the “Realer Than Real” timeline where most of his movies are set and the fictional, in-universe “Movie Universe” of shared continuity. Here is how all Quentin Tarantino movies (including upcoming films that he wrote like The Adventures of Cliff Booth) are connected through the “RTR” and “MU” timelines and what they bring to the shared Tarantino universe.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Quentin Tarantino’s debut feature, Reservoir Dogs, established the RTR shared universe in ways that would only become apparent with time. A tight and tense thriller that’s perfect for fans of dramatic performances, Reservoir Dogs lays the groundwork for the universe by introducing characters like Vic Vega, aka Mr. Blonde.
Vic’s brother is Vincent Vega, one of the primary characters of Tarantino’s subsequent film, Pulp Fiction. This connection was supposed to be more pronounced in a potential film focusing on the pair, but this concept never made it past development and remains one of Tarantino’s most intriguing unfinished products. The film also slyly mentions a woman named Alabama as an associate of Mr. White, who would go on to be one of the main characters in True Romance.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Perhaps Tarantino’s most iconic film, Pulp Fiction’s idiosyncratic script, tight direction, and strong cast make for one of the best crime dramas in cinematic history. It also serves as a major connection point between several of Tarantino’s films in the RTR universe.
Uma Thurman’s Mia mentions auditioning for an action TV show that seems to follow the same general archetypes as Kill Bill, serving as the first hint that Kill Bill doesn’t take place in the same universe as the “RTR” films. Minor Pulp Fiction characters, like Jimmie Dimmick and Captain Koon, are suggested to be related to characters from Reservoir Dogs and Django Unchained. There’s also a longstanding theory that Marsellus Wallace’s briefcase contains the diamonds from Reservoir Dogs, although the purposefully ambiguous nature of the contents leaves that open to debate even two decades later..
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Inglourious Basterds is Tarantino’s take on the World War II epic, with one of his best ever scripts and a killer cast that elevate their war film archetypes into something truly special. Inglourious Basterds is largely removed from the RTR universe, although some theories (such as from Cracked’s After Hours series) suggest that the Basterds’ influence on real historical events explains the more violence-obsessed culture of this timeline.
Notably, Inglourious Basterds has two direct family connections to other Tarantino films. Archie Hicox is a British agent serving behind enemy lines. He’s a far more heroic character than his ancestor, English Pete Hicox, a notorious criminal who appears in The Hateful Eight. Donny, otherwise known as “the Bear Jew,” is the most fearsome of the Basterds, and his son, Lee Donowitz, goes on to become a movie producer who appears in True Romance.
Django Unchained (2012)
The Western revenge epic starring Jamie Foxx, Django Unchained is perhaps Tarantino’s most plainly entertaining film, with all-time great performances by Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, and an almost unrecognizable Leonardo DiCaprio.
Technically, the earliest film in the RTR universe, many of the characters are long dead by the events of the other movies. However, Captain Koons from Pulp Fiction’s ancestor is Crazy Craig Koons, a part of the Smitty Bacall Gang that Django helps Schultz hunt down. A similar connection is also implied with Maynard, a minor villain in Django Unchained who shares a surname with one of the villainous pawnshop owners from Pulp Fiction. Notably, both Maynards are ultimately killed by the people they tried to brutalize.
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Tarantino’s bleakest film, The Hateful Eight, is a tightly-written character study that works almost more as a play than a film. It initially doesn’t seem to have many connections to the rest of the RTR universe besides the Hicox connection to Inglorious Basterds and the consistent presence of Red Apple as a tobacco brand across the films. However, The Hateful Eight almost had one of the most concrete connections of any Tarantino film.
The movie focuses on Major Marquis Warren, a Black bounty hunter operating in the post-Civil War era. Tarantino originally conceived of the film as a direct sequel to Django Unchained, which would have been titled Django in White Hell. As reported by Entertainment Weekly, Tarantino eventually realized the story wasn’t right for Django, so he adjusted the protagonist and created Warren.
Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood (2019)
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood is one of Quentin Tarantino’s most grounded films, bolstered by a charming lead performance and a surprisingly deft balance of unexpected comedy, dramatic turns, and tension-filled twists. There aren’t any of the notable family connections seen in previous Tarantino movies here. Instead, the connections have been theorized to involve how history is reflected by the events of the RTR universe.
Rick Dalton’s The 14 Fists of McClusky is suggested to be the in-universe dramatization of Inglourious Basterds. It’s likely that Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood’s upcoming David Fincher-directed sequel, The Adventures of Cliff Booth, will introduce more fallout of how the altered history of the RTR universe impacts culture.
True Romance (1993)
True Romance is a grisly love story with a script by Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott. An early showcase of Tarantino’s skills as a writer, the jovial cast and Scott’s trademark slick direction make True Romance a delightfully fun crime thriller take on a meet-cute romance.
Tarantino sold the script for True Romance partly to fund his directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs. This suggests that the clearest connection between these two films is actually the very first connection that would eventually expand to become the RTR universe. While Mr. White mentions Alabama in Reservoir Dogs, she appears as one half of True Romance’s central relationship, this time getting herself and her new lover, Clarence Worley, involved in a chase with the mafia.
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Directed by Oliver Stone, the purposefully polarizing and provocative Natural Born Killers is one of Quentin Tarantino's bluntest (and darkest) films ever. The movie contains two direct connections to Reservoir Dogs through character surnames.
One of them is Jack Scagnetti, a vile police officer from Natural Born Killers who shares his last name with Mr. Blonde's parole officer, Seymour Scagnetti. There's also a TV report in Natural Killers that recounts the death of Officer Gerald Nash at the hands of the Knoxes. Two other members of the Nash family appear in other Tarantino films: Marvin Nash is the police officer who is tortured by Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs, while their implied ancestor, Gerald Nash, was a member of the Smitty Bacall Gang in Django Unchained.
Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 (2003/2004)
While many of Tarantino’s movies take place in the RTR universe, some of them occur in a fictional, in-universe world, like Kill Bill. The “Movie Universe” refers to the Tarantino films that technically also exist in the RTR universe, entertaining the characters of other Tarantino films. This explains the more outlandish elements of the MU films, such as the stylish action and wild twists of Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2.
The Viper Assassination Squad are referenced in Pulp Fiction, with Uma Thurman’s Mia seemingly up for a role that would go on to feel very similar to her character of the Bride. Sheriff Earl McGraw and his son Edgar both appear in Kill Bill, highlighting how they quietly became fixtures of the MU films.
From Dusk ‘Till Dawn (1996)
Quentin Tarantino’s early collaboration with Robert Rodriguez, From Dusk ‘till Dawn, is also one of his wildest movies ever, a gleefully dark and campy riff on crime thrillers and vampire horror movies that has to be seen to be believed. Like Kill Bill, From Dusk ‘Till Dawn exists in the MU Tarantino universe, explaining why its supernatural elements haven’t carried over to any of the RTR films.
The biggest connection From Dusk ‘Till Dawn is the presence of Earl McGraw, who appeares in Kill Bill as one of the officers looking into the attempted murder of the Bride. The Texas Ranger appears briefly in From Dusk ‘Till Dawn’s opening act, serving as an early casualty of the Gecko Brothers. This also suggests that From Dusk ‘Till Dawn technically takes place after the events of Kill Bill in its own universe.
Grindhouse (2007)
A melding of minds between Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, their Grindhouse double-feature of Death Proof and Planet Terror has been confirmed to exist within the MU universe. These bombastic takes on the slasher and zombie genres are grisly, brutal, and deeply entertaining, although not for the faint of heart.
The Tarantino-directed Death Proof has more concrete connections to the MU timeline than Planet Terror, which makes sense given their respective chief filmmakers. Taking up the mantle of his father, Edgar McGraw appears in Death Proof while investigating some of Stuntman Mike’s murders. G.O. Juice also appears as a distinctive brand and had previously been spotted in Kill Bill. The MU presents an interesting meta-commentary on the nature and impact of art on culture, especially as Tarantino uses it as a place to showcase levels of brutality that would be too much for his other films.
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