Soundtrack Review: Various Artists – ‘Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof’

Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez have fashioned homage to the Grindhouse cinemas of the 1970s. A Grindhouse was a term reserved for particular theaters who’s bloodied bread and butter was featuring the exploitation films of the day. If you don’t know exploitation films were those that appealed to our more prurient or bestial natures and emphasized sex, violence, and gore.

Rodriguez’s portion of the bill is a zombie movie and features a chick with a machine gun that replaces her leg that the zombie’s have gnawed off. Before and between these two films the audience will be treated to trailers for fake films that have been crafted by Eli Roth and Rob Zombie and one report has Nicholas Cage playing Fu Manchu (!) in one of the trailers. Tarantino’s contribution is called Death Proof and has a character called Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) that stalks women in a car that he’s made death proof – well for the driver that is. Tarantino has fashioned a soundtrack for his film that reflects the 1970s time period and to my untrained ear reminded me of the exploitation films coming out of 1970s Italy. Think Ennio Morricone, who contributes a composition called “Paranoia Prima.” The first track by Jack Nitzsche called “The Last Race” sets the mood for the film and definitely has the 1970s Spaghetti film and/or Morricone composition. The soundtrack also features the groovy composition by Eddie Beram called “Riot in Thunder Alley.” Smith, T Rex, Pacific Gas and Electric, Joe Tex, and many other sounds of the 1960s and 70s provide tunes. All of the songs sound like good “car” songs and the Coasters’ ‘Down in Mexico’ sounds like it was well chosen. If anything Tarantino knows about picking songs for his films. He even used Pino Donaggio’s “Sally and Jack” from Blowout. Interspersed throughout the disc is dialogue from the film from Eli Roth & Michael Bacall (1 min.), Rose McGowan & Kurt Russell (18 sec.), and Tracie Thoms & Zoe Bell (36 sec.). The soundtrack is fun and the movie (or movies as it were) appears to also have that spirit of fun. Various Artists – ‘Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof’ is now available at Amazon. Visit the soundtrack database for more information.