From Dusk Till Dawn

Director: Robert Rodriguez (1996)
Starring: George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel
Find it: IMDB

My favourite vampire movie of all time. My favourite George Clooney movie of all time (not that the competition was too stiff in that department). My favourite Robert Rodriguez movie of all time. My favourite Tarantino scripted movie of all time? Probably.

Perpetually angry criminals Seth and Richard Gecko (Clooney and Tarantino, who look so similar they could totally be brothers) are on the run from the law. They shack up in a desert motel and grab a holidaying ex-preacher (Keitel) and his family as hostages. The gang load up into the preacher's motor-home and sneak on over the Mexican border. There's a scene in which George Clooney punches Tarantino in the face. I'm not sure why I found that so amusing, but I wish he had done the same when Tarantino decided to cast Eli Roth in Death Proof and Inglourious Basterds. 

When the Geckos and their hostages arrive in Mexico, they await the arrival of Seth's friends in a classy bar named The Titty Twister. It's a joint so tough that it has Danny Trejo serving drinks and Cheech Marin (heh, joint) on the door. Also, vampires. On the basis of From Dusk Till Dawn, I would have said that George Clooney would have made a great Batman. And, to be fair, if he had been allowed to play Batman and not Adam West, I still think he could have been good. Seth Gecko is a bit of a dick, but Clooney's charisma makes him difficult to dislike - even when he's menacing that lovely Harvey Keitel and his nice children. Tarantino's acting career has always been very much maligned, but he's a good fit for this movie. He basically plays a slightly more/less weird version of himself, staring at Juliette Lewis's feet all the time and occasionally murdering innocent folks. His isn't a great performance, but I like it, all the same.

NOM

And even if you don't, everyone else is so consistently great, that it really doesn't matter. There's Fred Williamson and Tom Savini playing tough guys (the latter named 'Sex Machine'), Salma Hayek, Juliette Lewis and even a cute cameo from John Saxon. As Cheech Marin says at the door, there's something to suit all tastes at the Titty Twister. Well, except maybe for those film fans who like their vampires to be a little more noble or romantic or sparkly.