Why Quentin Tarantino loves Brian De Palma, Hollywood’s most misunderstood auteur

Brian De Palma's talent has often divided film critics. While some have called him heir apparent to Alfred Hitchcock, he has long been the most criticised member of the so-called “movie brats” of the 1970s. Besides De Palma, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Francis Ford Coppola were among the most prominent figures for the The New Hollywood, also known as American New Wave.

It was a transformative period in U.S. film history spanning the 1970s to the early 1980s, when a new wave of young directors rose to influence.

Tarantino’s favourite director? Why Brian De Palma outranks Scorsese

De palma's detractors argue that even his strongest work amounts to little more than style over substance, and have often dismissed his films as flashy, excessive thrillers driven by shock value, voyeurism and spectacle rather than any deeper narrative or artistic intent. But De Palma has influenced some of the biggest modern-day filmmakers, like Noah Baumbach (who made a documentary on De Palma) and of course, Quentin Tarantino.

During the 2023 Cannes Film festival Tarantino explained, “Everyone loves Spielberg and Scorsese, there was no question of me joining the club of the most popular guys, that’s not my style!” he said. “Part of my love for De Palma came from the possibility of getting into trouble defending him, sometimes to the point of coming to blows,” he added.

The appeal of the underdog auteur

Tarantino’s preference isn't just about the films themselves; it’s about the rebellious spirit behind them. In recent interviews and his book Cinema Speculation, Tarantino has noted that while "everyone loves Spielberg and Scorsese," joining the club of the most popular guys isn't his style. He finds a certain thrill in defending De Palma, a director who has often been unfairly dismissed as a mere Hitchcock imitator.

For Tarantino, De Palma’s filmography represents a "church" he is willing to go to blows for, valuing the provocative and often controversial nature of De Palma’s work over the more universally accepted masterpieces of his peers.

Style as substance

The technical DNA of Tarantino’s own work, the iconic split-screens in Kill Bill or the long, tension-building tracking shots in Reservoir Dogs, can be traced directly back to De Palma. While Scorsese is a master of rhythm and Spielberg a titan of composition, De Palma’s style is unapologetically "movie-movie." He uses cinematic tricks like split-diopter lenses and slow-motion not just to tell a story, but to flaunt the medium itself. Tarantino, a fellow student of "Video Archives" film school, gravitates toward this flashy, hyper-stylized approach that prioritizes the visual "wow" factor over traditional narrative restraint.

The trauma of the radicalised protagonist

Tarantino also finds a deeper emotional resonance in De Palma’s characters. He has cited Blow Out as one of his top three "desert island" films, specifically praising its cynical, tragic ending. Where Spielberg might offer hope and Scorsese might offer a moral lesson, De Palma often leaves his audience in a state of stylish, operatic despair. To Tarantino, this lack of "sincerity" (in the traditional sense) and the embrace of the sensational makes De Palma the most daring of the group. While his opinions have softened slightly on some titles, his fundamental belief remains: De Palma didn't just make movies; he made cinema that felt dangerous, and for a director like Tarantino, danger is the ultimate mark of quality.

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