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Quentin Tarantino didn’t always create great films.
In fact, the famous director and screenwriter of Reservoir Dogs was off to a rather rocky start.
My Best Friend’s Birthday is Tarantino’s first film and is a black-and-white film from 1987. The plot revolves around a young man called Clarence who constantly tries to do something nice for his friend Mickey’s birthday. Mickey’s girlfriend recently broke up with him and he is not in a happy mood. Unfortunately, Clarence’s efforts don’t lead to success.
Tarantino shot the film in a three-year period from 1984 to 1987. The actors include Tarantino, his friends from acting class and his coworkers from a video store. Although the movie is amateurish at best, it contains some of Tarantino’s trademark stylistic features. Who can miss his epic dialogue and cunning addition of blaxploitation?
However, only 36 minutes of the original 60-minute movie is available for viewing. The editing lab of the movie caught on fire, so the final 24 minutes were destroyed by the flames. Needless to say, the plot doesn’t really require an explicit ending since it’s pretty obvious where the story is heading.
Although his first film wasn’t too great, it did help Tarantino come up with a more successful movie for the future – True Romance.
If you thought the fire engulfing half of Tarantino’s first movie was horrific, wait until you see some of the worst movie set accidents in history.
