THE HATEFUL EIGHT

US, 2015, 187 minutes, Colour.
Samuel L.Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Channing Tatum, James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Zoe Bell, Lee Horsely, Gene Jones, Keith Jefferson.
Directed by Quentin Tarantino.


In going in to see a Quentin Tarantino film, audiences have a fair idea of what they should expect. It is not going to be an easy entertainment. There will be a fair amount of violence, some of it fairly graphically presented. Their will be tantalising characters and violent interactions? There will be quite a lot of talk, quite a lot of conversations, Tarantino enjoying words and verbal jousting. and, underlying the plot and characters will be some very brutal attitudes and behaviour.

And so it is with The Hateful Eight.


This time critical and popular response has been significantly divided. Even some Tarantino fans have baulked at this film, often for quite different reasons. The supporters have also been vocal and have drawn on some superlatives in their praise.

Obviously, this is a film for cinema specialists rather than the public, especially on an unsuspecting public, who would find it very difficult to sit through.

Part of the challenge of the film, irrespective of the characters, their hateful violence, is that it runs for 187 minutes. In the special Roadshow screenings with 70 mm film, there is an overture and an intermission. Many who were expecting a Tarantino action film have been very disappointed, sometimes bored, that while there are some sequences in the snow with a stagecoach, most of the action takes place within the one room, Minnie’s Haberdashery, out there in the snowy and blizzard-written winter of Wyoming (actually filmed in Colorado). They complain that this makes the film very slow and, with so much talk, they seem to think that this slows action down even further.

Whatever one thinks of Tarantino, he certainly knows how to make films. He captures the vastness of the American West and uses his camera in a fluidly mobile way for all the interior sequences. He knows how to get performances from his cast, is able to handle dialogue, often with cleverness and with wit. Underlying his story and dialogue are American themes that are quite relevant. In fact, this story could be something of an allegory on contemporary stances in the United States.

The film title is accurate. Each of the eight is quite hateful, often vicious in attitudes, often vicious in the brutality of their behaviour. Although it takes a while, there are a number of deaths, some sudden and bloodthirsty, with some brutal bashings in between. Many audiences will find them quite offputting.

But, Tarantino grew up on the exploitation films of the 1970s, and his taste is according to this background, reinforced by his work in a video store for some years. He knows what is quite popular, especially for the exportation audience – and has transferred it into the world of high cinema art - or think or is the seventh century English Jacobean drama.

In one sense, the story is quite simple. it is the post Civil War era and bounty hunters are searching out criminals and bringing them in for justice, dead or alive. Samuel L.Jackson is the central character, black, a former soldier for the North, involved in battles, prisoner of war, escapee, now a bounty hunter stranded in the snow with three dead criminal bodies. Kurt Russell is another bounty hunter, paying for an exclusive stagecoach to bring in, alive, a murderer, Daisy Domergue who, with her ugly mouth, vicious tone, has her own sense of hatefulness. And Russell treats her brutally at times.

Particularly challenging for racist themes is the very frequent use of the word, ‘nigger’.

They give Jackson a lift after his horse collapses and they test out his attitudes, friendly or not. Then they meet another man stranded in the snow, the son of a Confederate hero, very cocky and confident in himself, Chris Mannix, played with quite some flair by Walton Goggins. He announces that he is the new sheriff of Red Rock and will be taking custody of the bodies and prisoners.

Most of the rest of the action in the first part of the film takes place within Minnie’s Haberdashery: the newcomers, the stern Confederate General sitting in his chair, another fine performance from Bruce Dern, Bob, Demian Bichir, who explains that he is working at the haberdahsery, and two passengers, one very very British, Tim Roth, who explains that he is the hangman, and an enigmatic stranger, Michael Madsen, sitting in a corner writing. Some tensions, especially with their being trapped by the blizzard, having to spend time together.

Then things begin to happen, especially with Jackson taunting the general, telling him a grim story about the death of his son, and the shooting starts. Then there is poison in the coffee – and Jackson takes charge with a scene, longish, like an Agatha Christie murder mystery with Jackson as the Poirot equivalent, going thruogh the possibilities as to who poisoned the coffee.

With some shooting, in the Roadshow version, this is the time for intermission.

After the intermission, Tarantino does something similar to what he did in Pulp Fictiion, taking the audience back in time and telling another version of what happened in the morning, another stagecoach, the passengers, the introduction of a surprise character played by Channing Tatum, more shootings, more brutality.

And then, we are finally back to the desperate situation, Daisy still surviving, the question of whether she should be allowed to live or taken to hang, the issues of the bodies of the criminals and bounty money…

Tarantino himself comes in after the intermission with his voice-over explaining some of the situation – which he also does towards the end.

Perhaps at the end, audiences may be suffering from Tarantino-fatigue and miss the symbolism of the final words and the survivors – pinpointing yet again, with the lyrics of the song in the background, the parallels with the present and the unresolved tensions, especially racial, in the United States.

Whether one likes The Hateful Eight or not, it is not an insignificant film.

1. The response to the film? Extreme praise, extreme hostility? The career of Quentin Tarantino? Subjects, visual style, dramatics, verbaldiscussions and wit?

2. Production values, 70 mm, the overture and the intermission, a cinematic experience from the old days?

3. The setting, the black and red of the opening card, the stagecoach? Filming in Colorado, for Wyoming? The mountains, the snow, forests, the blizzards? Remoteness and savagery?

4. Minnie’s Haberdashery, remote, the store, the huts and stables, the outhouse, the basement, the pegs in the snow in the rope to the outhouse? the interiors, the vast room, the various parts, the shop, the bar, the seating arrangements?

5. Ennio Morri and his score, the awards? The range of songs throughout the film – and the touch of the modern?

6. The title, the eight hateful characters, human nature, minimal redeeming values?

7. The structure: the morning, the linear story, arriving at the haberdashery, the climax? The intermission? the review of the action, Tarantino’s voice-over, the going back 15 minutes, the new story, resuming the old, again with Tarantino and his final commentary?

8. The period, after the Civil War, the hostility between north and south, black and white, slavery issue, the different stances, freedoms, the surrender?

9. Race issues, Warren, the seller in the store, Warren and Charlie as black, the racism? Chris from the south, the General, Daisy and the gang, the despising of the blacks? The frequent use of the word “nigger”, taken-for-granted, derogatory, as used by Warren?

10. US, the war, the black soldiers, Warren and his letter from Lincoln? His comments about the Lincoln letter as a protection, being in a minority, surviving? Warren and his self-assertion? The dismissive death of the woman in the shop and Charley?

11. The sequences in the snow and in the mountains? The contrast with so much of the action within the shop? And the atmosphere in the second part, the touch of the Agatha Christie, the murder mystery, the accusations and finally fingering the guilty?

12. The basic plot, Ruth and Daisy, in the stagecoach, O. B. driving, being paid well, Ruth wanting privacy? His being the bounty Hunter, bringing in Daisy, the accusations, his wanting her alive, to get the money, to see her hanged? In handcuffs, his treatment of her, his comments, her reactions, hitting her with the gun, with his elbow? The blood on her face, the black eye? His being tough, from the north, her look and talk? Her use of the word nigger, her animosity and derision, her backtalk?

13. The driver, being paid, minding the guns, working in the stable, with the group, his death from the poison?

14. Warren, bounty Hunter, his reputation in the military, the battle of Baton Rouge, the dead bodies, to collect the money, his horse’s collapse? Asking for a
lift, his being tested, surrendering his guns, Ruth and his reactions, Daisy’s reactions? Travelling, the discussion of the Lincoln letter, Ruth reading it, Daisy spitting, their being pushed from the coach?

15. The interlude in the snow, seeing Mannix in the distance, his wanting a lift, the background of his Confederate family, his father’s reputation? His stances, arguing, racist, pride in the South, explaining that he was to be the sheriff of red Rock? Whether Ruth believed him or not?

16. Travelling, the discussions, the taunts? The characters revealing themselves?

17. The arrival, Warren knowing Minnie, into the hut, the story of Minnie and Sweet Walter, Bob explaining their absence? Bob, working at the haberdashery for some months, helping, the stables? The horses, feeding them, the rope to the outhouse? The cold, people coming in, hammering the wood on the door?

18. The discovery of the people at the haberdashery? The hangman, British, his style, attitudes, talking about hanging, verifying his documents with Mannix? The General, his sitting, laconic? Sage, in the corner, writing? Suspicious or not?

19. Bob, his talk, playing the piano, Silent Night?

20. Warren, taunting the General, the taciturn man, his reputation, the Battle of Baton Rouge, Warren and his leaving the gun, talking with the General, the history of the war, Warren as prisoner of war, escape from the wooden prison, the deaths of the Confederate’s as well as of the unionist men? His aggression towards the General, asking about his son, telling the story of the son, captured, stripped in the snow, crawling, the sexual episode, the visuals, the General imagining, Warren and his humiliating the son, sexually, the cold, shooting him? Shooting the general?

21. The reactions, the coffee pot, Ruth and Daisy, drinking the coffee, Ruth and O.B. spewing out the blood, the deaths?

22. The recapitulation of what had happened, Warren and his gun, letting Mannix be free because he was about to drink the coffee, the lineup, the accusations against Bob, the sign about the Mexicans, Minnie not allowing him in, Warren shooting him? The other two, the coffee, Sage confessing? Warren being shot? Mannix being wounded? The shooting from the basement – and the emergence of Daisy’s brother?

23. Going back to the morning, the four travelling on the coach, their plan, belonging to the gang, Daisy’s brother and his leadership, their mission to free Daisy? Arriving at the haberdashery, relaxing, Minnie and her welcome, the General and Walter playing chess, Charley looking after the horses? The discussion with Suzy about her New Zealand accent? The sweets, the young woman and her getting them? The sudden shooting, everybody killed? Sweet Walter killed in his seat? The blood on the back of the chair, its being covered by the blankets?

24. Hiding, waiting for Ruth, the threats to the General, letting him live, his looking more plausible, the callous deal with him, his sitting and silent?

25. The return to the narrative, Warren being shot? Confronting the brother from the cellar, surrendering his guns, emerging, his being shot dead, splattering Daisy? Warren and his lying on the bed, Mannix limping? The shooting of the Englishman, Sage sitting at the table, the hidden gun, the attempts to shoot, deaths?

26. Warren and Mannix, what to do with Daisy, the discussions? The explanation of the gang, waiting in Red Rock, 15, the threats? Daisy and her plea, allowing Mannix to take the dead men and the bounty money for the members of the gang? Mannix considering, yet his anger against Daisy, her knowing about the poison, his seeing the poisoning of the coffee? Warren and his running out of bullets? Mannix’s decision?

27. The rope, hanging Daisy, her death? The Lincoln letter, Warren’s explanation that it was a fake, for protection? Mannix burning it?

28. The final songs, the two survivors, an image of 1865, yet for the future?

29. The subtext of the film about contemporary America, blacks and whites, surviving together, hostilities? Unresolved issues, the future?