Since the early nineties, Quentin Tarantino has been rewriting the rules of cinema with razor-sharp dialogue, explosive violence, and a deep love for grindhouse, spaghetti westerns, blaxploitation, and kung-fu flicks. He has an incredible ability to craft larger-than-life characters who deliver monologues and personality traits that stick in your brain. He’s given us foot-fetishizing hitmen, vengeful brides, charming Nazi hunters, slave-revolution bounty hunters, and washed-up actors trying to hold onto their Hollywood dreams.
From Reservoir Dogs’ color-coded crooks and all the way through the Hollywood fairy tale of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino has built a universe packed with unforgettable personalities. Some are cool as ice, some are unhinged, and a few are just plain weird, but they all live rent-free in our heads.
So, grab your Big Kahuna Burger, crank up some surf rock, and settle in as we count down the 50 Greatest Quentin Tarantino Characters of All Time.
20. Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson) | Jackie Brown (1997)
Pulp Fiction may have been a great setup for Samuel L. Jackson and Tarantino’s collaborations, but his role as the smooth-talking Ordell Robbie in Jackie Brown cemented Jackson’s innate talent for more subtle and entertaining character work.
Robbie functions as this casually controlling figure that isn’t afraid to move obstacles to get what he wants. And as a man with a set goal to “spend the rest of his life spending”, he’s willing to go through some tough lengths to get it. But, he’s not some pure incarnation of evil like we may see later with Tarantino, like Hans Landa or Stuntman Mike. Instead, he’s an unsuspecting shark that uses friendly conversation and a stiff drink as the bait to reel you in and to lull you into a sense of security. His reassuring voice and mellow composure make it hard to see through to his darker intentions. Then, before you know it, he’s putting those gloves on. Though, it’s not so easy when it comes to Jackie herself. Her aggressive insistence against Ordell’s cool demeanor shows the cracks in his façade as he attempts to navigate his way to the top of this deal.
It’s also a truly iconic look for Jackson. The long, puffy hair, rat tail goatee, and the Kangol flat cap bring such a memorable look to an already memorable villain. As a man who always seems pleased with himself, his style and his talent as a natural conversationalist allow him to both stand out and blend in at the same time, making him a surprising threat. So, though Jackie Brown may have been a bit more of a star vehicle for Pam Grier (who is also knockout fantastic in this), Samuel L. Jackson came along for the ride and I’m sure we’re all the more grateful for it.
–Tyler Harner
19. Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette) | True Romance (1993)
At first glance, Alabama Whitman seems like another damsel in distress. A sex worker at a dead end who needs the compelling male hero to save her and take her away to freedom and happiness. But, Alabama isn’t quite that girl we’ve seen in countless movies that have come before. With the use of Quentin Tarantino’s fiery dialogue, Tony Scott’s clever subversion of romance narratives, and Patricia Arquette’s warm and endearing performance, Alabama turns from some possible accessory into a unique heroine who can fend for herself and still remain a strong symbol of femininity.
But it’s not without the titular head-over-heels romance with Christian Slater’s Clarence. His youthful naivety alongside Alabama’s bubbly attitude make them a loveable duo, even if they manage to create some hefty trouble along the way. Her tender heart comes through especially with Clarence, being honest and up front with him right from the start. Their genuine connection and palpable attachment let you feel the stakes heighten as their situation becomes worse and worse. It’s only right that she becomes an equal in this narrative, as her narration throughout is a key indicator towards the couple’s mindset as things go from honeymoon-like into a practical battleground.
Alabama’s southern drawl and seductive voice can intoxicate us, much like it does to Clarence. She has a spirit to match Hans Zimmer’s surprisingly bright score and the intensity for Tarantino’s rapport, creating a real fireball that’s hard to forget. Plus, she’s the kind of girl who likes to get a slice of pie and talk after a good movie. What’s not to love?
–Tyler Harner
18. Santanico Pandemonium (Salma Hayek) | From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
In Robert Rodriguez’s wild genre-bending flick, the outlaw road-trip crime thriller grinds to a screeching halt the second Salma Hayek steps onto the stage as the vampire queen of the Titty Twister. Words barely do her justice: sexy, vicious, and hypnotic. Santanico Pandemonium owns every frame of her brief but legendary five-minute appearance.
Selma Hayek’s performance is electric and sultry, with confidence oozing as her eyes lock on the camera, like she owns your soul. Selma maximizes her short few minutes of screen time, making it completely unforgettable for every male viewer. “Lowly dog. Bow your head. Kneel and worship at the feet of Santanico! Pandemonium!”
–Vincent Kane
17. Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) | The Hateful Eight (2015)
Jennifer Jason Leigh has let her cold, beady eyes (a compliment, I promise) do some wonderful work over the course of her career. Her roles in movies like The Machinist, Synecdoche New York, and Road to Perdition give her an impression of a loving woman with a layer of complication or malevolence hiding underneath. With Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, Jennifer Jason Leigh was able to tap into that structure and turn it into something definitively unruly within the outlaw, Daisy Domergue.
Being the singular woman trapped alongside untrustworthy and violent men, Domergue requires a lot of brashness to stand up to the likes of Tarantino alums such as Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Madsen. Thankfully, she brings that feistiness in spades. Daisy’s often the butt of the joke, but when she gets to laugh, it takes over. It’s this maniacal cackle that may annoy the hell out of John Ruth, but is deliciously entertaining for an audience. Both the character and the performance make it seem like she’s just having so much fun testing and tempting these trigger-happy men, playing everyone to her grand scheme.
Though beaten down again and again, Daisy just keeps getting back up again. Her symbolism of steadfast, talkative, and gutsy women can get a bit overshadowed by its heavy masculinity and era-driven misogyny, but Domergue doesn’t make it easy. It’s certainly a richer role that a lot of other women wouldn’t have seen in the era of more traditional westerns. And as a unique vision of feminine independence and villainy, the controversy and debate about Domergue’s treatment as a character still remains unsolved. Regardless, it remains a fitting female role within Tarantino’s complicated world that’s hard to shake. Well, that and her blood-drenched appearance.
–Tyler Harner
16. Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) | Django Unchained (2012)
Dr. King Schultz is one of the most unusual heroes in Quentin Tarantino’s entire filmography. A German dentist turned bounty hunter, Schultz enters Django Unchained with the theatrical flair of a travelling showman — announcing himself with a giant tooth mounted on top of his wagon.
Played with brilliant precision by Christoph Waltz, Schultz is equal parts charming, eccentric, and morally driven. He is the rare Tarantino character whose sense of justice actually seems genuine. While most characters in Tarantino’s universe operate somewhere in the grey space between hero and villain, Schultz feels refreshingly principled.
At the same time, Waltz brings the same playful theatricality that made his portrayal of Hans Landa so memorable. Schultz can move from polite gentleman to deadly gunslinger in the blink of an eye, often while delivering lines of dialogue that are both hilarious and oddly philosophical.
In many ways, Schultz serves as the film’s moral compass. He is the catalyst who transforms Django from a man in chains into a mythic Western hero. While his Oscar nomination and subsequent win made fans of the film scratch their head (DiCaprio’s performance was heavily praised much more than Waltz’s), it’s clear to see that the character is a scene-stealer, and Waltz pulls him off in great Tarantino over-the-top fashion!
–Thomas Riest
15. Max Cherry (Robert Forster) | Jackie Brown (1997)
Looking back, Jackie Brown has a pretty stacked cast, with Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda, Michael Keaton, Robert De Niro, and even Chris Tucker sharing the screen together in Tarantino’s third movie. However, none of them exude even an ounce of the quiet presence that Robert Forster does as Max Cherry. A bail bondsman by trade, Max agrees to help Jackie walk away with $500,000 in cold, hard cash. Why? Well, it’s clear from the moment Max lays eyes on Jackie that he is smitten with the flight attendant.
Max has been a bail bondsman for a long time. He’s weary, he’s old, but most importantly, he’s lived. In a movie filled with those simply out to get their next score, Max is simply there, with his calm, silent demeanour heightening just how frantic everyone else’s minds are during any scene where he crosses paths with the other characters, like at the mall when he’s watching the swap go down. Forster doesn’t have to say a word to sell what his character is thinking. The Academy Awards don’t always recognize the actual best performance in a movie, but in the case of Jackie Brown, Forster was well deserving of his Best Supporting Actor nomination.
–Marmaduke Karlston
14. Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) | Django Unchained (2012)
After reading the script and realizing he was not going to be playing Django but the house servant Stephen instead, Jackson asked Tarantino, “So you want me to play the most despicable negro in cinematic history?” Tarantino said “Yes,” Jackson signed up, and the two of them went on to make precisely that. Of all of the rogues, bastards, and straight-up killers Jackson has played for QT, this might be his most despicable yet.
From the moment Jackson graces the screen, he embodies Stephen with a blend of charisma and menace that is characteristic of his signature style. He says exactly what’s on his mind at all times, but he’s also no fool. His subservient facade belies an astute intelligence and cunning nature. Jackson’s delivery of dialogue is a masterclass in controlled intensity, each word laden with layers of meaning that add to the film’s thematic depth. It’s a role that takes gigantic brass balls to even sign on for, let alone tackle, but yet again Jackson proves he’s more than equipped to handle any role thrown at him.
–Sailor Monsoon
13. Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) | Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Tarantino doesn’t always work with movie stars in his films, and when he does, he sometimes prefers to disguise their charms in more muted roles or transformational characters. Inglourious Basterds is one of the few instances where Tarantino cast somebody primarily for their movie star gravitas rather than their acting chops. Of course, Inglorious Basterds has plenty of acting to go around – but Brad Pitt provides the film with a bona fide movie star performance that is among his very best.
Aldo Raine is charming as hell, delivering some of the funniest lines of the film with a preposterous Appalachian accent that is thick as molasses. His righteous passion for killing Nazis is infectious and makes some of the brutality of the violence go down a little easier. He can’t stand a poorly-planned mission (dumbfounded at the idiocy of an espionage meetup in a basement) but ends up leading the charge on the Hail Mary reconfiguration of Operation Kino anyway, unable to resist the lure of killing Hitler, Goebbels, and Landa in one go. And ending the film with his unwillingness to let Landa go without a swastika scar is a compelling grace note that lets the good guys get the last laugh.
–Bryan Loomis
12. Stuntman Mike McKay (Kurt Russell) | Death Proof (2007)
The first time I watched Death Proof, I was bored – up until Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) showed up. I’ve since come around to the rhythm of the film, but I still perk up when Stuntman Mike (I’ve tried just typing “Mike,” but it feels wrong) appears. At first, it’s just his car – which turns out to be like foreshadowing Jason Voorhees by showing his machete just outside a tent where campers are having sex. Which has probably been done, now that I think about it.
ANYWAY. Stuntman Mike is the first sinister note in the film, and sinister he is. A serial killer who specializes in killing people by crashing his “death proof” car into them, he’s also more like a slasher in that he stalks his victims. Spending time watching them. Eating plate of nachos after plate of nachos. He even garners some sympathy, with his scarred face and story of the old days of stunt-manning. Stunting. Stunt doing? Never mind.
The thing about Stuntman Mike is that he’s cold, calculating and charismatic, because of course. He’s played by Kurt Russel. If he were played by someone else, he wouldn’t even be on this list. Russell turns Stuntman Mike into an icon of horror, just by being both likable and horrifying.
And kind of a weeny when it comes to being shot.
As charismatic as he is, there’s something just plain satisfying about seeing him get his comeuppance when he picks the wrong group of potential victims. When they turn the tables and chase Stuntman Mike (putting that “death proof” car through its paces) we’re hoping he gets the same treatment he’s handed out to so many others. (Like, all the main characters in the first half of the film.) I like Stuntman Mike, and I would have kind of enjoyed seeing more of him, but he’s one crazy mofo and absolutely deserves to die.
–Bob Cram
11. Django Freeman (Jamie Foxx) | Django Unchained (2012)
Imagine how uncool the character of Django would’ve been if Will Smith ended up playing him. No offense to Smith, he’s a great movie star. But this is not the role for him. Django needed someone who could bring the effortlessly cool vibe that Jamie Foxx possesses. Above all else, Django Freeman is a badass. A spaghetti western cowboy icon for the modern movie fan. Although Calvin Candie and King Schultz overshadow Django as standout characters in his own film, Django remains the star. He’s such a good character that he can share the shine. Jamie Foxx is such a confident performer that he can allow himself to take center stage for a moment. Don’t be fooled, though. Django is still the focal point of what makes this movie awesome.
–Raf Stitt
30-21 | 10-1
Who are some of your favorite Quentin Tarantino characters? Maybe they will show up later in the list!