When the movie world lost the great Michael Madsen in late July, the tributes poured in. Now, Quentin Tarantino – who directed Madsen in Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, The Hateful Eight, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – is paying the ultimate one, sitting down for a nearly four-hour podcast where he also provided his personal top 10 of all things Michael Madsen.
In the latest episode of Pure Cinema Podcast, Quentin Tarantino said that the death of Michael Madsen is one that has had a tremendous impact on him, more than many of his other collaborators from the past. “A lot of people were making announcements about him, and I’m not on social media, and it’s just kind of awesome…Not my thing to kind of play out poignancy publicly. But the loss of Michael really, really hits hard. And I’m actually one of those people that’s actually quite stoic about people dying….This is hitting me harder than I’m just used to.”
In the wake of the loss, Quentin Tarantino found himself paying tribute by hosting his own personal film festival of Michael Madsen films. And while there are a lot of Madsen movies (heck, the guy has who-knows-how-many that will be released posthumously). With that, QT developed his own top 10 Michael Madsen list, paying tribute to his performances and movies. But Tarantino refused to include any of his own movies, so sorry, no Budd or Mr. Blonde, although the director did say that that Kill Bill performance was his best work. Another interesting note is that he remembered first seeing the actor in The Natural.
Here’s what Quentin Tarantino named as part of his favorite movies, TV shows and performances, all of which came after the release of Reservoir Dogs: 1993’s A House in the Hills, 2007’s Strength and Honor, 2008’s Hell Ride, and this year’s Resurrection Road, with 1994’s Final Combination aka Dead Connection mentioned as a bonus title. But Tarantino also leaned heavily into TV fare, naming TV movies The High Noon (2000), The Inspectors 2: A Shred of Evidence (2000), 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shootout (2003), and 2007’s Croc, along with the short-lived crime drama Vengeance Unlimited (1998-1999) and his on-off spot on a season four episode (“Na hala a ka makua”) of the Hawaii Five-O reboot.
I have to say that I have seen absolutely zero of these. Some are probably for good reason, but if we can trust QT, then some may be worth seeking out.
What have you seen from Quentin Tarantino’s Top 10 of Michael Madsen? What would you place at the top otherwise? Bark all day and share some of your favorite Michael Madsen performances below.
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