Hell yeah, Tarantino has some Yellowstone thoughts
Quentin Tarantino has watched many seasons of Yellowstone and he's naturally got some opinions on Dutton life.
Photo: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
We’ve often looked at Quentin Tarantino’s reports of his own oncoming retirement with some skepticism, but we finally have concrete proof he’s getting ready to bid farewell to his day job—because our man’s been watching a lot of Yellowstone. This is per Tarantino’s most recent interview with Joe Rogan (where he also talked about how people need to get off his back for running his mouth with his TV and movie opinions, a rare Joe Rogan Experience position we endorse). Tarantino—who is, presumably, still cooking up whatever his allegedly final movie will be, whenever he is not letting himself get drawn into the wonders of Dutton-Land—has always been a good critic, and his assessment of Yellowstone feels fairly spot-on (even if it does betray his obvious film-first preferences), so, like, bring on that Taylor Sheridan analysis.
First, off, let’s be clear: No fair-weather fan Quentin. Of Yellowstone: “I didn’t get around to watching it the first three years or so and then I watched the first season and I thought, ‘Wow, this is fucking great. I’ve always been a Kevin Costner fan and he is wonderful in this.'” Thus proceeded the binge: “I got caught up in the show and I’m having a good time. The first season, it’s like a big movie. The guy who writes it is a good writer. There’s punchy monologues and stuff. I end up watching three seasons of it and I even watch that 1883. It’s a good Western show.” But, Tarantino notes, the show can’t escape the issues inherent to long-form episodic TV. “At the end of the day it’s all just a soap opera. They’ve introduced you to a bunch of characters. You know their backstories and connections to everyone else.” But, “You don’t remember it five years from now. You’re only caught up in the minutia of it in the moment.”
Tarantino isn’t stridently anti-TV, to be clear. (How could he be, when Alias and CSI have been so good to him?) He specifically cites the first season of Homeland as one that matched the potential of film for hard-hitting storytelling, but still holds to the idea that material like Yellowstone is designed to slide off the memory. “I don’t remember the bad guys for Season 2 or Season 3. It’s out of my head. It’s completely gone,” Tarantino told Rogen. “With 1883, Sam Elliot is the only thing I remembered about it when it was finished.”