Death Proof

[Zeeboe]

This is one of my favorite movies. I'm a huge Kurt Russell and Quentin Tarantino fan, and seeing those two work together, and combine the styles that made them famous was a dream come true. I also love that the first half was short in beautiful downtown Austin, Texas. My hometown. Finally, I'm a big fan of old-school early 80's horror, and this film pays a very good homage to that genre.

Anytime I present one of my favorite films to people who have never seen it before, I feel almost like it's my movie, and I love watching their reactions.

I recently introduced this movie to two young female friends of mine. One is 18, the other is 19. They've never seen Death Proof before, never heard of Kurt Russell, or seen any of his movies.....

SPOILER: show

and both were really happy to see Stuntman Mike's death.

The 18-year old kept saying over and over again...."He needs to die. He needs to die." While the 19-year old laughed right away when Stuntman Mike got shot, and was laughing through out his suffering. Both laughed at the final shot, and clapped. The 19-year old yelled out "Girl power!", and both loved the movie.

I remember when I first saw "Death Proof" in the theater, all the women in the audience laughed and clapped at Stuntman Mike's death, then I came on the web, and discovered the whole country of women who saw the movie were also LOLing and cheering.

On a personal note - I am a straight guy, and I not only love this movie, but I also do think it sometimes gets the bad rep it gets because it is a "girl power" movie. Although every guy I've met in real life loves it too.

While it does have a girl power feel to it, it's a feel good movie. It has all the stuff that makes a movie good, it's entertaining, it's scary, but not too dark or intense, and it has a happy ending that honestly makes almost everyone (at least most women) wanna stand up, clap, and cheer.

As I typed, neither one of my young female friends had ever heard of Kurt Russell, or seen any of his other movies, and I was happy to introduce the greatness that is Kurt Russell to a new generation. He played a very, very memorable and unforgetable character. I'm happy Quentin picked Kurt to play the character. I honestly don't think anyone else would have been better. That's the great thing about Quentin - He knows just who to hire for roles, and he gives actors who have sadly faded away some a chance for a comeback, and he introduces a new generation of people to them so they can see why they are so great, and he always gives them characters to play people will always remember.

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I was tempted to bring up that Kurt use to play the hero in many action movies back in the 80's, but I didn't want to spoil their illusions. If they wanna hate Stuntman Mike, that's okay. ..........and I figure, Kurt and Quentin aimed for that kind of response from people...especially the women. They wanted women to laugh, clap, and cheer, and that's what they got, and I don't wanna mess that up in any way. As a true Kurt Russell and Quentin fan, I should not attempt mess up what they were going for.

When I said, "Ouch" after Stuntman Mike got his car crashed into by the girls for the first time, the 19-year old looked at me with shock. It made me laugh. I show just a tiny bit of compassion for the guy, and she wanted to hurt me. lol. I knew then it would be wise not to defend him.

....Even I sometimes laugh at Stuntman Mike's pain, and I did last not. Mostly because as I typed, I'm a huge and life-long Kurt Russell fan, and I can sense Kurt was having a lot of fun acting that way. lol.