“The Final Blow”: You’ve never heard of this movie, but Tarantino recommends it

Quentin Tarantino always has movie-loving advice! So it’s likely, and completely normal, that you’re not at all familiar with Daisy Miller, the 1974 Peter Bogdanovich sixth feature film. Well, for the director of Pulp Fiction, it’s time to catch up!

Based on the novel by Henry James, the film takes place in the 1870s. Daisy Miller visits a Swiss spa resort with her mother and younger brother Randolph. There she meets Frederick Winterbourne, an American expatriate, who falls under her spell. They promise to meet again in Italy, but Daisy’s free temper will trouble Frederic…

Quiz: If you score 10/10, you’re Tarantino’s biggest fan!

“Peter made the film in the style of a fun and entertaining adaptation of literary classics that Hollywood created in the thirties and forties.”Quentin Tarantino analyzes in his work Cinema speculations.

“Still, we have to admit that the film starts off a bit strangely. The first scene between Tony Winterbourne (Barry Brown) and Randolph (…) (James McMurtry) is a bit awkward. We see what Peter is trying to do. But we don’t We’re sure it will work.”

However, the film gains momentum as it progresses and culminates in a final gut punch. Bogdanovich’s film is actually very funny, but the audience is deeply saddened as they watch the end credits roll.

Daisy Miller could have directed Orson Welles, who dropped out of the project. It is the third and final feature film from the production company created by Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin and Bogdanovich, following Cotton Candy and Secret Conversation. Three directors are throwing in the towel and shutting down their companies after Daisy Miller’s firing.

The main actor of the film is Cybill Shepherd, Bogdanovich’s girlfriend at the time, and Tarantino writes about her:

“It’s true that Bogdanovich overestimated Cybill Shepherd’s talent. But if there’s one talent he certainly possessed, it was his ease in delivering machine-gun Hawkish dialogue. A talent that could only be fully appreciated at the time. Daisy Miller and in unsung scenesFinally, love. Like in his scenes with Albert Brooks Taxi driver and Bank in Las Vegas by Ivan Passer, which will lead to his spectacular return to the (…) series moon light.”