Kevin Costner’s Forgotten Movie: Quentin Tarantino Calls It a Cinematic Gem
Quentin Tarantino’s love for cinema is no secret. Before becoming one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation, he worked in a video store—an early sign of his deep passion for movies. Over the years, between directing projects, Tarantino has openly shared his thoughts on the films he admires, despises, and draws inspiration from. His tastes span a wide spectrum, from highbrow classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey to cult favorites such as Showgirls.
This passion shines through in Tarantino’s own work. Many of his films are creative homages to classic genres—whether spaghetti westerns, martial arts flicks, or grindhouse cinema—all infused with his unmistakable style. His respect for film history is a vital ingredient in his storytelling.
That said, Tarantino’s preferences aren’t always easy to predict. For example, despite being a champion of auteur cinema, he’s expressed a lasting dislike for François Truffaut, a major figure in the French New Wave. Similarly, he’s been critical of certain Robert Altman films, famously comparing Brewster McCloud to “a bird shitting on your head.” On the flip side, he has praised the widely panned Woody Allen movie Anything Else. Tarantino isn’t afraid to champion lesser-known or misunderstood films, which reflects his willingness to embrace unconventional cinematic tastes.
One such example comes from 1994, around the release of Pulp Fiction, when Tarantino revealed a surprising favorite: a largely forgotten Kevin Costner film called Fandango. “Fandango is one of the best directorial debuts in the history of cinema,” he said. “I saw it five times in the theater, and it only played for a week. Five times!”
Fandango was directed by Kevin Reynolds and follows a group of college friends on a final road trip in 1971, just before the realities of adulthood—and the looming Vietnam War draft—set in. The film stars Costner in his first leading role, alongside Sam Robards and Judd Nelson. Produced by Steven Spielberg, who was impressed by Reynolds’s earlier student film on the same story, the movie unfortunately received only a limited theatrical release from Warner Bros. and earned less than $100,000 at the box office.
Like Spielberg, Tarantino admired Reynolds’s talent and even predicted he would become “the Stanley Kubrick of his decade.” Though Reynolds hasn’t quite reached Kubrick’s legendary status or the acclaim of 2001: A Space Odyssey, he has enjoyed a solid career, especially through his long collaboration with Costner. He directed hits like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Waterworld in the ’90s, and later won an Emmy for the 2012 miniseries Hatfields & McCoys.
Interestingly, it was this last project that led to Costner dropping out of Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Hopefully, Tarantino took it as a compliment rather than a slight when his former cinematic hero stole his star just before filming began.
