Fans of Quentin Tarantino know that he has a foot fetish. For those unfamiliar with the term: it's when a man has a particular fascination with women's legs, and even more so with their feet. It's safe to say that Quentin Tarantino is the most famous foot fetishist in the world.
Let's start with Quentin Tarantino's first real film - Reservoir Dogs (1992). I'm skipping "My Best Friend's Birthday", as it was never officially released.
Let's start with Quentin Tarantino's first real film - Reservoir Dogs (1992). I'm skipping "My Best Friend's Birthday", as it was never officially released.
There's nothing related to foot fetishism in Reservoir Dogs: the film features only tough men. Women appear only briefly in a few background scenes. I found just one scene where a woman is shown in the foreground - the carjacking moment.
There's also nothing particularly noteworthy on this topic in True Romance (1993), even though the entire screenplay was written by Tarantino.
Now let's move on to Natural Born Killers (1994). In this film, Quentin Tarantino was only one of several screenwriters, but thanks to him there are already quite a few striking scenes featuring women's feet. Here's a shot from 00:28:48:
Earlier in the film, there's also a scene where the main character, played by Juliette Lewis, first shakes her legs while holding them up, and then wraps them around the neck of her lover, played by Woody Harrelson.
Closer to the end of the film, there's a moment where Mallory crushes a cigarette butt with her bare foot - a rather unconventional take in terms of foot fetishism.
Pulp Fiction (1994). The film is famous for its iconic dialogue, and in terms of our topic, one of the highlights is the long conversation between Vincent and Jules about foot massages. Jules argues that a foot massage means nothing. Vincent, however, disagrees, saying that if a man gives a woman a foot massage, it definitely means something.
The discussion of foot massages continues in the dialogue between Vincent and Mia Wallace while they are having dinner at Jack Rabbit Slim's. Uma Thurman's character says that a foot massage is not a reason to be jealous or to harm someone.
At the 34-minute mark of Pulp Fiction, we get about five seconds of Uma Thurman's bare feet on screen.
She also dances barefoot in the restaurant.
Pulp Fiction also places emphasis on another woman's feet. The taxi driver Esmeralda presses the pedal with her bare foot! The moment lasts only one second - timestamp 01:09:29:
Four Rooms (1995) is an anthology film made up of several segments. The final segment was directed by Quentin Tarantino, who also wrote it and acted in it. There isn't any particularly prominent foot fetish content across the whole film, but in Tarantino's segment specifically, actress Jennifer Beals walks barefoot around the penthouse. Her shoes are placed near the couch, yet she doesn't put them on, even though everyone else in the room is wearing shoes.
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) is the film where Quentin Tarantino fully indulged his foot fetish. He was both the screenwriter and an actor, so he wrote several scenes for his psychopathic character in which he interacts with women's feet in one way or another.
At the beginning of the film (00:17:11), Richie Gecko asks a hostage to take off her shoes. She does so and lies down on the bed next to him.
At the beginning of the film (00:17:11), Richie Gecko asks a hostage to take off her shoes. She does so and lies down on the bed next to him.
00:29:19 - Tarantino's character bends down and notices Juliette Lewis's bare feet.
By the way, this is already the second film where Tarantino filmed the actress's feet in close-up. I mentioned her feet earlier in Natural Born Killers.
00:35:33 - Tarantino portrays a psychopath who is clearly very fond of women's feet. It's obvious he enjoyed performing this. At 00:35:41, the actress moves her toes.
00:35:33 - Tarantino portrays a psychopath who is clearly very fond of women's feet. It's obvious he enjoyed performing this. At 00:35:41, the actress moves her toes.
From Dusk Till Dawn also features Tarantino's most famous foot fetish scene. Of course, I'm referring to Salma Hayek's stunning dance in the bar with the rather suggestive name.
In this scene, the actress places her toes into Tarantino's mouth, pours whiskey over her leg, and even lightly nudges his head with it - a quintessential example of foot fetish imagery set to great music.
01:05:24 - Salma Hayek stands with her bare foot on George Clooney.
In Curdled (1996), Quentin Tarantino was only a producer. There are no foot fetish scenes there, but there is a fun reference to From Dusk Till Dawn in the form of a TV report showing two criminals, one of whom is our well-known foot fetishist.
Let's move on to Jackie Brown (1997). Right at the beginning of the film, we see a shot of women's feet at 00:05:54:
This is actress Bridget Fonda, who plays Melanie. Notice that she's wearing metal toe rings, similar to rings worn on fingers. In the following shots, her legs are shown in full:
Then, several times, Robert De Niro's character is framed against the background of her legs.
Tarantino clearly couldn't resist - he filmed legs from different angles.
In Kill Bill: Volume 1, Uma Thurman's feet appear many times. At 00:18:42, the Bride is barefoot:
At 00:31:55, we again see Uma Thurman's long legs.
At 00:32:34, her feet fill the entire frame as she sits in a wheelchair.
00:33:52 - Beatrix forces her leg muscles to "remember" their function.
You can closely examine every toe on her foot.
Black Mamba finally wiggles the big toe on her right foot.
- Wiggle your big toe.
- Hard part's over.
- Hard part's over.
00:44:43 - Beatrix moves from the back seat of a car to the driver's seat, walking barefoot across the parking lot.
At 01:06:40, we see another woman's foot, this time with painted nails. This is Sofie Fatale, played by Julie Dreyfus. No other director would have emphasized this detail, but this is a Tarantino film.
In Kill Bill: Volume 2, there is less emphasis on women's feet than in the first part.
01:14:54 a strike with both bare feet to the body of Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah).
01:14:54 a strike with both bare feet to the body of Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah).
01:50:04 - once again Uma Thurman's feet.
Next, Death Proof (2007). The film begins with a shot of women's feet - 00:01:18:
At the beginning of the film, there are a lot of moments featuring feet.
There’s even an overabundance of such scenes here.
00:30:55 - a unique combination of bare female feet and heavy rain. Tarantino clearly enjoyed filming this.
00:48:24 - legs sticking out of an open car window. Never sit like that; it’s extremely dangerous in the event of a car crash.
00:56:51 - women's feet are again visible from a car, this time parked.
00:59:55 - Kurt Russell's character touches the feet of a sleeping Rosario Dawson. It seems Tarantino made Stuntman Mike a foot fetishist.
Tarantino clearly influenced Robert Rodriguez while he was filming Planet Terror.
00:17:09 - a girl washes her foot in a sink:
00:17:09 - a girl washes her foot in a sink:
00:54:31 - girls paint each other’s toenails.
In Planet Terror, some rather unusual things happen to the main female character's leg. First, her missing leg is replaced with a table leg, which she uses to defend herself against Tarantino's character (he plays a psychotic military man).
Later, her leg is replaced with a powerful automatic weapon.
Inglourious Basterds (2009). 02:00:12 - Hans Landa puts a shoe onto the foot of Bridget von Hammersmark.
In his next two films, Quentin Tarantino did not include notable foot fetish scenes. In Django Unchained, there is only one moment where the camera slowly passes by the legs of actress Kerry Washington (02:34:31).
And in The Hateful Eight, there is no focus on women's feet at all. The film features few female characters, and the story takes place in harsh winter conditions, so everyone is heavily dressed.
After two films without such footfetish elements, Tarantino seems to have "made up for it" in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). There’s plenty of that here. The camera lingers on Margot Robbie's legs while she sleeps at 00:33:12.
00:37:36 - some hippie girls walk barefoot through city streets. Earlier, they were even climbing on trash bins without shoes.
01:08:26 - Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) watches her own film in a cinema, resting her bare feet on the seat in front of her.
A reverse angle at 01:19:13.
01:24:38 - the soles of a hippie girl’s feet are pressed against a car’s windshield.
01:26:24 - now her legs are in a different position:
01:41:55 - the feet of another hippie girl.
And that's it, my friends. Phew - this was a huge amount of work. I had to rewatch many films, and some I even saw for the first time. Hopefully, movie lovers and Tarantino fans will appreciate it.
And as for Tarantino - he rightfully earns the title of the most famous foot fetishist in the world.
And as for Tarantino - he rightfully earns the title of the most famous foot fetishist in the world.
