There aren’t many performers who have mastered the craft of a well executed bout of profanity better thanSamuel L. Jackson.Jackson has one of the longest filmographies of any actor working today, but the sheer quantity of projects that he’s in should not detract from his range as an actor; anyone that’s judged himpurely on his performances as Nick Furyshould look toA Time To KillorHard Eightto see a different side of his abilities. The definition trait across nearly all of Jackson’s work has been his ability to scream out profanities with such eloquence that it feels like high art; whether it’s a serious monologue on the nature of inequity inChanging Lanesor simply stating the title of the film inSnakes of a Plane, a “Sam Jackson rant” scene is never one to be missed. While many of Jackson’s greatest moments can be viewed in isolation or in the midst of a YouTube mashup, none change the tone of the movie he is in more radically than 2015’sThe Hateful Eight. It remains one of the most chilling scenes of his career, and perhaps the best thing thatQuentin Tarantinohas ever written.
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Jackson and Tarantino Are a Match Made in Cinema Heaven
Similar toJohn WayneandJohn Ford,Robert De NiroandMartin Scorsese, orSong Kang-hoandBong Joon-ho, Jackson’s work with Tarantino is among thebest modern actor/director pairings. Jackson may have hadbit parts inJurassic ParkandGoodfellasin the early 1990s, but it was his role in Tarantino’sPulp Fictionthat turned him into the megastar that he is today. Tarantino crafted a scary, hilarious, and unpredictable character, and gave Jackson the freedom to interpret him to the best of his abilities. Jackson’s infamousPulp Fictionspeech (you know, “you will know my name is the lord when I lay my vengeance upon you”) may have represented the incendiary rage of a young actor defining himself, but across their collaborations, Tarantino steadily gave Jackson more mature material to deal with by casting him as a romantic lead inJackie Brownand a genuinely demented villain inDjango Unchained. As a result, their work onThe Hateful Eightfelt like a maturation of a partnership that had been in the works for years.
The Hateful EightisTarantino’s most confined film to date; imagine ifCluewas set in the confines of a snowy rest stop! The film focuses on a group of disreputable figures on a particularly snowy day in Wyoming during the winter of 1877, all of whom find themselves trapped in the same room for an awkward conversation that (in traditional Tarantino fashion) explodes into violence. John “The Hangman” Ruth (Kurt Russell) has taken the murderer “Crazy” Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) as his prisoner, and as a result, he’s attracted the attention of Jackson’s Union Major Marquis Warren and the retired Confederate General Sanford “Sandy” Smithers (Bruce Dern). The racial and political tension is evident from the beginning, but Jackson doesn’t overplay his hand early on, as hesaves the pureness of his rage for a scenethat would go down in history as one of his best.
The brilliance of Jackson’s work in the film is a subtlety that he’s not always given credit for; it’s easy to think of Jackson as the goofball fromDeep Blue Sea, but inThe Hateful Eight, he builds up to the climactic moment. Warren goads Smithers early on, knowing that the retired southern veteran still holds on to the racial animosity from the war. Jackson even knows how to incite his rage when he mentions that the two share a lot in common given their shared experience in combat, and proposes a toast to the general’s dead son. His subtle pushes escalate Smithers to the point that he finally lets out a disgusting series of racial epithets that allow Warren to launch into a reveal that changes the context ofone of the darkest Christmas films of all-time.
Jackson’s Monologue Makes a Riveting Impact
The bigoted general concludes his reminiscing about his departed son, and Jackson delivers the most chilling series of lines inthe entirety of the three-hour film; after the general ponders the day his son died, Warren replies in full seriousness “the day he met me.” Noting that his revelation finally gained the attention of the aging bigot, Warren proceeds to give an extended speech on how he tortured, assaulted, and executed the man’s son in excruciating detail. Whether this is true or not is hardly the point; it shows that Warren has been studying the elder veteran over the course of his stay and knows how to press all of his buttons and set him off.
While the next events make it clear that Warren could have executed Smithers at any time that he wanted, it’s even more powerful knowing that he had to observe the old man’s prejudices. He now gets to weaponize them against him by painting a disgusting picture that he knows will infuriate and humiliate Smithers in the moments prior to his demise.
What’s even more powerful is that this is the moment in which Tarantino choosesto end the film’s first act.The Hateful Eighthad its initial theatrical release as a traveling road show where the film was screened on 70 mm in select arthouse theaters. As a result, Jackson’s monologue falls in the near center of the film where the reels would be changed, and serves as the point in which the film cuts to its intermission. This leaves the viewer with an awkward few minutes to collect their thoughts on what they’ve observed before they tune in to see how the story concludes.
The Hateful Eightisn’t as timeless asPulp Fiction,as rewatchable asJackie Brown, or as important asDjango Unchained, but it may have given Jackson the chance to give the best performance of his career. His chilling monologue is the type of great dialogue that Tarantino could only entrust to an actor who knows how to choose their moments with grace, even if they include a frenzy of colorful profanity.
