Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demián Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story: Western drama written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Set after the Civil War, The Hateful Eight (2015) follows eight strangers stranded during a blizzard in wintry Wyoming. Among them are bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a former union soldier turned bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), who claims to be the new Sheriff. Seeking shelter at Minnie’s Haberdashery, they encounter four more individuals, Bob (Demián Bichir), Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern). Trapped by the storm, they realize their hidden connections may threaten their safety.
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Best Quotes
Chapter One: Last Stage to Red Rock
Major Marquis Warren: I don’t want to work that hard.
John Ruth: No one said the job was supposed to be easy.
Major Marquis Warren: No one said it was supposed to be that hard, neither. But that, little lady, is why they call him “the hangman”. When the handbill says dead or alive, the rest of us shoot you in the back from up on top of a perch somewhere, bring you in dead over a saddle. But when John Ruth, The Hangman, catches you, you don’t die from no bullet in the back. When The Hangman catches you, you hang.
Chapter Two: Son of a Gun
Sheriff Chris Mannix: [referring to the prisoner of war camp] Major Marquis did more than bust out. Major Marquis had a bright idea. So bright you got to wonder why nobody never thought about it before. Tell John Ruth about your bright idea.
Major Marquis Warren: Well the whole damn place was just made out of kindling. So I burnt it down.
Major Marquis Warren: I’m supposed to apologize for killing Johnny Reb? You joined the war to keep n*****s in chains. I joined the war to kill White Southern Crackers. That means killing them anyway I can. Shoot them. Stab them. Drown them. Burn them. Drop a big old rock on their head. Whatever it took to put White Southern Crackers in the ground that’s what I joined the war to do, and that’s what I did.
Major Marquis Warren: That’s the thing about war, Mannix, people die.
Sheriff Chris Mannix: Oh. So you go chalking it up to “War is hell”, huh? Well, admittedly, that is a hard argument to argue with.
Major Marquis Warren: [points his gun at Mannix’s head] You going to talk that hateful n***** talk, you ride up top with OB.
Sheriff Chris Mannix: No. No, no, no, no, no. You got done me talking politics. I didn’t want to. Like I said you all, I’m just happy to be alive. I think I’ll scoot over here right by this window and let this beautiful carriage rock me to sleep and dream about how lucky I am.
Chapter Three: Minnie’s Haberdashery
John Ruth. [to the people in the haberdashery] I’m bringing in this one to Red Rock to hang. Ain’t no way I’m spending a couple of nights under a roof with somebody I don’t know who you they are. And I don’t know who you are. So, who are you?
John Ruth: This here is Daisy Domergue. She’s wanted dead or alive for murder. Ten thousand dollars. That money’s mine boys. Don’t want to share it, I ain’t going to lose it. When that sun comes out, I’m taking this woman into Red Rock to hang. Now, is there anybody here committed to stopping me from doing that? Really? Nobody got a problem with this? Well, I guess that’s very fortunate for me. However, I hope you all understand, I can’t just take your word. Circumstances force me to, take precautions.
'Waiting for an opportunity, and knowing it's the right one, isn't so easy. - John Ruth (The Hateful Eight) Click To Tweet
Oswaldo Mobray: [to Daisy and Ruth] Now, you’re wanted for murder. For the sake of my analogy, let’s just assume that you did it. John Ruth wants to take you back to Red Rock to stand trail for murder. And, if you’re found guilty, the people of Red Rock will hang you in the town square, and as the hangman, I will perform the execution. And if all those things end up taking place, that’s what civilized society calls “justice”. However, if the relatives and the loved ones of the person you murdered were outside that door right now, and after busting down that door, they’d drug you out in the snow and hung you up by the neck. That would be frontier justice. Now the good part about frontier justice is it’s very thirst quenching. The bad part is it’s apt to be wrong as right.
Oswaldo Mobray: But ultimately what’s the real difference between the two? The real difference is me, The Hangman. To me, it doesn’t matter what you did, when I hang you. I will get no satisfaction from your death, it’s my job. I hang you in Red Rock, I move on to the next town, I hang someone else there. The man who pulls the lever that breaks your neck will be a dispassionate man. And that dispassion is the very essence of justice. For justice delivered without dispassion, is always in danger of not being justice.
John Ruth: Amen.
John Ruth: One of them fellas is not what he says he is.
O.B Jackson: What is he?
John Ruth: [referring to Daisy] He’s in cahoots with this one that’s what he is. One of them, maybe even two of them, is here to see Domergue goes free. And to accomplish that goal, they’ll kill everybody in here. And they got them a couple of days, so all they got to do is sit tight and wait for a window of opportunity. And that’s when they strike, huh, b**ch?
Daisy Domergue: If you say so, John.
Major Marquis Warren: Are you sure you ain’t just being paranoid?
John Ruth: Our best bet is this duplicitous fella ain’t as cool a customer as Daisy here. He won’t have the leather patience it takes to just sit here and wait. But waiting for an opportunity, and knowing it’s the right one, isn’t so easy. If he can’t handle it, he’ll stop waiting. He’ll try and create his opportunity and that’s when Mr. Jumpy reveals himself.
Major Marquis Warren: And what do you got to say about all this?
Daisy Domergue: What do I got to say? About John Ruth’s ravings? He’s absolutely right. Me and one of them fellas is in cahoots and we’re just waiting for everybody go to sleep. That’s when we going to kill you all.
'Dispassion is the very essence of justice. For justice delivered without dispassion, is always in danger of not being justice.' - Oswaldo Mobray (The Hateful Eight) Click To Tweet
Major Marquis Warren: Now don’t judge your boy too harshly, General. You ain’t never been cold as your boy was that day. You’d be surprised what a man that cold would do for a blanket.
Major Marquis Warren: I never did give your boy that blanket. Even after all he did, and he did everything I asked. No blanket. That blanket was just a heart breaking a liar’s promise. Kind of like those uniforms the union issued those colored troopers, that you chose not to acknowledge. So what you going to do, old man? You going to spend the next two or three days ignoring the n***** that killed your boy? Ignoring how I made him suffer? Ignoring how I made him lick all over my Johnson? The dumbest thing your boy ever did was to let me know he was your boy.
Chapter Four: Domergue’s Got a Secret
Daisy Domergue: When you get to hell, John, tell them Daisy sent you.
Major Marquis Warren: Everybody keep your mouth shut and do like I say. You open your mouth, you going to get a bullet. You move a little sudden or a little strange, you going to get a bullet. Not a warning, not a question, a bullet. You got that? Let me hear you say “I got it”.
Sheriff Chris Mannix: I got it.
Joe Gage: I got it.
Bob: I got it.
Oswaldo Mobray: We have it.
Paula Abel (Bolivar, Missouri) says
We watched The Hateful Eight yesterday and was extremely disappointed. Not only was there no story line, or an undetectable one at most, but the language and violence was beyond anything I have ever watched. I think the fact that the violence and the language seemed very much NOT a part of any story line. It seemed that even the acting was pitiful! I cannot figure out what sort of personality would even consider the movie a western as touted. Very disappointing!
Lind G Couch says
This movie was the worst movie I have been to! The plot was awful or lack of plot. I am so surprised that there were some name actors in this movie because it was so bad. My husband and I almost walked out of it but I wanted to give it the benefit of doubt but was sorry when the end came. Sorry, sorry acting, plot, slow moving and I am sure it didn’t cost much to make it because it was set in the blizzard outside, or in the cabin. It was very boring to watch a full movie filmed in a stagecoach, and a cabin on the mountain. The presence of all the fake blood I guess was supposed to be impressive(not). I was offended how many times N*ger was used in the movie. This whole movie was very distasteful. I still cannot believe Samuel Jackson was in this movie.
Mathias says
It seems like you, as I do, love Ennio Morricone’s moving and beautiful music. If you haven’t heard his music for a french film called “EN MAI FAIS CE QU’IL TE PLAIT, which was released in November this year, I would strongly recommend you to do so. Here is James Southall’s review of the score.
https://www.movie-wave.net/en-mai-fais-ce-quil-te-plait/