This 1948 Horror Comedy Is Quentin Tarantino’s Forever Favorite Movie: “A Really Sexy Thing to Me”
Charles Barton’s buddy comedy came as a perfect blend of monsters and laughs for Tarantino back in the day — and it remains on the top of his list decades later.
Quentin Tarantino is definitely someone you’ll ask a whole list of movie recommendations from despite his own directorial style not being for everyone, and the director’s sophistication in the topic does speak volumes.
The renowned director spent his entire childhood and then youth going to cinemas and working in California’s Video Archives where he would take tapes home to watch all night long and then return to the store.
As someone who has probably seen everything that’s ever been out there in the cinema industry, Tarantino is always generous when it comes to unveiling his own top movies — and those also include a cult classic horror comedy that Tarantino considers a real masterpiece.
Quentin Tarantino Praises ‘Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein’, Says It’s “the Best Movie Ever”
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Even though the director has repeatedly stated that there are quite many movies on the list of his personal favourites, nothing seems to be able to beat Charles Barton’s Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein — just because this is what Tarantino was obsessed with when he was a child.
“My favourite movie when I was a little, little, little, little boy was Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. I loved monster movies and I loved comedies, and in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, yeah it’s very funny when Abbott and Costello are around. But when they’re gone, it’s actually played very straight”, the director revealed in an interview several years ago.
Tarantino also said that at the time he had caught himself thinking that somehow the movie had contributed to his vast knowledge of the cinema that he shares with his fans now.
“I can’t believe they make movies like this – this is the best movie ever. So even as a real young child, I was making genre distinctions. I was noticing that there were genres and I liked the genre and I liked that genre, and actually blending them was like a really sexy thing to me”, he added.
‘Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein’ Created One of the Best Buddy Duos of the 1940s
- On Rotten Tomatoes, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein has scores of 90% and 85% from critics and audiences
- On IMDb, the movie is rated 7.3/10
Starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, the movie centres on Count Dracula’s idea to reactivate Frankenstein’s monster by implanting someone else’s brain into the creature; coincidentally, railway baggage handlers Wilbur and Chick seem like perfect candidates.
Even though Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein had some major trouble ahead of its shooting when both leading actors disliked the script and then would often be absent from the set, the movie turned into one of the biggest hits of that year.
Eventually, it even prompted Universal Pictures to make a whole new series of movies following Abbott and Costello’s adventures as they meet more horror film actors and monsters.
