Quentin Tarantino has opinions about “Yellowstone.”
The 61-year-old director recently appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast and explained that while he loves the hit Western series, he believes that “at the end of the day it’s just a soap opera.”
“Everybody talks about how television is now,” Tarantino began. “It’s pretty good, I gotta say. It’s pretty good now. But it’s still television to me. And what’s the difference between television and a good movie? Because a lot of the TV now has the patina of a good movie. They’re using cinematic language to get you caught up in it.”
“I’ll use an example of a show: ‘Yellowstone,’” Tarantino continued. “I didn’t get around to watching it the first three years or so and then I watched the first season and I thought, ‘Wow, this is f—ing great. I’ve always been a big Kevin Costner fan and he is wonderful in this.’”
The two-time Oscar winner explained that he “got caught up” in “Yellowstone” and had “a good time” watching it. He even compared the first season, which came out in 2018, to “a big movie.”
“The guy who writes it is a good writer. There’s good punchy monologues and stuff,” he said. “So then I end up watching three seasons of it and I even watch that ‘1883.’ It’s a good Western show.”
Tarantino added that while he’s watching “Yellowstone” he’s “compelled and caught up in it, but at the end of the day it’s all just a soap opera.”
“They’ve introduced you to a bunch of characters. You actually kind of know all their backstories and their connections to everyone else,” he went on. “Then everything is just the compellingness of the soap opera.”
“You don’t remember it five years from now,” Tarantino added. “You’re only caught up in the minutia of it at the moment.”
The “Pulp Fiction” director continued, “The difference is I’ll see a good Western movie, and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. I’ll remember the story, I’ll remember this scene or that scene. It built to an emotional climax of some degree. The story is good. It’s not just about the interpersonal relationships. But there’s a payoff to it. There is not a payoff on this stuff. It’s more inter-connectional drama. While I am watching, that is good enough. But when it’s over, I couldn’t tell you [what happened].”
Tarantino explained that while he remembers who the bad guy was in the first season of “Yellowstone,” he doesn’t “remember any of the other details of it.”
“I don’t remember the bad guys for Season 2 or Season 3. It’s out of my head. It’s completely gone,” Tarantino shared. “And the same thing with ‘1883.’ That seemed like a movie, but I don’t remember. Sam Elliot is the only thing I remembered about it when it was finished. But ‘Red River,’ I remember for the rest of my life.”
Tarantino then named “Homeland” as an example of a television show that was “more than a soap opera.”
His comments about “Yellowstone” came ahead of the show’s series finale that airs tonight. While the flagship show is ending, there are several spinoffs in the works including one that will reportedly star Kelly Reilly (Beth Dutton) and Cole Hauser (Rip Wheeler).
