User reviews

I mean no disrespect to any of the other commentators of this movie, but I never would have expected to hear someone say this is, would have, or could have been QT's best. In fact, I think Tarantino himself would have a good laugh at that notion. He might even take offense to it.

If you've ever seen the time Tarantino was on Charlie Rose, he talks a bit about this movie (without ever mentioning the title) and I can see and completely agree with everything he said about it. It's really an awful movie - largely due to the horrendous acting... but what are you gonna do; it's essentially a student film for a man who was never a film student.

In case you haven't seen the interview I mentioned, here's basically what he said: He admitted that the movie was really bad, but if you watched it, you could tell that he did it (very true). He also said this movie, while a complete failure, was his film school. He learned about film-making during the process of making this film; it really amounted to an experiment. In another interview he mentioned that, when he was in negotiations for Reservoir Dogs, when asked by a studio exec if they could see his previous work, he said no.

There are a few moments that are very much Tarantino, and a couple of them show up in evolved forms in his later movies. This is the reason referred to in the summary line of this review. QT is, without a shadow of a doubt, my all-time favorite filmmaker, so it's an interesting look back in time to see what a completely inexperienced, unprepared Tarantino with no budget whatsoever could do.

I realize I haven't quite specified what was so bad about this movie, but it's pretty much everything. It's not well thought out, it's disjointed, the sound and picture are horrible (don't worry, I'm not really counting against it for that - it's to be expected for such a low budget film), the dialogue is not up to par, and I reiterate that the acting is truly awful (with the exception of QT himself).

However, it is undeniably a Tarantino movie, and for that reason and that reason alone I can see fit to give it 5/10 stars. I can guarantee, though, that most of these people rating it at 10 stars would not give this movie the time of day if it were from a no-name director. I'm no different, but I admit it openly, and I'm not afraid to critique the man despite my near-idolization of him. I think it was actually a nice twist of fate that this movie was destroyed, making Reservoir dogs his first official film credit instead.

SPOILERS AHEAD

To those who wonder how I discovered My Best Friend's Birthday, I found this video on ebay, and it was definitely worth the money despite the deteriorated quality of the copy. This is filmmaker Quentin Tarantino's first independently funded film, and from what was assembled (the film wasn't completed and this can be seen since a couple of plot points are left un-answered at the end of 40 minutes) I can tell that it was one of those well-intentioned (if slight) signs-of-things-to-come.

Clarence Pool (Tarantino, with a full-on "Elvis Man" look) is a disc jockey at K-BILLY Radio (Reservoir Dogs' music conductor in a sense), and is planning to give his friend Micky Burnett (co-writer Craig Hamann) a call-girl for his birthday party (a story later re-used for True Romance). This is used as more of a signpost for the film to follow as the characters, in particular Clarence, go off on riffs of Dialog - the "I'd f*** Elvis" speech is in its first revelation - and it's often very funny. Even a kung-fu fight between Mickey and the call girl's pimp (Al Harrell) is executed with the similar sense of dark hilarity that has made Tarantino the pro he is now. Truth be told, the film isn't without its shortcomings for a budget of so little, and a couple of the scenes really don't work at all. Yet for what it's worth it's a small ruby of underground cinema.

We will never see this movie in it's full glory. The final reel of this movie was destroyed in a lab fire that broke out during editing and the only surviving parts were edited together to make this 34 minutes short movie. Still you never get the feeling that you're ever really missing any sequences while watching this movie.

This is a Tarantino movie alright. It has some absolutely amazing dialog. The story isn't really about much but the dialog makes sure that this movie is an interesting enough one to watch. The line 'Your ass is grass, and I'm the lawnmower.', right before two persons get into a fight, is an absolute classic in my book and now actually one of my favorite movie quotes. The movie is interestingly told and divided in several different parts, in the same style as "Pulp Function". This movie would latter also form the basis for Tarantino's script for "True Romance".

Real problem with this movie is that it lacks style. It's a very amateur like looking movie and it uses standard camera-positions and weak editing. Because of this not everything in the movie works very well, such as most of the comical moments and the weird kung-fu fight toward the ending. Tarantino's vision was obviously already present but he didn't had the right tools and persons around him to make the right movie he had in mind with it. Oh well, he eventually ended up alright with that!

Probably only truly recommendable to Tarantino fans though.

7/10

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Based upon seeing what little footage remains of this movie, I don't think that the full-length version would have been a great movie. What's seen here is a jumble of different scenes that each advance the story very little. Tarantino clearly didn't yet have a full grasp of more proper ways to plot and execute a story. Still, despite this (and the very primative production values and acting), the footage is a fascinating cinematic document of sorts. The movie is full of ideas (and dialogue) that Tarantino later polished up and reused in other movies (primarily TRUE ROMANCE.) So while this is mostly amateur hour as a *movie*, it is very entertaining as a cinematic notebook.

(32%) A curiosity piece that's for Tarantino fans only as about half of it is 100% missing forever, and what's left is largely a mixed bag. Quentin himself is about the best thing here and gives a good dose of effort and comic timing to his performance. The writing is somewhat decent at times; although like a lot of things here it's clearly the product of the inexperienced, and many will claim that it's nothing more than typical Tarantino movie name dropping, which really is only partly true. For a very low budget first attempt this isn't too bad, and it does at least show some future potential of what was yet to come.

Tarantino is the man! The movie is watchable (surprising for how old it is), obviously its lacking the polish (both script and video) of his later movies but who cares. This movie probably cost him the price of a six pack and it shows. Whats great about it, is that it shows this generations greatest director in his youth giving this whole "movie" thing a shot. In that respect this movie really succeeds. It's one of those things that you watch and then say "Hey I could do that... why arn't I doing that?". Really cool to know that this guy started with this... offbeat... film and then went on to direct the Pulpiest of Fiction (hands down, best film ever). The best part of this movie is not the script, directing or acting. The BEST part of this movie is that it has inspired me to get going on a film of my own.

Thanks QT No time like the present.

Clarence Pool, a radio DJ, is planning a birthday party for his best friend, Mickey Burnett. However, his great intentions and best efforts don't always work out as planned.

Written and directed by and starring Quentin Tarantino, this should have been his first film. However, the second and final reel of the film was lost in a fire and the complete version was hardly ever viewed. What remains is and incomplete movie of about 36 minutes (technically making it a short).

Hence it not been counted among Tarantino's movies (plus, wouldn't you rather say that Reservoir Dogs was your debut film?).

What remains isn't bad, though isn't great either. The first thing that strikes you is that it is a comedy. Tarantino's dramas always have an element of comedy about them, due to the clever, stylised dialogue but this is a pure comedy, not an action-drama with comedic elements. Moreover, it works, mostly. Tarantino takes the clever dialogue and moves it from entertaining filler to centre stage. Add in some physical gags and you realise that Tarantino may have a gift for comedy (though I'm glad he ended choosing a different cinematic path).

There's also a stoner-slacker aspect to the whole thing which reminds me of Clerks. Tarantino could have been Kevin Smith before Kevin Smith was Kevin Smith!

(This said, I have no idea what path the second half of the movie took, so it could have ended more like the Tarantino we know and love).

In addition to the clever dialogue, there's another Tarantino trademark: long discussions about movies or music. Always entertaining, and edifying.

As mentioned, not great though. The plot is a bit disjointed. Tarantino was clearly still learning his art as a director and editor: the scenes are quite choppy. The whole movie has an overly rough-around-the-edges feel to it.

Also, difficult to rate a movie highly when you're only able to see half of it!

You can, however, see glimpses of what was to come. As mentioned, the sharp dialogue is there. In addition, some of the plot details remind me of True Romance.

Just wish that the whole movie had survived. But then Tarantino would have already made 10 movies and, due to his self-imposed quota, would now be in retirement, so maybe it was for the best!

Needless to say, due to the movie being in this state it is in, this is really only for Tarantino fans, to see where it all began and complete the collection.

QT's "first" film is a glimpse of what was to come from a very talented writer/director; rich banter with an entertaining and skewed look at life. Shot in black and white, on a very small budget, the film has many shortcomings compared to the director's other films. However, it is still part of Tarantino's body of work.

In the mid 80's there were not many ways a filmmaker could get a film made - short of getting a film camera and making one with their buddies - and a quick look at the production credits for "My Best Friend's Birthday" suggest this to be the case.

I heard this film was unwatchable, but it is actually quite instructional for all hard-core Tarantino fans. Many have stated that this film was QT's film school; so be it. Cream rises because it is less dense than the milk it is found within and eventually makes its way to the top.

However, until someone takes a spoon and scoops the cream off the milk, it's stuck there. The Reservoir Dogs producer (Lawrence Bender) skimmed QT from the vat and we are the happy recipients of some rich delicious ice cream due to such.

Okay, so its Friday morning, in the wee hours of the day. About 1:00 AM I'd say, when my awesome friend Kylee and I are cruising about YouTube in hope of finding rare gems of times long past. So we search for "Quentin Tarantino" and what do we find??? Why, Its "My Best Friend's Birthday". At first we were like "no way Jose, this has to be a joke, that can't be him....and then we were all...Holy Shizzy! Its him!" So we watched it and just totally ate it up. Its so cult classic awesome! We watched it and were like "For a piece of crap, this is pretty great!" It was really a good film, in my opinion. Well sure I mean so the sound wasn't up to snuff and the acting could be a little bit on the cheesalicious side at time, but it was still entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable! if you are a true QT fan, you gotta see this. I wish it wouldn't have burned. Well, almost.

There's not much reason to watch "My Best Friend's Birthday" other than the fact that it is Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut. The man who would go on to birth indiewood via offbeat hit films like "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction" began his career with this humble, 16mm black-and-white entry. Therefore, although there's not much going on in this 36-minute movie, it is intriguing to watch what a young Tarantino does on a $5,000 budget, and spot some of his trademark styles early on.

The story - if there is a definitive one - follows radio disc jockey Clarence Pool (Quentin Tarantino), who hires a call girl (Crystal Shaw Martell) to show his best friend Mick (Craig Hamann) a good time after his girlfriend leaves him on his birthday. It's more straightforwardly comedic than much of Tarantino's filmography, but the style of comedy can be seen as a precursor to his later screenplays. Sharp dialogue, copious pop-culture references, and a focus on low-brow, unsexy characters make it distinctively Tarantino.

A jukebox soundtrack also foreshadows a staple of Tarantino's work. Recognizable music from the 1950s-80s fill the movie's background, beginning a trend of rock-n-roll hits setting the tone for most of Tarantinos' universe. That universe being fun and laidback, but heavy and volatile at the same time.

Also, "My Best Friend's Birthday" offers a brief glimpse into Tarantino's taste for Kung-Fu, as the short features an action scene where one character shows off his affinity for mixed martial arts. The sequence might not have the grandeur of "Kill Bill," and the actor might not be as dexterous as Uma Thermon (or her stunt double), but clever editing gets the message across, making it Tarantino's first fight scene.

Surprisingly, the movie doesn't include much violence - the stamp that Tarantino is now most known for. Then again, vibrant bloodshed would not come across very easily on the film's grainy quality. Nevertheless, the movie opens with a downplayed cocaine overdose, so there is at least something keeping "My Best Friend's Birthday" controversial. There is also a direct reference to foot-fetishes, another outlying motif of the director's films.

The short film is an amateur project through-and-through. The blurry picture and choppy editing make it look like something fished out of a basement box of home videos. Still, at just over a half-hour long and available for free on YouTube, "My Best Friend's Birthday" is worth a watch for anyone interested in Quentin Tarantino's work.

Today, Quentin Tarantino's first film "My Best Friend's Birthday" might be silly or very poor in quality to some, but to others it is a perfect example of seeing how a great director was born, with a limited budget trying to make a small film without taking film lessons in film schools elsewhere. For the fans, this is a great chance to see a few things that makes us love Quentin and his films and that is his early uses of film references; pop culture references; those long and interesting, clever and funny dialogs.

In its half hour more or less, unfinished or with the ending lost somewhere, "My Best Friend's Birthday" delivers short situations with a bunch of characters talking randomly but very funny stuff or getting themselves involved in some hilarious situation. But all of these small sketches takes them to Mickey's birthday (played by Craig Hamann, one of the writers of the film), friend of Clarence (Tarantino, playing the role later given to Christian Slater in "True Romance"), a friendlier and funny DJ of a local station, who holds our attention with his movie references like "Jailhouse Rock", "The Countess of Hong Kong" and "Dressed to Kill", and his ideas on Elvis, music and other things.

Right there, in 1987, and you already have the Tarantino as his usual routine as we all know: fast talker, the way he uses the references and the music in the background (classic rock), and all. It's more like a comedy and the only instance of violence comes with a hilarious moment of Mickey fighting kung fu with a pimp and that's it. The rest of it is dialog after dialog and brilliant ones (my favorite parts are the "garlick gum" that made a guy cursing all the time and Quentin having a cocaine bad trip).

Even without the ending and with a terrible amateurish cinematography, this is a good example of how someone can start in the film business but with very few at hand. During interviews about the amazing "Inglorious Basterds" Quentin said this: "Some people will like "Inglorious Basterds". Some people won't. But it was made with all the passion I've made everything with - except maybe my first film, which was probably made with more passion than I'll ever have again." Even if now, he disowns this little gem, barely talks about it, this statement, made when he already had given us classics like "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction", is a proof that even this almost unseen short film has a special place in Quentin's heart, something he'll never forget. And it was his first real experience behind a camera dealing and learning with all the pros and cons about what making a film really is.

I enjoyed it and recommend. It's hilarious, funny, entertaining, very simple and with incredible moments. We can only look back and see how Tarantino got better and better with the time. 10/10

It is Mickey's birthday, and his girlfriend has just left him, so his friend Clarence has a surprise for him.

'My Best Friend's Birthday' is an unknown Tarantino movie for the mainstream audience. There is a legend circling that most of the footage got destroyed by the lab fire. The cinematographer Roger Avery, on the other hand, has said, that the filming was never completed, and the surviving 36 minutes are all the 36 minutes the young filmmakers managed to complete before running out of steam. I guess the legends around this movie will never stop.

What can I say about this incomplete movie? The first thing, perhaps, would be about the obvious talent of Quentin Tarantino (and some other people from the crew) that is obvious. Although the film seems like random scenes edited together, thus giving it fragmented and disjointed feel, the story is still quite clear. At least it is possible to understand where the filmmakers wanted to reach with the story. There is no point of nitpicking about continuity errors, wooden acting or lack of style, as this was Tarantino's self-made film school, and for most of the people involved it was their first film project (including the famous auteur himself). Yet, somehow, the amateurish look and low production values doesn't seem to diminish the artistic and entertainment value of the movie. Its lack of style is almost stylish and feels intentional in the way of 'no-wave' cinema experiments from that era. Even the ridiculously out of place and amateurishly choreographed fight scene between our main hero Mickey and a pimp (who looks like Jules Winfield's dad). There are some other near brilliant moments in the movie, and the dialogue is interesting in most parts (especially for those who love to hear Quentin Tarantino talk about Elvis). It is quite possible that 'My Best Friend's Birthday' is Tarantino's most personal film.

It is very hard to give this film classical numeral rating thanks to its incompleteness, but here I have to say, 'My Best Friend's Birthday' is a must-see film not only for Tarantino fans/completionists but also for the admirer's of 'no-wave' and indie movies of likes Amos Poe or Jim Jarmusch. Besides, it is always interesting to see where the acclaimed filmmakers are coming from.

Tarantino's would-be debut film fortunately was not his actual debut film. There are a few fun scenes, but telling by the thirty-five minutes from which we're able to discern, his proclaimed "Martin & Lewis homage" is a forgettable, homophobic implosion of his pop culture-consumed mind.

At least it's SOMETHING different from Tarantino in one respect, and that is that it's a comedy. There are a few laughs but not enough even for thirty-five minutes. However I do admire the fact that even though this makes no exception to Tarantino's filmography of nothing but homages to other movies, it bears no resemblance to a Martin & Lewis film at all. So he did manage to branch out further than an overt mock-up of the framework of what he intended to pay.

This is an interesting short directed and written by Quentin Tarantino. As he's stated in interviews this movie was his film school. Some of the dialog, scenes and names he would reuse in True Romance. The soundtrack is great by the way and the look is not unlike other low budget films of the 80s, think Shes Gotta Have it. The acting is weak but it's to be expected from a film like this. I gave this film a ten because I think the rating is too low, it deserves a 6. My favorite line was "Your ass is grass and I'm the Lawnmower!". Anyways it's a fun little movie and if you're a Tarantino fan, you should get some enjoyment out of it.

Well I finally saw Quentin Tarantino's "film school", which is what's left of his 70 minutes long debut, never officially released (saw it on a bootleg DVD), film My Best Friend's Birthday (35 minutes). This worth watching stuff that is just for fans of Tarantino; for me QT delivers here, not quite because of his direction, not quite because of his cast but just because of his dialog and his participation as the main character, radio disc jokey rockabilly Clarence Pool (the birthday of the title is the one of Clarence's best friend). Basically Clarence Pool is the best thing of the 35 minutes, and Tarantino doesn't deliver a truly fantastic performance but his character has pretty much the best dialog, he is fun. The 35 minutes are very fragmented: we have first Clarence at work, we have stuff at the K-BILLY radio station and we have three other characters (two K-BILLY workers and the guest of Clarence's show). It's both very funny and not quite funny, for instance is hilarious when Clarence recalls certain reaction that he had when he was a 3 year old kid but is not quite all the stuff with the other two dudes, except when one gives cocaine to Clarence (and Clarence sniffs, not hesitating because of his guest)…it's poorly made but nevertheless fun! The other fragments mainly involves Clarence's best friend Mickey (played by Craig Hamann, who also wrote the film together with QT), the girl that supposedly will give Mickey a truly great birthday and that began doing her current job thanks to Nancy Allen in Brian De Palma's 1980 film Dressed to Kill (Misty is her name, played by Crystal Shaw) and Clarence's girl. Aside of a sort of funny fight with Misty's black pimp the scenes with Mickey are uninteresting just as the scenes involving Clarence's girl, even the very last fragment with Clarence and Misty is mostly not good (yet there are some cool lines and for QT fans may be interesting hearing from Clarence that he "has a food fetish"), well basically after the first fragment at the radio station the stuff I really liked comes from Tarantino's character: a really nice talk with a clerk about Elvis, Marlon Brando, Chaplin's swan song, The Beatles, Colonel Parker and stuff ("you see the same cake?", that was hilarious!). My Best Friend's Birthday is not a Tarantino thing that I would like to see a lot, basically once is good enough, funny bits, some memorable lines, let's re-watch True Romance

My Best Friend's Birthday (1987)

This amateur film was co-written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and has become somewhat of a cult favorite over the years. Fans of Tarantino are willing to check out anything he has done so this leads them to his first feature, which originally ran 70 minutes but due to a fire there are only fragments that remain.

The total running time is just over 35 minutes so half of the movie is lost but there's still enough interesting material to make it worth sitting through. The story is pretty simple as Tarantino plays a DJ whose best friend has just been dumped and the two try to have some fun. This leads to the Tarantino character getting involved with a hooker.

With half the film missing it's impossible to fairly judge this movie but I must say that as a Tarantino fan I enjoyed it. On a technical level there's certainly nothing special about the film as the director obviously hadn't gotten that great eye of his. However, the dialogue and how people talk to one another is on full power here and there are some very funny sequences. One such example is when they are discussing great actors in bad movies and also a scene dealing with good music.

Tarantino is actually a lot of fun in his part and he certainly knows how to handle his dialogue. What's most interesting here is the subplot dealing with the hooker as a lot of their relationship would be used in TRUE ROMANCE so fans of that film will certainly want to check this out.

A really funny and inspiring early short for aspiring filmmakers! It may be a bit scrappily edited but that's part of the charm and also this was done for next to no budget at all so that's pretty impressive considering! The plot follows Mickey (Craig Hamann) whose girlfriend has just left him on the eve of his birthday. His best friend Clarence (Tarantino) wants to put him on the best birthday ever and meets an important person along the way. For any Quentin fans, this is a must see as it contains all the incredible dialogue and cool vibes you'd expect. There are the beginning sparks of characters from his future works including K Billy from Reservoir Dogs and Clarence from True Romance. The characters arcs and Elvis conversations also strikingly resemble moments in True Romance and it's really cool to see these ideas origins. His first official directorial work was before this one, a 1983 short entitled Love Birds in Bondage which has been lost due to it being burned in a film lab somewhere, but allegedly featured a Quentin sex scene which would have been something to behold! Best Friend's Birthday made me chuckle lots and you can find it on YouTube quite easily

The opening scene is in my opinion one of QT's most (if not his and only matchless immortal most) iconic genius works of dialog. With a hypersensitive observer of pop ism like QT their works can grossly radically rewire the worldly adult computer mind. It can quite literally turn us into adult children. Either my mind is playing tricks on me from my godlike manic state from QT's genius or QT's writing can be comparable with JD Salinger or even Shakespeare.

The opening scene is in my opinion one of QT's most (if not his and only matchless immortal most) iconic genius works of dialog. With a hypersensitive observer of pop ism like QT their works can grossly radically rewire the worldly adult computer mind. It can quite literally turn us into adult children. Either my mind is playing tricks on me from my godlike manic state from QT's genius or QT's writing can be comparable with JD Salinger or even Shakespeare.

I came upon this film like probably every other person who has. Your a huge tarentino fan and need to see everything he has written or directed. It's unfair to rate this due to half is missing, this was literally the first thing the guy ever worked on. Also it was made on a budget of 5 grand and Allen garfeilds generosity of appearing in it.

Now their are some people who are lieing to themselves, saying this was his best work. The script was rewritten and turned into true romance. But if your a fan of QT like me then it really is a must watch. This is the only film you see him as an amateur. Worth checking out and inspired him to be better and he created a master peice in resevoir dogs as a result.