Quentin Tarantino his next effort, Tarantino paid homage to the blaxploitation films of the 1970s with "Jackie Brown" (1997), an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel "Rum Punch". "Kill Bill", a highly stylized "revenge flick" in the cinematic traditions of Kung fu films, Japanese martial arts, Spaghetti Westerns and Italian horror, followed six years later, and was released as two films: "" in 2003 and "" in 2004. Tarantino next directed "Death Proof" in 2007, as part of a double feature with friend Robert Rodriguez, under the collective title "Grindhouse". His long-postponed "Inglourious Basterds", which tells the fictional alternate history story of two
Quentin Tarantino earliest works, a screenplay called "Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit", based on Hal Needham's 1977 film "Smokey and the Bandit" starring Burt Reynolds. The summer after his 15th birthday, Tarantino was grounded by his mother for shoplifting Elmore Leonard's novel "The Switch" from Kmart. He was allowed to leave only to attend the Torrance Community Theater, where he participated in such plays as "Two Plus Two Makes Sex" and "Romeo and Juliet". At about 15, Tarantino dropped out of Narbonne High School in Harbor City, Los Angeles. He then worked as an usher at a porn theater in Torrance,