“Say ‘Auf Wiedersehen’ To Your Nazi Balls”
Quentin Tarantino is a director whose obsessions tend to transcend the boundaries of individual films. While perhaps not as immediately noticeable as, say, Aaron Sorkin’s, Tarantino certainly has his recurring tics. Conversations about Madonna. Characters named “Toothpick Vic.” Everyone constantly smoking. Samuel L. Jackson being awesome. QT gets a lot of grief over his foot fetish, and if you watch Pulp Fiction†, Jackie Brown††, and Kill Bill††† back to back, it would be hard to come away thinking it isn’t well deserved.
But of all Tarantino’s recurring motifs (at least, the specific ones), there’s one in particular that might be his most pervasive. That’s right, I’m talking about characters getting shot (or stabbed, or kicked, but mostly shot) in the dick and/or balls. In my review of The Hateful Eight, I used “shot in the dick” as both metaphor for the type of graphic shock Tarantino likes to use, and as a literal description of a specific scene. I won’t spoil that one with details since it’s still in theaters, other than to say that someone’s penis definitely gets merc’d. An emailer (hi, John!) reminded me of a few other Tarantino #GroinTrauma scenes, and in going back through Tarantino’s movies myself, I rediscovered even more. It turns out, there’s scarcely a Tarantino film in existence that doesn’t include some form of implied or overt #GroinTrauma (#crotchviolence?).
I thought we could go through them, movie by movie, starting with his most recent.
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Yes. See above. Details omitted out of respect to those who haven’t seen it yet.
Django Unchained (2012)
Django has arguably the most #GroinTrauma of any Tarantino film, and certainly the most graphic. Aside from an entire subplot of Samuel L. Jackson’s character trying to castrate Django (a fairly transparent comment on the slave master’s fear of black sexuality, in this case internalized by the loyal house slave, if you want to get all grad school about it), there’s also the scene where Django bursts into the bad guys’ hideout. One guy stands up from a bath, and Django shoots him directly in the dick, which explodes like a ripe tomato against a concrete wall.
This must’ve required at least two meetings of the stunt and visual effects crew in order to work out the logistics. It definitely involves a squib, but what kind of faux viscera do you pack in there to properly replicate exploding dick meat? How specific were Tarantino’s dick-meat demands, visually speaking? I have so many questions. Why there wasn’t a featurette about this I’ll never know.
Groin Trauma Prevalence: Four (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Groin Trauma Graphicness: Five (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
While not as graphic as Django, Inglourious nonetheless rates highly on the #GroinTrauma prevalence scale. It completes the full trifecta, with 1) potential #GroinTrauma (a stand-off that includes a gun pressed against a penis and/or testicles, a Tarantino favorite), 2) kinetic/actual #GroinTrauma (when said stand-off ends in a shot-up penis and/or testicles), and 3) meta-fictional #GroinTrauma. This last one when the propaganda film within Inglourious Basterds (Stolz Der Nation, or Nation’s Pride) also includes a groin shot.
And of course, the scene that gives this article its name, “Say auf wiedersehen to your Nazi balls.”
Groin Trauma Prevalence: Six (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Groin Trauma Graphicness: Four (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Death Proof (2007)
I didn’t get to rewatch Death Proof, and as far as I know, it does not contain any scenes of #GroinTrauma. It’s also easily Tarantino’s worst film. Coincidence? We used to have a theory that nut shots in a movie trailer were the kiss of death. There may be a reverse version of that for Tarantino. No #GroinTrauma in a Tarantino movie = bad Tarantino movie.
Groin Trauma Prevalence: N/A
Groin Trauma Graphicness: N/A
Sin City (2005)
Technically, Tarantino only directed one scene in this Robert Rodriguez/Frank Miller movie, but that one scene nonetheless includes a gun pointed at roughly groin level, and the rest of the movie is so #GroinTrauma heavy that my friends and I joked at the time that the subtitle should’ve been “Sin City Hates Your Crotch.”
Groin Trauma Prevalence: Five (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Groin Trauma Graphicness: Four (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Kill Bill (2003-2004)
I’ll be honest, Kill Bill has a shocking dearth of #GroinTrauma for a movie that includes a rape revenge sequence. 2003 – 2007 may eventually be considered Tarantino’s blue period. The Bush years kind of sucked all around. Still, that’s not to say there was no #GroinTrauma. This is a Tarantino movie, after all.
Groin Trauma Prevalence: One (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Groin Trauma Graphicness: Two (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Jackie Brown (1997)
Jackie Brown was one where I couldn’t remember the #GroinTrauma scene, so I ended up rewatching the whole movie. Which I recommend. (I miss you, Bridget Fonda.) It’s also possibly Robert De Niro’s most underrated great performance. Anyway, I needn’t have rewatched, considering a simple Google search reveals a clip called “A Gun Pressed Up Against My Dick.” True, it’s only potential #GroinTrauma, but it still counts.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“What do you think it is?”
“I think it’s a gun pressed up against my dick.”
“Well you thought right. Now take your hands from around my throat, n*gga.”
Groin Trauma Prevalence: One (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Groin Trauma Graphicness: Zero (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Who could forget Zed taking a shotgun to the crotch from Marcellus Wallace? It’s probably the single most iconic incident of #GroinTrauma in the entire Tarantino universe. Somewhat interesting to note, the vast majority of Tarantino’s #GroinTrauma is male on male.
Groin Trauma Prevalence: Two (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Groin Trauma Graphicness: Two (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
I’ll admit, this one is a stretch. Oddly, I remembered someone in Reservoir Dogs getting shot in the groin, as did multiple people I talked to about this piece, but in rewatching it, it never actually happens. The closest it comes is when Mr. Orange gets shot trying to jack a car. Technically the shot hits him in the lower abdomen, but it sure looks a lot like a groin shot. This was Tarantino’s first movie as a director, is it possible he wanted to include a crotch getting shot, but didn’t yet have the confidence to trust his impulses? Discuss.
Groin Trauma Prevalence, Graphicness: Half a ruptured teste.
True Romance (1993)
Tarantino didn’t direct True Romance, he only wrote it, but as I’ve written before, almost everything Tarantino would come to represent exists in sort of pre-natal form in True Romance. (He also wrote the script for True Romance before Reservoir Dogs, despite it being released later a la Abbey Road/Let It Be, which is why it’s last on the list). Naturally, one of its most iconic scenes features #GroinTrauma prominently.
If you’ll remember, Clarence shows up to Drexl Spivey’s joint to pick up Alabama’s stuff. He quickly finds out that it isn’t White Boy Day, but manages to get the drop on Drexl anyway (maybe it is White Boy Day?), leading to a point-blank groin shot. Which is a quasi-rape revenge scenario, considering Drexl was Alabama’s pimp.
Groin Trauma Prevalence: One (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
Groin Trauma Graphicness: Three (out of a possible five) ruptured testes.
All told, out of 10 movies, there are, at most, two that don’t included either explicit genital trauma or guns pressed up against penises. I think that’s more than enough to qualify as an obsession.
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Vince Mancini is a writer and comedian living in San Francisco. A graduate of Columbia’s non-fiction MFA program, his work has appeared on FilmDrunk, the UPROXX network, the Portland Mercury, the East Bay Express, and all over his mom’s refrigerator. Fan FilmDrunk on Facebook, find the latest movie reviews here.
†Uma Thurman dancing barefoot. An entire sequence about foot massages. The walls of Lance’s apartment are even decorated with platform shoes. Incidentally, Eric Stoltz’s performance is a vastly underrated aspect of Pulp Fiction.
†† Bridget Fonda wiggling her ring-embellished toes next to Robert De Niro’s drink as a flirtation strategy. She has multiple toe rings! I assume toe rings are like thong underwear or crotchless panties to foot fetishists. Of course, I also think foot fetish people are disgusting and should be sent to special camps, so take that with a grain of salt.
††† Countless loving shots of Uma Thurman’s feet. Thurman was definitely his muse. The Mia/Vincent romance in Pulp Fiction is still the sweetest, and probably the best, scene Tarantino ever wrote.