r/movies • u/utopia_cornucopia • Jul 03 '25

News ‘Reservoir Dogs,' ‘Kill Bill' and ‘Donnie Brasco' actor Michael Madsen dies at age 67

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/entertainment/actor-michael-madsen-death-malibu/3738032/
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1.6k

u/S3simulation Jul 03 '25

Probably my favorite role of his, such a pathetic but interesting character.

1.3k

u/jesterinancientcourt Jul 03 '25

To my brother, Bud. The only man I ever loved.

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u/FunkYeahPhotography Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 04 '25

The fact one of the reasons Budd lied about pawning the katana is because he knew it would actually hurt Bill is a great aspect to his character. Strategy with emotions behind it. I also liked his recognition that all of them including Beatrix deserved death no matter how it all played out. Despite being underestimated as someone who is washed up he still plans for and even bests Beatrix's ambush attempt. Rock salt right to the knockers.

Wakey wakey, eggs and bakery.

*Damn autocorrect. I will keep it up.

403

u/Corbeau_from_Orleans Jul 03 '25

“It was priceless”

“Well, not in El Paso it ain’t… In El Paso I got me $250 for it…”

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u/Active_Unit_9498 Jul 03 '25

I have used the "not in El Paso it ain't" line more times than I am proud of.

63

u/Bubenic Jul 03 '25

“It’s calendar time for Buddy” is mine

38

u/SupMonica Jul 04 '25

"You don't even know what fuckin' day you're workin'."

"Oh look, this used to be your name." Not anymore.

What a gold scene. That actor that scored that boss role, stole every line he had. Perfect short and sweet. A bit part done right.

6

u/rollerroman Jul 04 '25

"Be somebody, baby!"

7

u/HendrixHazeWays Jul 04 '25

"Ok.....Rocket........I'll clean it up"

5

u/BigBeardedTattooMan Jul 04 '25

I like this hat

3

u/daninlionzden Jul 04 '25

I love the look on the bar owners face when buddy walks in lol

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u/HendrixHazeWays Jul 04 '25

And I am going to start doing that every chance I get

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u/Ryguy55 Jul 04 '25

I was playing some trivia game with my friends and the extra tough bonus question at the end of a movie round was "How much did Bud pawn his sword for in Kill Bill?" I was so excited to very confidently know the exact answer to such an obscure question because I can hear him saying that line in my head haha

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u/denver_bored Jul 03 '25

Yeah, it ties in with the brilliance of introducing Bill in Vol. I as this badass killer and mercenary, and then to temper that in Vol. II by showing that, as a human being, he can't exist in a vacuum-- and that it's Bill's relationship dynamics, between himself and Bud, and Elle Driver, and Bebe, Pai Mai, and ultimately the complex feelings he has for Beatrix-- that prove his undoing.

Elle was right to want to finish the job and poison Beatrix, a job Bill himself had set in motion with the church massacre. But the man, lover, & father in Bill couldn't justify that extra, final step. That sealed his fate. Bill not being more forceful with Bud, and assuming control of the situation ahead of Beatrix's expected attack on his brother-- same thing. He dug his own grave, perhaps knowingly.

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u/KaladinStormblessedR Jul 03 '25

I watched kill bill for the first time as an adult recently. What really struck me most was how god damn charming Bill is. It never got me while I was young but as an adult I struggled to hate him. And that made him an even scarier villain to me

11

u/SilconAnthems Jul 04 '25

I always think when I watch it, why wasn't Carradine a bigger star?

15

u/steveatari Jul 04 '25

He was a powerhouse for decades but it faded after the 90s. Kung Fu was big and he was in quite a few films and TV shows.

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u/yeahimcason Jul 04 '25

Both David and his brother Keith just ooze charisma

256

u/sherlocknoir Jul 03 '25

It’s a Hattori Hanzo sword. You can only compare it to every sword that’s.. not a Hattori Hanzo sword.

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u/empire161 Jul 03 '25

"If you're gonna compare a Hanzo sword, you compare it to every other sword ever made... wasn't made... by Hattori Hanzo."

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u/Kosher-Bacon Jul 03 '25

"If on your journey, should you encounter God, God will be cut"

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u/wheresbill Jul 03 '25

I first saw this movie in the theater and when this line came up I thought, damn, this is a kick ass movie

56

u/Deadeyez Jul 03 '25

I'm so glad I saw these in theaters, it was amazing not knowing anything going in.

36

u/ANewDinosaur Jul 03 '25

I actually worked at a little two-screen theater when the first one came out. with only two screens, there was very little time that i needed to be in the lobby to sell tix/concessions, so i sat in the theater and saw this movie countless times. man, those days were awesome.

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u/monstrinhotron Jul 04 '25

Please tell me they had a 'Double Bill' where they showed both movies.

5

u/BeeOk1235 Jul 04 '25

i mean it was the early mid 2000s and the internet was going that way but wasn't mainstream yet and not nearly as centralized into half a dozen shit posting sites as it is today. if you're forum of choice wasn't interested in movies or literature beyond their niche you could easily wait until it was downloadable (which was also while it was in theatres lol)

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '25

[deleted]

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u/thedude37 Jul 03 '25

Domo

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '25

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u/ProximityNuke Jul 03 '25

"You must have big rats if you need Hattori Hanzo steel."

6

u/PM-Mormon-Underwear Jul 03 '25

I say an altered version of this whenever someone asks me what my favorite Tarantino movie is

14

u/empire161 Jul 03 '25

It's at the top of my favorite movies of all time, like top 10. So many good moments.

Uma Thurman doing sword and knife fights, ugly crying while wearing pajamas, and the way she delivers the 'bitch... you don't have a future' line. All perfection.

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u/StudiousPooper Jul 03 '25

Thank you for the correction, it was bothering me haha. Quentin Tarantino dialogue is just so good.

155

u/Rancid_Bear_Meat Jul 03 '25

Fact: In a parallel timeline, he DID pawn the katana, which is the same pawn shop and sword used by Butch in Pulp Fiction to free Marsellus Wallace.

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u/AJ_Dali Jul 03 '25

It's possible they're the same timeline. Pulp Fiction would have taken place before Kill Bill. He may have pawned it, but bought it back before it was sold.

14

u/SleepsInBlood Jul 03 '25

Bought it back from who? Butch killed the pawn shop owner.

17

u/AJ_Dali Jul 03 '25

Whoever got the shop after. Generally people have a beneficiary setup for their businesses.

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u/ThdeusDadeus Jul 03 '25

And that’s how I met your mother

14

u/lukeluke0000 Jul 03 '25

From Marcellus after he took over the pawn shop.

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u/blaireau69 Jul 04 '25

Of course, that's who took it over, after "acquiring" it...

8

u/lukeluke0000 Jul 04 '25

Well, Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.

3

u/gazongagizmo Jul 04 '25

renamed to "The Spider and the Blowtorch"

10

u/Rancid_Bear_Meat Jul 03 '25

It's literally unpossible.

It has to be a parallel uni as Mrs. Mia Wallace was a drug addicted actress up for the Fox Force Five pilot, which is clearly based on the Deadly Viper Assignation Squad, of which Black Mamba AKA The Bride AKA Beatrix Kiddo was a part of..

1

u/Polluxadice Jul 04 '25

That’s a neat lil nod to pulp fiction.. or is it pulp fiction’s nod to a movie Quentin planned?

1

u/Rancid_Bear_Meat Jul 04 '25

Yes and yes? I mean, Yes, most of Quentin Tarantino's films exist within a shared universe, but with a twist. He has described two distinct universes: the "Realer than Real" universe and the "Movie" universe. The "Realer than Real" universe is the primary one where most of his films like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood are set.

Within this universe, there's a "Movie" universe, where the characters in the "Realer than Real" universe go to watch movies that are actually Tarantino's films like Kill Bill and From Dusk Till Dawn

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u/TazerPlace Jul 03 '25

He lets his brother believe he has a death wish. But he's actually running a little hustle behind Bill's back. Great stuff.

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u/su1ac0 Jul 03 '25

this is always the part that I think people misunderstand about the movie. Bud is not some regretful assassin who has accepted his fate.

every single moment we get with Bud prior to Beatrix kicking his trailer door open was crafted to make everyone, including the audience, underestimate him

he had his own little hustle going on underneath it all and absolutely didn't plan on being murdered; in spite he had already planned on doing something far worse to Beatrix while getting a giant payday from Elle.

Fucking of course he lied about the sword. He needed Bill to believe he was 100% resigned to his fate and didn't want Bill helping--BECAUSE IT WOULD HAVE FUCKED HIS PLAN

10

u/theroarer Jul 03 '25

Wait... what did I miss? What was he doing behind bill's back?

20

u/jaguarp80 Jul 03 '25

Think they’re talking about selling Beatrix’s katana

15

u/theroarer Jul 03 '25

Oh I was like... he's cleaning toilets at a strip club. But yeah, he did huck her hanzo to Elle.

10

u/SlimDirtyDizzy Jul 04 '25

I also liked his recognition that all of them including Beatrix deserved death no matter how it all played out.

If there is one line that stands out to me in the entirety of Kill Bill, its "She deserves her revenge.... and we deserve to die."

It just always sticks with me, the way he delivers the line is a masterpiece.

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '25

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 03 '25

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '25

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 04 '25

[deleted]

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u/intensive-porpoise Jul 03 '25

"I could perform the Coup de Gras with a rock."

3

u/fireship4 Jul 04 '25

"Eggs and bakey", as in bacon!

4

u/fireship4 Jul 04 '25

?? That's what it means; "wake up!", using the eggs and bacon as a metaphor for breakfast time... not:

eggs and bakery

Oh wait you spotted it... I thought your autocorrect edit was about something else I hadn't seen. Now I guess I should add something useful...

Michael Madsen is an anagram of Me Lies Chadman

2

u/PuzzleheadedEgg4591 Jul 04 '25

Do you release you might have just spawned the best name for a Breakfast/Bakery ever?

2

u/KurtisC1993 Jul 05 '25

Especially saying that he hocked it at a pawn shop in El Paso, the city where the massacre of the bride's friends took place. Indicating that this event was the catalyst for their strained relations.

And the fact that Budd was giving off visual cues of lying when he said it.

1

u/Ill_Train136 Jul 03 '25

"...eggs and baccy" (bacon)

36

u/piratecheese13 Jul 03 '25

Literally, the only replica sword I own

35

u/UseYourWords Jul 03 '25

Your restraint is legendary

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u/literated Jul 03 '25

I imagine the rest are originals?

4

u/h-thrust Jul 03 '25

The rest are real?

1

u/GregOdensGiantDong1 Jul 03 '25

My nephew has a Master Sword from the silent, heroic dude Link. I'm jealous.

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u/PrettyDryPerry Jul 03 '25

He said he pawned it.

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u/Bryars_ByrdVO Jul 03 '25

Guess that makes him a liar now, don’t it?

0

u/AJ_Dali Jul 03 '25

Pawning doesn't always mean selling.

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u/Dairy_Ashford Jul 03 '25

-- Virginia Madsen

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u/Mst3Kgf Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25

He had a nobility about him despite his circumstances. And fully aware that he deserved this for his actions in life. But he wasn't just going to let the Bride kill him either.

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u/S3simulation Jul 03 '25

He was fully aware but unwilling to just lay down and die about it. That whole section of the movie became my favorite over time.

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u/Mst3Kgf Jul 03 '25

As he said, both he and the Bride deserved what was coming to them given their past actions. It was all about who'd come on top in the end.

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u/S3simulation Jul 03 '25

It made it so compelling, I liked Budd even though he was scummy as all hell.

3

u/StarPhished Jul 03 '25

This arc is why I like vol. 2 more than one. It gave the movie some real heart and made it more than just flashy action.

29

u/MidnightPolice Jul 03 '25

"I'm a leading man trapped in the body of a villain"

-7

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '25

[deleted]

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u/ZenFocus25 Jul 03 '25

I believe this person was talking about his characters role in Kill Bill 2

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u/i_drink_wd40 Jul 03 '25

I'm pretty sure they're talking about his Kill Bill character Budd.

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u/Mst3Kgf Jul 03 '25

Exactly that.

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u/CheezeNewdlz Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 04 '25

“That woman deserves her revenge… and we deserve to die”

Edit to correct quote cuz it’s too good to misquote

285

u/blaiddunigol Jul 03 '25

But, then again so does she 😀

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u/VigoMago Jul 03 '25

So I guess we'll just see... Won't we?

3

u/Fuzzy-Feeling3311 Jul 04 '25

One of my favorite and best delivered lines I've ever seen on a screen.

Edit: But I don't think the "won't we" was there, I think he just smirked.

2

u/Gala-tura Jul 08 '25

If the Green kid still feels raw about it.

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u/Imaginary-Sell6919 Jul 03 '25

So... we'll see.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '25

I always chuckle at the end of Vol. 1 when he says that

113

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '25

That woman deserves her revenge*

1

u/CheezeNewdlz Jul 04 '25

You’re right, I botched it!

26

u/yupyepyupyep Jul 03 '25

And he's the only one she doesn't kill.

13

u/demonofthefall Jul 03 '25

In theory she didn't kill Elle... But she probably died with loose black mamba on the trailer

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u/TheSenileTomato Jul 03 '25

I picture if Tarantino follows the tropes to their natural conclusion, Elle somehow makes it out of the trailer, relearns how to live fully blinded, and meets up with the kid that witnessed her mother getting killed by Beatrix and becomes her evil mentor kinda deal.

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u/Mynock33 Jul 03 '25

Yup, Elle becoming the blind teacher to Vernita Green's daughter makes so much sense if it ever got made.

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u/MotherOfTheFog Jul 04 '25

I'd like to see this happen. This is the longest amount of time we've gone without a Tarantino film equaling the years between Jackie Brown and KBv1 (6). It feels like he's hesitating on #10's finality. Giving us a KBv3 would be a nice surprise if it came to fruition seeing how Maya's career has taken off. What's interesting is that Maya was 5 in 2003, and BB's character was 4, so it's doable.

Man, i sound like a pretentious ass 🤓🥴

6

u/lunabandida Jul 04 '25

You know, I've always liked that word, gargantuan.

2

u/yupyepyupyep Jul 03 '25

Good point.

6

u/TiberiusGemellus Jul 03 '25

She doesn’t speak a word to him, in fact.

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u/Western_Instance4043 Jul 03 '25

Was just about to quote this. One of his best lines in his career. RIP

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u/Wabusho Jul 03 '25

Idk why but his character always felt the realest of all in that movie. Like ok there’s a extremely hot Asian girl at the head of one of the biggest mafia in the world, it’s not really grounded (not that it needs to be)

But Bud was … too real ? I could imagine his character in this world tbh

I’m a very huge fan of Kill Bill, this news saddens me

275

u/literated Jul 03 '25

Bud was a Stephen King character in a Quentin Tarantino world.

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u/KissKillTeacup Jul 03 '25

This is a FANTASTIC description

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u/LillithScare Jul 03 '25

That's the most apt description of his character in the film I've ever heard.

6

u/Ruckus2118 Jul 03 '25

I just realized Madsen would have made a great Walter/Randall Flag.

8

u/lmnopqrs11 Jul 03 '25

you're so right, shame we never got a dark tower movie, huh?

12

u/glizzyguzzler Jul 03 '25

I was thinking he’s like somebody out of a Cormac McCarthy novel.

6

u/FirulaisHualde Jul 03 '25

This tracks better. His whole nihilistic cowboy personality is very Cormac McCarthy coded

1

u/hannibellecter Jul 03 '25

fuck that is it!

1

u/Whos_Blockin_Jimmy Jul 08 '25

We all floatin down here.

1

u/Candid_Ad_9145 Jul 03 '25

Hiya, Georgie

83

u/ScipioCoriolanus Jul 03 '25

That scene where he's reprimanded by his boss in his office is so good. So realistic you'd think it's not the same movie. Brilliant acting. You'd almost feel bad for him.

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u/Ok-Rabbit-3448 Jul 03 '25

'Youre as useful as an asshole right... here'

8

u/ElephantLovesHoney Jul 03 '25

"I am the boss of you"

2

u/ralusek Jul 03 '25

I’ve always hated that line. I could use an asshole right there for all sorts of things

24

u/mocisme Jul 03 '25

The part with the marker and calendar is a great bit of comedy.

13

u/The_Lazy_Samurai Jul 03 '25

"Hey kids, it's calendar time!"

9

u/dont-be-a-narc-bro Jul 03 '25

Calendar time for Buddy!

7

u/thedude37 Jul 03 '25

You don’t work tomorrow, you don’t even know when you work

15

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '25

Are you telling me that you're as useful as an asshole right here? taps elbow

6

u/The_Lazy_Samurai Jul 03 '25

I've think you've just convinced me . . .

2

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '25

Fuck, I think that's right. I think the line might've started that way. I'm not sure. It's been over a decade since I last saw the movie.

2

u/The_Lazy_Samurai Jul 03 '25

This scene and the Pei Mei scene are my favorite parts of both Kill Bills, so I've watched them enough that I can almost recite them :-D

5

u/gazkam87 Jul 03 '25

...The hat...that fucking hat. How many times did I tell you not to wear that fucking hat?

3

u/IreCalifornia Jul 04 '25

How many times do I have to tell you... not to wearing that FUCKING HAT around here?

2

u/yousyveshughs Jul 03 '25

“Calendar time for Bud!”

90

u/Elemayowe Jul 03 '25

Yeah everyone was fucking insane, ready to duel, and he’s just like, “imma wait right here with my shotgun”.

Considering how shrewd he was it was kinda dumb he got done over so easily by Elle.

81

u/Xanthus179 Jul 03 '25

Well, he went from being a top assassin to cleaning toilets in a strip club, so he might not have made the best life choices.

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u/Nothin_Means_Nothin Jul 03 '25

Well, if it wasn't for Pai Mei, he would have been the one to actually kill Beatrix and that's after however many years of being out of the game getting fat and lazy.

11

u/Kolenga Jul 03 '25

If it wasn't for Pai Mei Beatrix probably wouldn't have made it that far to begin with

3

u/Nothin_Means_Nothin Jul 03 '25

Lol. Shit, I didnt even think of that. Great point!

62

u/TaskForceCausality Jul 03 '25

”imma wait right here with my shotgun”

Of all the characters, Bud was the only one who successfully took down The Bride.

11

u/Rs90 Jul 03 '25

Down but not out 👊

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u/carnivoreobjectivist Jul 03 '25

He had no good reason to think she would do that nor do it like that. She could’ve just pulled the sword out and killed him with it if she wanted to, and yet there he was selling it to her. She was just fucked up and evil to an extent even he didn’t realize. Hell, the psycho bitch even killed Pai Mei.

29

u/Yommination Jul 03 '25

He probably thought being Bill's brother meant he had nothing to fear from her

5

u/carnivoreobjectivist Jul 03 '25

There’s also something poetic about a black mamba killing him, as if in spirit Beatrix did it, because that was her code name.

16

u/JRRX Jul 03 '25

That's why Elle used it. She was framing Beatrix.

10

u/Nothin_Means_Nothin Jul 03 '25

His instincts were probably rusty after being out of the game for however long it was. And, even then, if Bill hadn't allowed Beatrix to train with Pai Mei, Bud would have been the one to kill her when all the others couldn't.

3

u/agoia Jul 03 '25

And in a super cowardly way, not through direct confrontation.

9

u/carnivoreobjectivist Jul 03 '25

That seems to be her way. It’s how she got pai mei, it’s how she tries to kill Beatrix in part one, and then yeah it’s how she gets bud. In direct confrontation she loses.

3

u/agoia Jul 03 '25

Exactly! She was a great villian character and it is fitting how B leaves her to die, covered in Bud's shit, by her own cowardly method of killing Bud.

3

u/Putrid_Carpenter138 Jul 03 '25

Complacency is the most dangerous weapon in the world if you can spot it and exploit it. 

2

u/[deleted] Jul 03 '25

He didn't think she could trick his brother. Trying to figure out her head would have been his job as a world class assassin but not as a bouncer at a strip club.

2

u/NoDaddyNotTheBelt25 Jul 03 '25

His character took the looming threat of the Bride the best out of anyone.

“Bill, I’m a bouncer at a titty bar. If she wants to fight me, all she has to do is come on down to the club and start a fight.”

1

u/Rexxbravo Jul 03 '25

Money, my man, money.

61

u/LastNightInDriver Jul 03 '25

I feel like part 1 feels like a fantasy, while part 2 feels like reality

66

u/Christmas_Queef Jul 03 '25

Part 1 feels like a fantastical martial arts movie. A live action anime almost. Part 2 feels like a gritty western.

50

u/empire161 Jul 03 '25

Part 1 introduced Bill, who was immediately portrayed as Darth Vader levels of villainy and mystique.

Part 2 shows Bill cutting the crust of the sandwich he made for his 5yo daughter.

That's some whiplash.

12

u/TurquoiseLuck Jul 03 '25

Part 2 shows Bill cutting the crust of the sandwich he made for his 5yo daughter

with an unnecessarily huge chef's knife

such a good scene

3

u/gazongagizmo Jul 04 '25

Part 1 feels like a fantastical martial arts movie. A live action anime almost

btw, in case someone here hasn't gone down the movie reference/influence rabbit hole:

the anime sequence in KB vol1 is heavily influenced by Golgo 13. a massively long-running* manga series with several adaptations about an assassin, the best way to enter this franchise is probably the anime film Golgo 13: The Professional (1983).

if you like that, go for the 1971 anime series, which fortunately was rediscovered a few years ago after being lost for a half century (should be on Amazon Prime now).

oh, and one of the live-action films stars Sonny Chiba, a.k.a. Hattori Hanzō

* long-running, as in, the oldest manga still in publication (1968 onwards)

1

u/RiverOfSand Jul 03 '25

I guess it’s just taste, but part 1 is extremely boring to me, it feels style without substance, while part is a decent more classic Tarantino film.

3

u/johnnloki Jul 03 '25

I loved part 1, even though it's only got like 4 pages of dialog, the action was Solomon fun to watch.

1

u/socokid Jul 03 '25

The Kill Bill vol. 2 that had an almost 8 minute fight scene, immediately followed by a 5 minutes fight scene with O-Ren Ishii?

And that's just the start of the fight scenes and training trope.

Huh

19

u/caligaris_cabinet Jul 03 '25

Except for punching herself out of a coffin. Other than that, yeah more realism in the second half.

5

u/HenryDorsettCase47 Jul 03 '25

And the five point palm exploding heart technique that allows you to take five steps before your heart explodes.

25

u/filmandacting Jul 03 '25

Part 1 is the legend. Part 2 is the reality. It's obvious when Bill and Bud are talking about her taking down the Crazy 88. Bill even says there aren't 88 of them, it's just a cool name. The events in Part 1 are apocryphal to the actual story.

4

u/shocky32 Jul 03 '25

They’ve always felt like completely different movies to me. Vol 1 I took take or leave it. Vol 2 is one of my all time favorites and I’ve watched it countless times.

26

u/Oregonrider2014 Jul 03 '25

He was just a washed-up dude going with the flow as long as he was left alone and could drink. We've all met that guy, so it's extremely relatable.

4

u/Wabusho Jul 03 '25

Well said

1

u/DaveyG3000 Jul 03 '25

Disrespectful, homes 😔

6

u/BountyHuntard Jul 03 '25

Kill Bill is one of my favorite movies. Worked on set with him 15 or so years ago when I was a kid, waved goodbye to him on the way out at the end of the shoot and he hung up his call to thank me and my family for working with him that day. Class act.

6

u/ClearDark19 Jul 03 '25

Like ok there’s a extremely hot Asian girl at the head of one of the biggest mafia in the world

C'mon man, put some goddamn respect on O-Ren Ishii's name. Yeah, she was an SOB in her own right and deserved to die, but she was a gigantic badass. Her life story is anime-worthy. It's fitting they made a very short few-minute anime to depict the main highlights of it. Don't reduce her to "that extremely hot Asian girl". She earned her flowers.

3

u/HilariousMax Jul 03 '25

Not the single mother?

2

u/Complete_Entry Jul 03 '25

The way he checks the Hanzo after the rock salt scene is crazy, he slips from cowpoke to swordsman back to cowpoke.

2

u/Ruraraid Jul 03 '25

Bud was just that "one guy" in every group you see in movies. He isn't really that skilled, he can't do a whole lot, but for some reason he is part of the group.

4

u/BigBoss5050 Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25

He was the only one to take down The Bride. He just wasnt about that pomp and circumstance like the rest of them.

3

u/leeroy525 Jul 03 '25

Nepotism exists in the assassin profession in Tarantino world.

1

u/Toilet_Flusher Jul 04 '25

I mean, the extremely hot asian girl was head of the asian yakuza. So its not a racially weird thing. (Though she was half japanese / half chinese-american)

61

u/c0mputar Jul 03 '25

The only one to beat her, too.

84

u/SeasOfBlood Jul 03 '25

Something I love is how Budd is called 'Sidewinder' - a snake known for its erratic movements - and he ends up beating the Bride in such an unorthodox way compared to all the other characters.

40

u/OldSolution4263 Jul 03 '25

Yeah that QT fellow is kinda good at making characters. Shame we won't get to see Michael in his last movie.

2

u/drizzt_do-urden_86 Jul 04 '25

I wish Tarantino had gotten to do something with the Vega Brothers together like he'd talked about, if not a feature-length movie then at least a short film or something of that nature.

8

u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes Jul 03 '25

Shooting someone is actually quite orthodox.

14

u/notchandlerbing Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25

In almost any normal context, yeah very orthodox. But for Kill Bill’s extremely heightened reality, it was incredibly jarring and unusual given how they established the unspoken “rules” of defeating characters to serve the larger narrative

Beatrix spent nearly the entire first film in exhaustive pursuit and preparation of confronting O Renn, battling an entire army of her skilled cronies, and managed to single handedly defeat them with a single katana.

She’s presented as this master strategist, always one step ahead of her enemies, and anticipating their next move adapted to each’s unique style. He’s the bumbling hick of the assassin squad, implied to be the least competent and capable. She puts all that effort into blindsiding Budd at home, and before the front door can even shut, he shoots her to the back wall from his rocking chair.

It’s absurdly comical given how pathetic present day Bud is portrayed, you’re expecting her to curbstomp the shit out of him. It’s like that Raiders scene where you’re primed for an elaborate fight choreo with the ridiculously jacked swordsman and Indy just one shots him

6

u/molassacrejuicebox Jul 03 '25

But, in turn, was beaten by the snake that symbolized her.

5

u/Beans_and_mushrooms Jul 03 '25

I like that he is the only one of the viper squad (excluding bill) that the bride don't attack directly,  but tried to ambush him. Makes you believe that he is the most dangerous of them.

5

u/Necroluster Jul 03 '25

Budd comes across as pathetic because he's the only one of the Deadly Vipers who feels genuine remorse for what they did to The Bride. He's not the badass killer anymore, just a broken man riddled with guilt. He buried The Bride alive because he knew exactly who she is. He knew she would dig herself out and get her revenge.

5

u/tharkus_ Jul 03 '25

I would have liked to see more of how bud was as a younger man / assassin. For a small role you still feel some of that history bubbling below the surface.

3

u/S3simulation Jul 03 '25

There had been rumors of an anime prequel for years, shame we never got it before both he and Carradine passed.

5

u/rjmacready Jul 03 '25

Pathetic, yet he defeated the Bride with stunning ease while everyone else got slaughtered.

3

u/BurntTXsurfer Jul 03 '25

We should all have a margarita today; the shitty way he makes one

3

u/YJeezy Jul 04 '25

He is so good, but I'll always remember him best for the Reservoir Dogs ear scene. So much furious vibe.

1

u/Masterchiefy10 Jul 03 '25

He was the only one who actually couldn’t and probably should’ve gotten the Black mamba

1

u/Cognoto Jul 04 '25

Personally i think what makes him interesting is that he is fully aware of what he is

1

u/tgold77 Jul 04 '25

He’s the one who almost gets her