My Best Friend's Birthday

2025-03-05T02:05:06Z

2601:5CC:200:E3D0:89CC:29FD:C0C0:93E8: /* Cast */

{{Short description|1987 short film directed by Quentin Tarantino}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{more citations needed|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name = My Best Friend's Birthday
| image = Clarenceandmisty.jpg
| caption = Clarence ([[Quentin Tarantino]]) meets Misty (Crystal Shaw)
| director = [[Quentin Tarantino]]
| producer = {{ubl|Quentin Tarantino|Craig Hamann|Rand Vossler}}
| screenplay = {{ubl|Craig Hamann|Quentin Tarantino}}
| story = Craig Hamann
| starring = {{ubl|Quentin Tarantino|Craig Hamann|Crystal Shaw|[[Allen Garfield]]|Al Harrell|Brenda Hillhouse|Linda Kaye|Stevo Polyi|Alan Sanborn|Rich Turner|Rowland Wafford}}
| music =
| cinematography = {{ubl|[[Roger Avary]]|Scott Magill|Roberto A. Quezada|Rand Vossler}}
| editing = Quentin Tarantino
| distributor = Super Happy Fun
| released = {{Film date|1987}}
| runtime = 70 minutes (original version)<br>36 minutes (remaining version)
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = $5,000 (estimated)<ref name=Independent>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/quentin-tarantino-films-my-best-friends-birthday-youtube-reservoir-dogs-a7341341.html|title=Quentin Tarantino: Director's first film My Best Friend's Birthday on YouTube|website=[[The Independent]]|date=October 21, 2016|last=O'Connor|first=Roision|access-date=July 21, 2018|archive-date=November 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117144022/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/quentin-tarantino-films-my-best-friend-s-birthday-youtube-reservoir-dogs-a7341341.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
'''''My Best Friend's Birthday''''' is an [[Unfinished creative work|unfinished]] 1987 [[Amateur film|amateur]] [[comedy film]] directed, edited, co-written, co-produced by and starring [[Quentin Tarantino]].<ref name="IFH">{{cite web|url=https://www.indiefilmhustle.com/quentin-tarantino/|publisher=Indie Film Hustle|title=Quentin Tarantino's Unreleased Feature Film: My Best Friend's Birthday|first=Alex|last=Ferrari|access-date=January 18, 2021|date=October 14, 2015|archive-date=November 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116213225/https://indiefilmhustle.com/quentin-tarantino/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="RS">{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/quentin-tarantino-the-madman-of-movie-mayhem-19941103|title=Quentin Tarantino: The Madman of Movie Mayhem|last=Wild|first=David|authorlink=David Wild|access-date=January 18, 2021|date=November 3, 1994|archive-date=November 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117144045/https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/quentin-tarantino-the-madman-of-movie-mayhem-186995/|url-status=live}}</ref> The film was shot in [[black-and-white]] and was originally meant to have a runtime of seventy minutes, but only 36 minutes of the film are edited altogether, leaving the project unfinished.

== Plot ==
It’s Mickey’s birthday, and his girlfriend just left him. His friend Clarence shows up to give him a birthday he'll never forget.

==Cast==
{{cast list|
*[[Quentin Tarantino]] as Clarence Poole, a [[Radio personality|radio DJ]]
*Craig Hamann as [[The Films of Rick Dalton#Coming Home In a Body Bag|Mickey Burnett]], a radio DJ
*Crystal Shaw as Misty Knight, a [[call girl]], named after the [[Marvel Comics]] character of [[Misty Knight|the same name]].<ref name="Zed">{{cite book|last1=Barnes|first1=Alan|last2=Hearn|first2=Marcus|url=https://archive.org/details/tarantinotozedfi0000barn/page/104/mode/2up?q=Thrill+killers&view=theater|title=Tarantino A to Zed: The Films of Quentin Tarantino|publisher=B T Batsford Ltd|date=March 1, 1996|access-date=March 19, 2022|isbn=0713479906|via=[[Wayback Machine]]}}</ref>{{rp|104}}
*[[Allen Garfield]] as Bill Smith, an entertainment magnate
*Al Harrell as Clifford, a [[pimp]]
*Brenda Hillhouse as Mrs. Smith
*Linda Kaye as Pandora
*Stevo Polyi as Clancy, a radio DJ
*Alan Sanborn as Nutmeg
*Rich Turner as Brandon Turner
*Rowland Wafford as Lenny Otis
}}

==Production==
The film was made while Tarantino was working at the [[Video Archives]], now closed, in [[Manhattan Beach, California]].<ref name=RS/> The project started in 1984, when Hamann wrote a short 30- to 40-page [[screenplay|script]].

Tarantino became attached to the project as co-writer and director, and he and Hamann expanded the script to 80 pages. On an estimated budget of $5,000, the film was originally planned in a [[Super 8 film|Super 8mm format]]. However, when Tarantino was able to borrow a [[16 mm film|16mm]] camera from film director [[Fred Olen Ray]], the film was shot in 16mm over the course of the next four years.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2007/film/news/q-a-with-tarantino-when-he-was-mr-green-1117961178/|title=Q&A with Tarantino…when he was Mr. Green|first=Steve|last=Gaydos|work=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|date=March 14, 2007|access-date=April 6, 2020|archive-date=April 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413092106/https://variety.com/2007/film/news/q-a-with-tarantino-when-he-was-mr-green-1117961178/|url-status=live}}</ref> Hamann and Tarantino starred in the film, along with several video store and acting class buddies, and worked on the crew, which included fellow Video Archives employees Rand Vossler and [[Roger Avary]]. It is the most overtly comedic film that Tarantino has made. In an interview with [[Charlie Rose]] (available on the Region 1 Collector's Edition DVD of ''[[Pulp Fiction (film)|Pulp Fiction]]''), he referred to it as a "[[Martin and Lewis]] kind of thing."

It was long alleged that the original cut was about 70 minutes long, but due to a film lab fire, only 36 minutes of the film still exist.<ref name=Independent/> In 2019, a book titled ''My Best Friend's Birthday: The Making of a Quentin Tarantino Film'', written by Andrew J. Rausch, was published by BearManor Media. The book features interviews with all of the film's principal personnel, including [[Quentin Tarantino]], Craig Hamann, and [[Roger Avary]]. In the book, it is revealed the fire story was fabricated, with Tarantino choosing not to dismiss it as he thought it sounded interesting. In actuality, some rolls of film were simply discarded by mistake, and Tarantino, unsatisfied with the final product, edited together the scenes he liked, leaving the project unfinished.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rausch|first=Andrew J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OrK8DwAAQBAJ&dq=mickey+burnett+my+best+friends+birthday&pg=PT145|title=My Best Friend's Birthday: The Making of a Quentin Tarantino Film|publisher=BearManor Media|isbn=9781629334837|location=[[Albany, Georgia]]|date=November 6, 2019|access-date=March 3, 2022|via=[[Google Books]]|archive-date=March 3, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303193045/https://books.google.com/books?id=OrK8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT145&lpg=PT145&dq=mickey+burnett+my+best+friends+birthday&source=bl&ots=QB144PYRgz&sig=ACfU3U3tXlMRu1D0cmIV7Wjj1wlx17KJPQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLhvHvx6r2AhVVJTQIHeReDWYQ6AF6BAhNEAI|url-status=live}}</ref> However, he has not dismissed the possibility of restoring and completing the film one day. The surviving footage has been edited together and shown at several [[film festivals]].

==See also==
*[[List of incomplete or partially lost films]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{IMDb title|id=0359715|title=My Best Friend's Birthday}}

{{Quentin Tarantino}}

[[Category:Films directed by Quentin Tarantino]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Quentin Tarantino]]
[[Category:Films produced by Quentin Tarantino]]
[[Category:1987 films]]
[[Category:American comedy films]]
[[Category:1987 comedy films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:1980s unfinished films]]
[[Category:Unreleased American films]]
[[Category:American independent films]]
[[Category:Films about prostitution in the United States]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
[[Category:1980s American films]]

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My Best Friend's Birthday