Sally Menke, 1953-2010

I couldn’t go to sleep today without writing a few words down about the untimely death of Sally Menke, legendary film editor most famous for her work on every single of Quentin Tarantino’s movies to date.

Hired for Reservoir Dogs, Menke and Tarantino’s friendship would see them work on a further seven films together, and create one of the most influential indies of all time in Pulp Fiction. That film’s fractured timeline may have had it’s origins in Tarantino’s mind, but Menke was the glue that bought it all together.

There have been many great moments throughout their history, but my personal favourite comes mid-way through Kill Bill Vol. 2, the fight scene between the Bride and Elle Driver. The one main action scene in a fairly sedate movie, it’s exciting, funny, brutal and has a rhythm to it that is almost musical, despite very little actual music. You can find the scene on YouTube here.

Interestingly one of her first editing jobs was on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, meaning that the lady who would eventually put together the opening of Inglourious Basterds cut her teeth editing a Vanilla Ice backed fight scene. Both act as fitting tributes to a lady who has done as much as anyone else to cement my love of film, and her death at the age of fifty-six comes far too soon for someone whose abilities were going from strength to strength.