The Hateful Eight, sometimes stylized as The H8ful Eight and The Hateful 8, is an American western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film is set some years after the Civil War in Wyoming and it revolves around eight westerners who seek refuge in a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass during a blizzard.
Plot[]
"Chapter One: Last Stage to Red Rock"
Some time after the Civil War, bounty hunter Major Marquis Warren, transporting the bodies of three outlaws to the town of Red Rock, hitches a ride on a stagecoach driven by a man named O.B. Inside is bounty hunter John "The Hangman" Ruth, who is escorting fugitive Daisy Domergue to Red Rock handcuffed to him. Ruth keeps his bounties alive so he can watch them hang.
Warren shows Ruth a letter he claims is from Abraham Lincoln. When Domergue spits on it, Warren punches her, and she and Ruth fall out of the stagecoach.
"Chapter Two: Son of a Gun"
The stagecoach is approached by former Lost-Causer militiaman Chris Mannix, who claims he is travelling to Red Rock as the town's new sheriff. He persuades Ruth and Warren to let him join them, as he will be the one paying their bounties. Ruth gives Warren back his weapons and the two agree to protect each other's bounties. Mannix and Warren almost come to blows over their questionable war records.
"Chapter Three: Minnie's Haberdashery"
The group arrives at Minnie's Haberdashery, a stagecoach lodge, as a powerful blizzard approaches. Bob, a Mexican, says the owner, Minnie, is visiting her mother and left him to look after the lodge. The other lodgers are Oswaldo Mobray, who introduces himself as the Red Rock hangman; Joe Gage, a quiet cowboy going to stay with his mother; and Sanford Smithers, a former Confederate general. Ruth, suspicious of the lodgers, disarms all but Warren.
As the group eats, Mannix surmises that Warren's Lincoln letter is a forgery. Warren, in revenge for Smithers having executed black Union soldiers at the Battle of Baton Rouge, places a gun next to Smithers and taunts him by recounting how he marched Smithers' son naked through the snow for hours, coerced him into fellating him, and killed him. Smithers reaches for the gun and Warren shoots him dead, satisfied that the killing was self-defense.
"Chapter Four: Domergue's Got a Secret"
While everyone is distracted by Smithers' death, someone seen only by Domergue poisons the brewing coffee. Ruth and O.B. drink the coffee, then vomit blood and collapse. The dying Ruth attacks Domergue, but she shoots him dead with his own gun. Warren, after disarming Domergue, holds the lodgers at gunpoint and leaves Domergue cuffed to Ruth's corpse. He is joined by Mannix, whom Warren trusts because he nearly drank the poisoned coffee.
Warren deduces that Bob is an imposter, as Minnie hates Mexicans and would not leave one in charge of the lodge, and executes him. Warren tells Mobray and Gage that unless one of them confesses to poisoning the coffee, he would kill Domergue, forcing Gage to admit that it was him who poisoned the coffee. However, right afterwards, Warren is shot in the groin by a man hiding beneath the floorboards. Mobray draws a concealed gun and shoots Mannix, who returns fire, wounding Mobray and forcing Gage against the wall.
"Chapter Five: The Four Passengers"
Earlier that day, Bob, Mobray, Gage, and a fourth man, Jody, arrive at Minnie's Haberdashery and massacre everyone but Smithers. Jody tells Smithers they plan to ambush Ruth to rescue Domergue, Jody's sister, and that they will spare him if he keeps quiet, believing an extra lodger will make the scene more believable. The bandits dispose of the bodies, hide the evidence, and stow guns around the lodge. As Ruth's stagecoach arrives, Jody hides beneath the floorboards.
"Last Chapter: Black Man, White Hell"
Mannix and Warren, both seriously wounded, hold Domergue, Gage, and the dying Mobray at gunpoint. They flush Jody out by threatening to kill Daisy, and Warren shoots him dead. Domergue claims that more of her brother's men are waiting in Red Rock to kill Mannix and sack the town; if Mannix shoots Warren and allows her to escape, she says, the gang will spare him.
As Domergue and Mobray taunt Warren, he shoots Domergue in the foot, then Mobray in the leg, who dies from his wounds. Gage draws a revolver hidden under a table but is shot dead by Mannix and Warren. Warren tries to shoot Domergue but is out of bullets. Mannix decides Domergue is bluffing but faints from his wounds. Domergue hacks off Ruth's handcuffed arm and frees herself. As she reaches for Mannix's gun, he regains consciousness and shoots her, wounding her again. Warren persuades him to hang her from the rafters in honor of Ruth. Afterwards, as the two lie dying, Mannix reads aloud Warren's forged Lincoln letter and crumples it up.
Cast[]
- Samuel L. Jackson as Major Marquis Warren "The Bounty Hunter"
- Kurt Russell as John Ruth "The Hangman"
- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy Domergue "The Prisoner"
- Walton Goggins as Chris Mannix "The Sheriff"
- Demián Bichir as Bob (Marco the Mexican) "The Mexican"
- Tim Roth as Oswaldo Mobray (English Pete Hicox) "The Little Man"
- Michael Madsen as Joe Gage (Grouch Douglas) "The Cow Puncher"
- Bruce Dern as General Sanford Smithers "The Confederate"