Tarantino’s second film was supposed to be this 1950s remake
After making his debut film, Reservoir Dogs, and before working on his second feature, Pulp Fiction, Tarantino had signed on with Showtime to make a television film (made-for-TV) for their anthology series, Rebel Highway, aka “…a 10-week series of 1950s drive-in classic B-movies remade with a '90s edge.”
Tarantino chose Roger Corman’s 1957 Rock All Night as his remake (you can see a poster of the movie on the wall at Jack Rabbit Slim’s in Pulp Fiction—look closely). But Tarantino got cold feet when an overzealous producer said they’d release the remake in theaters, and Tarantino said, “No theaters—just for television. Then I can make Pulp Fiction for theaters afterward.”
Robert Rodriguez directed the best remake of the bunch, Roadracers, starring David Arquette and a pre-Desperado Salma Hayek. All the other 9 movies in the series kinda suck. But Tarantino would’ve made a killer remake. He was obsessed with Rock All Night, which is a fun movie. Imagine a movie that takes place entirely in Jack Rabbit Slim’s…basically…with mobsters and rockabilly music