Having been promised for over a decade, Quentin Tarantino's epic World War Two exploitationer Inglourious Basterds finally hits cinemas on Friday.

It's full of QT's regular trademarks - smart-mouthed dialogue, savage, splattering violence, and some of the coolest set-to-music sequences that cinema has to offer.

Increasingly, this looks like Tarantino's greatest gift - the ability to put music to images in a way which totally transforms both. Need convincing? Then take a look at our top 20 greatest music moments from QT's back-catalogue...

20. Ennio Morricone, ‘The Mercenary’
Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004)

The Moment:

This tough to watch exploitation cliff-hanger from part two of Tarantino’s kung-fu epic has Thurman’s Bride literally punching her way out of a wooden coffin to the grand, building swell of Ennio Morricone’s theme from The Mercenary.

Tarantino Says: 

“Before I would always dive in and find songs and music to be my score, here I dove into soundtrack albums to pull my favourite cut off this album, and my favourite cut of that album.

Kill Bill is actually scored by some of the greatest composers in the history of movies. You have Bernard Herrmann right here, Ennio Morricone over here, Isaac Hayes over here – you know, these are the greatest composers ever, and they've written for my movie.”

19. Tito and Tarantula, ‘After Dark’
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

The Moment:

In a dusty titty and tequila bar teetering on the very brink of hell, pederast and murderer Richie Gecko – played by foot-fancier QT himself – drinks whisky from the toes of Salma Hayek’s grinding, snake-wearing vamp as it flows down her perfectly curved body, in a scene scripted by QT himself.

Tarantino Says:

[The scene as written by Tarantino] “While moving her body to the music, Santanico lifts up the whisky bottle from the table, and pours the whiskey down her leg. She lifts up her foot, with the whiskey dripping from her toes, and sticks it in Richard's face. Richie, mesmerized, sucks the whiskey off her toes. The CROWD GOES WILD.”

Next: Baby Love, Theme From Ironside