Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 17:24, 18 October 2006

Pulp Fiction
File:Pulp Fiction cover.jpgIMDB 8.8/10 (184,085 votes) top 250: #9
Directed by	Quentin Tarantino
Written by	Quentin Tarantino Roger Avary
Produced by	Lawrence Bender
Starring	John Travolta Samuel L. Jackson Bruce Willis Uma Thurman Ving Rhames Harvey Keitel Tim Roth Amanda Plummer Maria de Medeiros Eric Stoltz Rosanna Arquette Christopher Walken Quentin Tarantino
Cinematography	Andrzej Sekula
Edited by	Sally Menke
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release dates	October 14, 1994 (USA)
Running time	154 min. (168 min. deluxe edition)
Language	English
Budget	$8 million

Pulp Fiction is an Oscar-winning 1994 film directed by Quentin Tarantino who also co-wrote the screenplay with Roger Avary. It caused a sensation upon its release and continues to have an impact on film-making to this day. The film's idiosyncratic characteristics include fragmented storyline, eclectic dialogue, ironic and campy influences, unorthodox camerawork, and numerous pop culture references. Tarantino and Avary won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and the film was nominated for seven Oscars in total, including Best Picture. It also took home the Palme d'Or at the Festival de Cannes.

The plot, in keeping with most other Tarantino works, runs in nonlinear order. The unconventional structure of the movie is an example of a so-called postmodernist film.

The film's title refers to the pulp magazines popular during the mid–20th century, known for their strongly graphic nature.

The screenplay is available as a paperback.

The film had an impact on the careers of its cast members. It provided a breakthough role for Samuel L. Jackson, previously a supporting actor who became an international star in a part Tarantino wrote especially for him. It revived the fortunes of John Travolta who was going through something of a career slump at the time (again), and allowed Bruce Willis to move away from the action hero reputation he had gained through films such as Die Hard. It raised the profile of Uma Thurman and led to greater recognition for character actors such as Ving Rhames and Harvey Keitel. Eric Stoltz was also acclaimed for his role as Lance.

Taglines

• Girls like me don't make invitations like this to just anyone!
• You won't know the facts until you've seen the fiction.
• From the creators of True Romance & Reservoir Dogs
• Three stories about one story.
• I don't smile for pictures.
• Just because you are a character doesn't mean you have character.

Plot

Template:Spoiler Using many elements of a black comedy with many stylistic and pop culture touches, Pulp Fiction weaves through the intersecting storylines of Los Angeles gangsters, fringe characters, petty thieves and a mysterious attaché case. In keeping with Quentin Tarantino's directorial trademark of non chronological story telling, Pulp Fiction is written out of sequence. i.e., it was not written in chronological order then rearranged out of sequence.

There are three main storylines in Pulp Fiction: Vincent and Jules; Vincent and Mia Wallace; Butch Coolidge. All three are intertwined.

The Diner (first part)

• The Diner (first half) (3)
• Vincent and Jules (1)
• "Mia Wallace and Vincent" (4)
• "The Gold Watch" (5)
• "The Bonnie Situation" (2)
• The Diner (second half) (3)

Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) discuss robbing restaurants instead of liquor stores, their normal target, due to lack of awareness in restaurants. They decide to rob the one they are currently in and pull out revolvers. Pumpkin jumps up and screams "Everybody be cool, this is a robbery!" Honey Bunny grabs a revolver and screams "Any of you fucking pricks move, and I'll execute every motherfucking last one of you!"

The title credits play.

Vincent & Jules

Hitmen Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta) head to a Los Angeles apartment to retrieve a briefcase that was involved in a failed deal for their boss, gangster Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). They also have to kill Brett (Frank Whaley), the one who was supposed to have set up the deal, and his cohorts. The briefcase is a classic MacGuffin, whose contents are never revealed except indirectly as a glowing, gold light.

Jules shoots Brett's cohort (whom he had referred to as "Flock of Seagulls" for his hairstyle) and then, after a long and bizarre conversation led by the scripture-spouting Jules (a variation on Ezekiel 25:17, 'The path of the righteous man'), Vincent and Jules execute Brett in a hail of gunfire. They spare their informant, Marvin (Phil LaMarr), who happened to be there with the gang.

Mia Wallace and Vincent

Vincent and Jules arrive at a bar owned by Marsellus Wallace just as Butch Coolidge is concluding a meeting with Wallace himself. As Butch leaves, he has a minor altercation with Vincent. At Marsellus's request, Vincent Vega shows his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) a good time while Marsellus is out of town. Vincent shows up at Mia's house and while waiting for her to get ready, she plays "Son of a Preacher Man", by Dusty Springfield on the sound system. They head to the fictional restaurant Jack Rabbit Slim's, a slick 1950s-themed restaurant with lookalikes of the decade's top pop culture icons as staff (e.g., television impresario Ed Sullivan as the maître d', and servers such as singer Buddy Holly and actresses Marilyn Monroe and Mamie Van Doren), an option for patrons to eat at a booth or a classic car refitted as a booth, and the famous "Five-Dollar Milkshake".

Vincent and Mia make small talk, wherein she recounts her experience as an actress in a failed television pilot, "Fox Force Five". The show followed the exploits of an all-female team of secret agents, each having a particular specialty. Mia's character, Raven McCoy, was raised by circus performers and, according to the show, was "...the deadliest woman in the world with a knife." She also knew a zillion old jokes her grandfather, an old vaudevillian, taught her, though she initially refuses to share with Vincent the joke Raven tells in the pilot out of fear of being embarrassed.

In Mia's words, the rest of the troupe had other formidable abilities:

"Fox, as in we're a bunch of foxy chicks. Force, as in we're a force to be reckoned with. Five, as in there's one... two... three... four... five of us. There was a blonde one, Sommerset O'Neal from that show "Baton Rouge", she was the leader. A Japanese one, a black one, a French one and a brunette one, me. We all had special skills. Sommerset had a photographic memory, the Japanese fox was a kung fu master, the black girl was a demolition expert, the French fox's specialty was sex..."

(Tarantino has acknowledged the similarity between Fox Force Five and the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad (DiVAS) in Kill Bill.)

Mia then demands that Vincent dance with her in the Jack Rabbit Slim's twist contest and they dance to Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell". When they return to the Wallace house, she is seen carrying the trophy. While listening to Urge Overkill's version of Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon", Mia overdoses after snorting heroin. She had found the heroin in the pocket of Vince's coat, which she was wearing, and believed it to be cocaine. A fearful Vincent rushes her over to small-time drug dealer Lance, (Eric Stoltz) who had previously sold him the heroin. Lance helps Vincent ready the adrenaline shot and Lance's dysfunctional wife Jody (Rosanna Arquette) watches. Vincent stabs Mia with the syringe full of adrenaline. She wakes up with a howl and when asked to say something, says "something". Jody remarks "That was fucking trippy".

Upon arriving back at the Wallace residence, Mia finally reveals her corny joke: "So there's Papa Tomato, Momma Tomato and Baby Tomato walking along the street. Baby Tomato starts lagging behind, and Papa Tomato starts getting really angry. So, he turns around and squishes Baby Tomato and says, 'Ketchup.' "

In their last conversation, they agree not to tell Marsellus of the overdosing incident, both fearing what he might do to either of them.

The Gold Watch

Aging prizefighter Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) accepts a large sum of money from Marsellus, agreeing to "take a dive" (deliberately lose a fight) by allowing himself to be knocked out in the fifth round of his upcoming match. However, Butch double-crosses Marsellus, instead betting the money he received from Marsellus on himself (with, due to the fight's being fixed, presumably very favorable odds) and winning the bout, accidentally killing his opponent in the process. Although now flush with cash, Butch must quickly leave town, as a vengeful Marsellus is hot on his trail.

There is a flashback at the beginning of the "The Gold Watch" storyline (Butch's story), in which the child Butch Coolidge (Chandler Lindauer) receives his watch from a war buddy of his father's (Christopher Walken), who kept the watch in his rectum for two years to hide it from the Vietcong due to his father's death in a Vietnam War Prisoner of war camp. This gold watch, which has been passed down from father to son since his great-grandfather fought in World War I, is of great sentimental value to Butch.

Butch is compelled to return to his apartment to retrieve the wristwatch after he discovers his girlfriend Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros) has forgotten to pack it. He is worried that most likely Marsellus is there looking for him. When Butch enters, the coast is clear. Butch quickly gets the watch and is ready to leave. Satisfied no-one awaits to kill him, Butch grabs a sack of toaster pastries in his kitchen and puts them in the toaster on the counter. While waiting for the pastries to pop out, Butch finally notices a silenced MAC-10 submachine gun on the kitchen counter. Butch is shocked and picks up the gun. Upon hearing his toilet flush in the bathroom next to the kitchen, he readies himself in time to encounter Vincent Vega coming out of the bathroom. They both freeze in shock. Butch concentrates intensely on Vincent, and when the toaster pastries pop up with a ring, the shock causes Butch to fire the gun at Vincent, who falls back into the bathroom dead.

While driving back to the motel from the apartment complex, Butch sees Marsellus crossing the street in front of him. They recognize each other, and Butch accelerates into Marcellus. He then collides with another car and rolls into a small parking lot. A group of ladies help Marsellus back to his feet. In his POV, he sees Butch running away from the scene. He takes out his gun; the ladies run away. Butch runs down the sidewalk with an injured leg, while Marsellus limps on his trail, firing stray bullets. Butch punches Marsellus repeatedly, while they enter a pawnshop. Butch takes Marsellus gun and is about to execute him, when the pawnshop owner, Maynard, turns a shotgun on the two. Maynard picks up the phone and dials his partner Zed (Peter Greene). Maynard tells Zed, "The spider just caught a couple of flies!". He knocks out Butch, while Marsellus is already knocked out.

Marsellus and Butch wake up to find that they have been tied up to chairs with red ball gags strapped in their mouths. Maynard and Zed turn out to be sexual predators and rapists. Living in a hole in the floor is The Gimp, their sexual slave. The Gimp, dressed in leather and leashed to the ceiling laughs at Butch while Zed and Maynard take Marsellus into the back room and rape him. Butch escapes his bonds and punches out the gimp, hanging him on his leash. He quickly runs back upstairs and is faced with the choice of saving himself or aiding Marsellus. Knowing Marsellus wanted him dead, he could easily leave Marsellus in the hands of the odd-ball assailants. Instead, he makes a choice to release Marsellus, risking failure or Marsellus rejecting his peace offering.

Butch looks around the shop, finding a variety of weapons, and finally a katana on a high shelf. He goes downstairs and opens the door; Zed is raping Marsellus on a small wooden pommel horse, while Maynard watches with glee in his eyes. Butch slashes Maynard across his chest and then, while stunned, stabs him through the torso. Zed retreats from Marsellus and sees Butch. Butch is about to kill Zed when Marsellus gets Maynard's shotgun, simply says "Step aside Butch", and shoots Zed in the groin/thigh. Butch asks "What now?" and awaits Marsellus' reply. Marsellus, who originally intended to hunt Butch down and exact his revenge for the botched boxing fix, now realizes that Butch has both saved his life and submitted to him: he decides that Butch is free as long as he never tells anyone about the rape, and never returns to Los Angeles. Butch agrees, and quickly leaves town on Zed's chopper with Fabienne.

The Bonnie Situation

The story returns to Vincent and Jules. During Jules' discussion with and shooting Bret, there was another member of the gang in the bathroom. After Vincent and Jules shoot Bret, the man bursts out of the bathroom and shoots wildly at Vincent and Jules with a large revolver. The bullets strike all around and between them, missing them completely. Astonished, the two shoot the gang member dead; later Jules discusses how it was a miracle that they did not get shot, coming to the conclusion that he was "retiring" from his job as a hit-man for Marsellus.

They take Marvin with them in the back seat of their car. During a conversation, Vincent asks Marvin's opinion and carelessly aims his gun towards his head. The gun accidentally goes off, making a huge bloody mess of Marvin's head in the car and on Vincent and Jules. Vincent's words after he shoots Marvin was, "Aww man I just shot Marvin in the face". Then the screen cuts to black and then comes back with Jules drinking coffee in Jimmy's (Quentin Tarantino)house. They ask him can they leave the deceased Marvin in his garage. He originally objected, saying "Did you notice a sign on the front of my house that said dead nigger storage? DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN ON THE FRONT OF MY HOUSE THAT SAID DEAD NIGGER STORAGE?!? Do you know WHY you didn't see that sign? 'Cause it's not there, 'cause storing dead niggers ain't my fucking business, that's why!" Jimmy's wife Bonnie will be coming home soon from work, so they call Marsellus, who arranges for Winston Wolf (Harvey Keitel), to help. After cleaning the car, hiding the body in the trunk, and disposing of their bloody clothes, Jules and Vincent have no choice but to wear "dorky" T-shirts. Mr. Wolf takes the car to a junkyard.

Vincent and Jules decide to go out to breakfast.

The Diner (second part)

The two men eat at a diner for breakfast. Jules continues on about his idea to retire. Vincent does not like the idea, and goes to the bathroom. A pair of young petty thieves, Pumpkin and Honey Bunny, from the first scene, jump up with revolvers and scream obscenities. Pumpkin shouts "Everybody be cool this is a robbery!" Honey Bunny screams "Any one of you fucking pricks move, and I'll execute every last one of you motherfuckers!", which is slightly different from the same scene in the beginning of the movie, where she ends the sentence with "every motherfucking last one of you". This was done intentionally to show the difference between two different perspectives. They demand all of the patrons' wallets, money and valuables. Pumpkin demands that Jules hands over the case he picked up from Bret, but Jules grabs Pumpkin's wrist and pulls him towards the table (so he can't point his gun at Jules), whips his gun out, and holds him at gunpoint in a Mexican standoff. Honeybunny jumps on a table and screams "You let him go! You let him go! Let go of him, I'm goin' to kill you, you'll fuckin die!" Jules convinces her to be quiet. Vincent emerges from the restroom with gun drawn and pointed at Honey Bunny/Yolanda; in this standoff, not everyone will die, because no one has a gun pointed at Vincent. Jules explains his ambivalence toward his life of crime, takes his wallet back from Pumpkin/Ringo (sans the cash inside because Jules "bought Ringo's life"), and lets the pair go free with all of the patrons' valuables. At which point Sam Jackson's chareter yelled "I LIKE TO HIT BABYS!" And then BB showed up and kick a child.

Vincent suggests that they should leave now, they put their guns in their pants, and walk out of the diner.

The end credits roll.

Event Spacing

On the surface, it appears that Pulp Fiction takes place over the course of 2 or 3 consecutive days. However, it is not very likely that the events of The Gold Watch began on the night directly following Mia Wallace and Vincent/The Bonnie Situatuation. Butch makes mention of "the fix getting out" but had he only accepted the bribe the day before, there would have been little time for this to happen. It is quite possible that The Gold Watch happened weeks or even as long as a month after the first day.

Film analysis

The mysterious briefcase

The only indisputable observations about the stolen attaché case recovered by Jules and Vincent are that its latch lock combination is "666", the "Number of the Beast" as given in the Biblical Book of Revelation, and that the contents of the case either glow yellow or are highly reflective. The only acknowledgements of its contents include the captivated stare of Vincent, the character called "Ringo" and his reaction, "Is that what I think it is?", and his response (to Jules saying "Uh-huh"), "It's beautiful." Whenever asked, director Tarantino has replied that there is no explanation for the case's contents: it is simply a MacGuffin. Originally, the Pulp Fiction case was to contain diamonds (stolen in the film Reservoir Dogs), but this was seen as too mundane. For filming purposes, the briefcase contained an orange lightbulb with a battery. Despite Tarantino's explanation, many theories have been proposed for the contents of the briefcase. A popular explanation among fans is that it contained Marsellus' soul.

Jules' Bible passage

As explained by Jules in the final scene in the diner, he recites a passage from the Bible — Ezekiel 25:17 — each time he kills someone. The passage reads as follows:

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

In the last scene of the movie, Jules repeats the passage to Pumpkin (who he refers to as Ringo), but phrases it slightly differently.

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who in the name of charity and good will shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know that I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.

This is, in fact, not an actual passage from the Bible, but a collage of several passages. Ezekiel 25:17 in the King James Version reads:

And I will execute great vengeance upon thee with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.

This is actually a typically obscure reference to Karate Kiba / Chiba the Bodyguard, a 1976 film starring Sonny Chiba (whom Tarantino has hailed as "the greatest actor to ever work in martial arts films" and has worked with in the making of Kill Bill), which opens with a nearly identical misquote, likewise attributed to Ezekiel 25:17:

The path of the righteous man and defender is beset on all sides by the iniquity of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper, and the finder of lost children. And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious anger, who poison and destroy my brothers; and they shall know that I am Chiba the Bodyguard when I lay my love upon them! (Ezekiel 25:17)

Music

Awards

Wins

• Best Original Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino; stories by Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary)
• Palme d'Or from the Festival de Cannes

Nominations

• Best Actor (John Travolta)
• Best Supporting Actor (Samuel L. Jackson)
• Best Supporting Actress (Uma Thurman)
• Best Director (Quentin Tarantino)
• Best Film Editing (Sally Menke)
• Best Picture (Lawrence Bender, producer)

References and footnotes

1. (ISBN 0-7868-8104-6, 1994)
2. Pulp Fiction DVD trivia subtitle.
3. Pulp Fiction DVD trivia subtitle tells how QT describes Pulp Fiction as three intertwined stories.

External links

• Pulp Fiction at IMDb
• What's in the Briefcase?, from the Urban Legends Reference Page
• Roger Ebert's review of Pulp Fiction
• Complete list of actors who were considered for roles
• Timeline of the movie
• Everything Tarantino Pulp Fiction movie info

• Crime films
• Cult films
• Independent films
• American films
• Anthology films
• Films directed by Quentin Tarantino
• 1994 films
• Palme d'Or winners
• Films featuring a Best Actor Academy Award nominated performance
• Best Picture Academy Award nominees
• Films featuring a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award nominated performance
• Films by Miramax
• 1970s retro movement