Pulp Fiction
- This article is about the movie. For the literature, see Pulp magazine.
Pulp Fiction is a movie directed by Quentin Tarantino. It was released in 1994. The stories were written by Tarantino and Roger Avary.
The cast includes:
- John Travolta as Vincent Vega
- Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield
- Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace
- Harvey Keitel as Winston Wolf
- Tim Roth as Pumpkin
- Amanda Plummer as Honey Bunny
- Maria de Madeiros as Fabienne
- Ving Rhames as Marsellus Wallace
- Eric Stoltz as Lance
- Rosanna Arquette as Jody
- Christopher Walken as Captain Koons
- Bruce Willis as Butch
- Quentin Tarantino as Jimmie
- Steve Buscemi as Surly Buddy Holly Waiter
Half film noir and half black comedy, Pulp Fiction weaves through the intersecting storylines of gangsters, general low-lifes, and a mysterious briefcase. Following Quentin Tarantino's more traditional crime movie, Reservoir Dogs, the storyline is chopped up and shown out of sequence, a technique borrowed from French new wave and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing.
Originally titled Black Mask, the film won the 1994 Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) at the Cannes Film Festival. Tarantino and Avary also won Oscars for the Screenplay in the same year.
The success of Pulp Fiction spurred studios to release a slew of 'copycat' films soon after that tried to duplicate the film's formula of witty dialogue, an unconventional storyline, and gritty subject matter. Most, if not all of these films, did not fare well at the box office and were dismissed by critics as inferior and derivative.
Storylines
There are four main storylines in Pulp Fiction:
- Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield head to an apartment to deal retrieve a breifcase for their boss Marsellus Wallace, and to kill the leader of the men. The contents of the briefcase are never revealed except only as a glowing yellow light. After departing with the last of of the men, Vincent accidentally shoots him in the head, and the two gangsters quickly try to find a place to hide and clean up the mess in the car.
- Vincent Vega is requested by Marsellus to show his wife a good time while he is out of town. They head to an obscure (possibly non-existent) restaurant called Jackrabbit Slims, a restaurant with 50s and 60s pop culture icons as staff (with Ed Sullivan as the chauffeur for the restaurant, and servers such as Buddy Holly and Marilyn Monroe), an option for patrons to eat at a booth or a replica of a classic car, and a milkshake that costs five dollars. Mia Wallace overdoses on heroin, believing it to be cocaine, and Vincent tries to save her life.
- Butch Coolidge, a prize fighter, agrees with Marsellus that he will purposefully lose in the fifth round, probably because Marsellus bet money against him. Marsellus is out to hunt him after he wins the match and accidentally kills his opponent. Butch and Marsellus are kidnapped, and Butch is forced to decide whether or not to make the heroic choice.
- A crime couple discuss how easy it is to rob a restaurant while in a coffee shop. Following a mistranslation of the word "garçon," they hold up the coffee shop for all the patrons' valuables. Unfortunately for them, Vincent and Jules are among the diners.
The Briefcase
A number of things can be observed about the briefcase that Vincent and Jules recover. The most obvious is that the lock combination is 666. The popular theory follows.
Brett (leader of the men in the apartment who have the briefcase) made a deal with Marsellus Wallace for Marsellus's soul. (This deal may have also included "Tony Rocky Horror," explaining why Marsellus had him thrown out a window.) The exit point of Marsellus's soul was probably in the back of the neck, covered by the band-aid. (The truth in real life being that actor Ving Rhames wanted to cover up a tattoo.) Each time the briefcase is opened, a golden light shines. This light is Marsellus Wallace's soul. When Brett is killed, a similar golden light flares across the screen, showing Brett's soul depart from his body. Jules safely returns Marsellus's soul before leaving to "walk the Earth".
Of course, there is nothing in the film to actually back this up, and it is probably just fan wank gone bad.
External links
- Pulp Fiction at IMDb