Stars: John Travolta (Vincent Vega), Samuel L. Jackson (Jules Winnfield), Uma Thurman (Mia Wallace), Ving Rhames (Marsellus Wallace), Bruce Willis (Butch Coolidge), Harvey Keitel (Winston Wolf), Christopher Walken (Captain Koons)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Awards / Honors
- 1 Oscar win - Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
- 6 Additional Oscar Nominations - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (John Travolta), Best Supporting Actor (Samuel L. Jackson), Best Supporting Actress (Uma Thurman), Best Film Editing
- #95 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list (1998)
- #53 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills list (2001)
- #94 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list (2007)
- # 6 on AFI's 10 Top 10 list - Gangster movies (2008)
Genre: Drama
Running Time: 2 Hours, 34 Minutes
Format: DVD (not yet available on Blu-ray)
Odyssey Rating: 5 Stars (John - 5 Stars, Beth - 5 Stars, Jeff - 5 Stars, TJ - 5 Stars)
John's Take
Back when I first started this blog, I sort of imagined that upon reaching Pulp Fiction I would write a post that didn’t run in chronological order in an attempt to be cute. After writing a couple of different drafts I decided to bail on that approach and just write a normal post. Expressing coherent thoughts out of sequence and having it not seem lame is a great deal harder than one might expect which makes Quentin Tarantino and Rodger Avary’s work on this film all the more impressive.
While I had seen parts of this film many times on cable, I had never actually watched it from beginning to end before now. In addition, Beth and I were joined by Official Friends of Beth and John’s Movie Odyssey, Jeff and TJ in this viewing and it is always nice to watch these movies with friends.
There are many, many, many good things to say about this movie. I love this movie. It is a great movie. However, all of the nice things, I could think of saying had all been said somewhere else before. I guess you could say that most of my posts, but for some reason, I everything wrote felt REALLY like I was just cutting and pasting someone else’s comments. I had already used the “is this a noir film or not” angle on Fargo post and had already discussed my belief that Bruce Willis is an under-appreciated national treasure in The Sixth Sense post – and it felt way too soon to revisit those subjects – so it was turning out to be surprisingly difficult to write about a movie that I enjoyed so much. Thus, I finally decided to stop trying to write about the things I loved about Pulp Fiction, and instead write about the stuff I didn’t like about the movie. Or more to the point, the things that die-hard fans of this movie do that bug me because the rantings of Tarantino fanboys played a part in me not wanting to make the effort to see its movie in its entirety.
First, why oh why, must die-hard fans of this movie feel the need to tell you what they think is in the briefcase? It doesn’t matter. It is a just a Macguffin. It has no relevance to anything that happens in the movie. Whatever significance you think it has – is just your imagination. It isn’t Marsellus’ soul or any other meta-physical nonsense. It is just a plot device!!! It is no different than the statue in The Maltese Falcon or the secret government papers in North by Northwest. Even Tarantino says that it has no meaning! So please fanboys, get over the stupid briefcase already.
Second, while I like non-linear way the story is presented in this film, it doesn’t seem to be just a stylistic choice, as in say Kill Bill. It is almost as if Tarantino uses the non-linear approach to help hide the fact that there is no clear narrative in this film. I am perfectly OK that the movie is really just a bunch very entertaining stretches of dialogue all tied together with a vague story arch, but please lets just all acknowledge it for what it is. Fanboys – there is no deep meaning or message to this movie! It is simply just a couple days in the life of some interesting characters that are just as likely to spout long series of monologues at each other as they are of actually conversing. Is it all very cool? Yes, it is very cool, but the non-linear nature of the film isn’t being used express any particular theme. It is being in used, at least in part, to hide the fact that it would be a pretty weak, front-loaded story if you told it linearly. Aside from the fact that doing too many drugs may require you be stabbed with an adrenaline needle, there is no wisdom to be gained from this movie – no matter how badly you want there to be.
Side Note: I can’t watch the adrenaline needle scene. I just can’t. In fact, while watching the film with Jeff, TJ and Beth I had to get up and leave the room once that scene approached. I have no reason as to why I find Uma Thurman flopping around so disturbing, but I do. Not sure if that has any relevance to anything or not, but there you go.
Lastly, I get really tired of hearing how “original” this movie is. Listen, fanboys, there is in fact very little that is actually original in this film. Quentin Tarantino films are all just big homages to other films. Is this a bad thing? No, not at all. Tarantino is a master at homage. It seems like he makes movies just so that he can share with the audience his favorite scenes from other movies – but does it in such a way that it doesn’t feel like he is simply cutting and pasting. He certainly puts his own unique spin on things, so in that sense he is original, but that isn’t really what it seems like the fanboys are talking about. They seem to think that things like the aforementioned briefcase are original – it isn’t. It is homage to the movie Kiss Me Deadly. Maynard and Zed are straight out of Deliverance. Ving Raimes seeing Bruce Willis on the street could have been lifted right out of Psycho. Christopher Walken plays a traumatized Vietnam vet just like in The Deer Hunter. And of course Travolta dances ala Saturday Night Fever. Again, all of this is done with care and skill and makes for a wonderful film. Just please get what is original and what isn’t straight – all the better, let us all just shut up about it and enjoy the movie.
There, I have gotten that all out of my system. I feel better now. I think I have picked on Tarantino fanboys enough. Pulp Fiction gets a ranking of 5 Stars from me and joins Toy Story and A Night at the Opera as the only movies to have gotten a perfect ranking of 5 Stars.
John
While I had seen parts of this film many times on cable, I had never actually watched it from beginning to end before now. In addition, Beth and I were joined by Official Friends of Beth and John’s Movie Odyssey, Jeff and TJ in this viewing and it is always nice to watch these movies with friends.
There are many, many, many good things to say about this movie. I love this movie. It is a great movie. However, all of the nice things, I could think of saying had all been said somewhere else before. I guess you could say that most of my posts, but for some reason, I everything wrote felt REALLY like I was just cutting and pasting someone else’s comments. I had already used the “is this a noir film or not” angle on Fargo post and had already discussed my belief that Bruce Willis is an under-appreciated national treasure in The Sixth Sense post – and it felt way too soon to revisit those subjects – so it was turning out to be surprisingly difficult to write about a movie that I enjoyed so much. Thus, I finally decided to stop trying to write about the things I loved about Pulp Fiction, and instead write about the stuff I didn’t like about the movie. Or more to the point, the things that die-hard fans of this movie do that bug me because the rantings of Tarantino fanboys played a part in me not wanting to make the effort to see its movie in its entirety.
First, why oh why, must die-hard fans of this movie feel the need to tell you what they think is in the briefcase? It doesn’t matter. It is a just a Macguffin. It has no relevance to anything that happens in the movie. Whatever significance you think it has – is just your imagination. It isn’t Marsellus’ soul or any other meta-physical nonsense. It is just a plot device!!! It is no different than the statue in The Maltese Falcon or the secret government papers in North by Northwest. Even Tarantino says that it has no meaning! So please fanboys, get over the stupid briefcase already.
Second, while I like non-linear way the story is presented in this film, it doesn’t seem to be just a stylistic choice, as in say Kill Bill. It is almost as if Tarantino uses the non-linear approach to help hide the fact that there is no clear narrative in this film. I am perfectly OK that the movie is really just a bunch very entertaining stretches of dialogue all tied together with a vague story arch, but please lets just all acknowledge it for what it is. Fanboys – there is no deep meaning or message to this movie! It is simply just a couple days in the life of some interesting characters that are just as likely to spout long series of monologues at each other as they are of actually conversing. Is it all very cool? Yes, it is very cool, but the non-linear nature of the film isn’t being used express any particular theme. It is being in used, at least in part, to hide the fact that it would be a pretty weak, front-loaded story if you told it linearly. Aside from the fact that doing too many drugs may require you be stabbed with an adrenaline needle, there is no wisdom to be gained from this movie – no matter how badly you want there to be.
Side Note: I can’t watch the adrenaline needle scene. I just can’t. In fact, while watching the film with Jeff, TJ and Beth I had to get up and leave the room once that scene approached. I have no reason as to why I find Uma Thurman flopping around so disturbing, but I do. Not sure if that has any relevance to anything or not, but there you go.
Lastly, I get really tired of hearing how “original” this movie is. Listen, fanboys, there is in fact very little that is actually original in this film. Quentin Tarantino films are all just big homages to other films. Is this a bad thing? No, not at all. Tarantino is a master at homage. It seems like he makes movies just so that he can share with the audience his favorite scenes from other movies – but does it in such a way that it doesn’t feel like he is simply cutting and pasting. He certainly puts his own unique spin on things, so in that sense he is original, but that isn’t really what it seems like the fanboys are talking about. They seem to think that things like the aforementioned briefcase are original – it isn’t. It is homage to the movie Kiss Me Deadly. Maynard and Zed are straight out of Deliverance. Ving Raimes seeing Bruce Willis on the street could have been lifted right out of Psycho. Christopher Walken plays a traumatized Vietnam vet just like in The Deer Hunter. And of course Travolta dances ala Saturday Night Fever. Again, all of this is done with care and skill and makes for a wonderful film. Just please get what is original and what isn’t straight – all the better, let us all just shut up about it and enjoy the movie.
There, I have gotten that all out of my system. I feel better now. I think I have picked on Tarantino fanboys enough. Pulp Fiction gets a ranking of 5 Stars from me and joins Toy Story and A Night at the Opera as the only movies to have gotten a perfect ranking of 5 Stars.
John
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