Pulp Fiction (film)
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- This article is about the film. For the genre, see pulp magazine.
| Pulp Fiction | |
|---|---|
 IMDB 8.7/10 (184,085 votes) top 250: #9 | |
| Directed by | Quentin Tarantino |
| Produced by | Lawrence Bender |
| Written by | Quentin Tarantino Roger Avary |
| Starring | John Travolta Samuel L. Jackson Uma Thurman Harvey Keitel Tim Roth Amanda Plummer Maria de Medeiros Ving Rhames Eric Stoltz Rosanna Arquette Christopher Walken and Bruce Willis |
| Cinematography | Andrzej Sekula |
| Editing by | Sally Menke |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | Image:Flag of France.svg May, 1994 (première at Cannes) Image:Flag of the United States.svg October 14th, 1994 Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg October 21, 1994 Image:Flag of Australia.svg November 24th, 1994 Image:Flag of Brazil.svg November, 1994 |
| Running time | 154 min. (168 min. deluxe edition) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8 million |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
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.[citation needed] 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.<ref>http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/ampas_awards/DisplayMain.jsp?curTime=1162397457525</ref> It also took home the Palme d'Or at the Festival de Cannes.<ref>http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Cannes_Film_Festival/1994</ref>
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 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.[citation needed] 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.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
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.<ref>Pulp Fiction DVD trivia subtitle.</ref>
There are three main storylines in Pulp Fiction: Vincent and Jules; Vincent and Mia Wallace; Butch Coolidge. All three are intertwined.<ref> Pulp Fiction DVD trivia subtitle tells how QT describes Pulp Fiction as three intertwined stories.</ref>
[edit] The Diner (first part)
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.
[edit] 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. Also, it should be noted that the code to the lock on the briefcase is 666, number of the beast.
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.
Throughout the entire scene there is an ongoing conversation about McDonalds restaurants in foreign countries. Vega notes that in Paris the Quarter Pounder is called "Royale with Cheese." They bring it up in the bizarre conversation discussed above.
[edit] 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 (Steve Buscemi) 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.
[edit] 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, 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 POW 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 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, 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 Marsellus. 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. He knocks out Butch, while Marsellus is already knocked out. Maynard picks up the phone and dials his partner Zed (Peter Greene). Maynard tells Zed, "The spider just caught a couple of flies!".
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 (Stephen Hibbert), 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.
In what is likely a reference to a similar scene in the film The Last House on the Left, Butch looks around the shop, picks up and tries out a variety of weapons, and finally settles on a katana, which he finds 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 responds with what he is going to do to Zed: "I'll tell you what now. I'm gonna call a couple of hard pipe hittin' niggas to go to work on homes here with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch. [To Zed] You hear me talking, hillbilly boy? I'm ain't through with by a damn sight. I'm gonna get medieval on your ass." 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.
[edit] The Bonnie Situation
The story now flashes back to Vincent and Jules. During Jules' discussion with and shooting Brett, there was another member of the gang in the bathroom. After Vincent and Jules shoot Brett, 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 him 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 car hits a bump and the gun accidentally goes off, making a huge bloody mess of Marvin's head in the car and on Vincent and Jules. After wondering what to do and following some dialogue between them 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 objects, saying "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 Wolfe (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. Wolfe takes the car to a junkyard.
Vincent and Jules decide to go out to breakfast.
[edit] 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 shows the difference between two separate perspectives. They demand all of the patrons' wallets, money and valuables. Pumpkin demands that Jules hands over the case he picked up from Brett, 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. Honey Bunny 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.
Vincent suggests that they should leave now, they put their guns in their pants, and walk out of the diner.
The end credits roll.
[edit] Cast
| Actor/Actress | Role |
|---|---|
| John Travolta | Vincent Vega |
| Samuel L. Jackson | Jules Winnfield |
| Bruce Willis | Butch Coolidge |
| Uma Thurman | Mia Wallace |
| Ving Rhames | Marsellus Wallace |
| Harvey Keitel | Winston Wolfe |
| Tim Roth | Pumpkin ("Ringo") |
| Amanda Plummer | Honey Bunny (Yolanda) |
| Maria de Medeiros | Fabienne |
| Eric Stoltz | Lance |
| Rosanna Arquette | Jody |
| Christopher Walken | Captain Koons |
| Angela Jones | Esmeralda Villalobos |
| Quentin Tarantino | Jimmie Dimmick |
| Phil LaMarr | Marvin |
| Frank Whaley | Brett |
| Bronagh Gallagher | Trudi |
| Duane Whitaker | Maynard |
| Peter Greene | Zed |
| Julia Sweeney | Raquel |
| Steve Buscemi | Surly Buddy Holly Waiter |
| Paul Calderon | English Bob, AKA Paul<ref>In the script, the character of Paul the bartender (played by Paul Calderon) is referred to as "English Bob" (Jules even refers to English Bob, saying "Yeah, [Winston Wolf] is about as European as fucking English Bob"), but his line "My name's Paul, and this is between y'all" apparently stuck, as he is credited as 'Paul' in the credits.</ref> |
| Alexis Arquette | Fourth man |
| Lawrence Bender | Long Hair Yuppie Scum |
| Stephen Hibbert | The Gimp |
| Chandler Lindauer | Young Butch |
[edit] Analysis
[edit] 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.<ref>[1]</ref>
[edit] 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)
[edit] Awards
[edit] Academy Awards
Wins
- Best Original Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino; stories by Quentin Tarantino & Roger Avary)
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)
[edit] Other Awards
- BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor (Samuel L. Jackson)
- Palme d'Or from the Festival de Cannes
- Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino)
[edit] Trivia
- Other actors considered for the film included Daniel Day-Lewis as Vincent; Paul Calderon as Jules; Mickey Rourke, Matt Dillon and Sylvester Stallone as Butch; Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, Joan Cusack, Isabella Rossellini and Daryl Hannah (later cast in Kill Bill) as Mia; Johnny Depp and Christian Slater (previously cast in True Romance) as Pumpkin; and Pam Grier as Lance's wife Jody, who was later cast in the lead of Tarantino's Jackie Brown.
- "The Gold Watch" sequence was heavily based on a script entitled Pandemonium Reigns, which Tarantino purchased from his friend Roger Avary.
- The contents of the briefcase are never revealed in the film. However, some sources say it contains Marsellus' soul. What it actually contained was an orange light bulb and some silver foil to highlight the reflection each time it was opened.
- The shot where Vincent injects the adrenaline into Mia was filmed backwards.
- Big Kahuna Burgers and Red Apple Cigarettes are trademarks of Quentin Tarantino films, such as Reservoir Dogs, From Dusk Till Dawn and Kill Bill.
- In Tarantino's film Reservoir Dogs, Mr. Blonde's real name is Vic Vega. Travolta's Pulp Fiction character, Vincent Vega, is his brother. It is not known whether he is the elder of the two or not.
- Also in Reservoir Dogs, Harvey Keitel (who plays Winston Wolfe in Pulp Fiction), plays Larry Dimmick/Mr. White, the cousin of Jimmy Dimmick (played by Tarantino) in this film. In Reservoir Dogs, Larry mentions that he knows a nurse (possibly referencing Jimmy's wife, Bonnie)
- On the way to Brett's apartment Vincent tells Jules "I don't watch TV". Yet later in the film as they are driving to Jimmy's place Vincent tells Jules he had recently seen Cops.
- Although they said that Marvin's body had no head, his head can be seen in the left side of the trunk when the garbage bags are thrown in.
- During the apartment scene after Jules kills Brett, the gunshot holes in the wall behind Jules and Vincent are visible before the fourth guy comes out of the bathroom shooting his magnum.
- Pulp Fiction was originally titled Black Mask.
- Out of the $8 million it cost to make the movie, $5 million went to the cast.
- Mia Wallace's suit reappears in two of Tarantino's later films, Jackie Brown and Kill Bill, Volume 2.
- Mia Wallace's house is located at 1541 Summitridge Drive in Beverly Hills; most of the art shown in the film is the homeowner's. Most of the house where the scenes were shot can be seen from the road.
- In a deleted scene, we discover that Vincent may or may not be a cousin of singer Suzanne Vega. During a conversation, Mia asks if they're related; he replies that his cousin's name is Suzanne Vega, but if she's a famous folk singer, then he hasn't heard anything about it.
- Chronologically, the last lines of the movie are spoken by Butch Coolidge immediately before riding out of L.A. on a stolen chopper: "Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead."
- When Butch decides to help Marsellus, he passes a wall with Tennessee license plates. Butch previously mentions on the phone with his brother that he is from Tennessee and is planning to return. He remembers his father's ordeal in Vietnam and how men are supposed to help each other in tough situations.
- The majority of clocks in the movie are set to 4:20, specifically in the pawnshop. It is a widely asserted misconception that all of the clocks are set to this time.
- One of the film's producers was Danny DeVito. In DeVito's film Twins, the main characters' names are Vincent and Julius.
- Jules' former partner is named Jimmie, possibly being a reference to the French film Jules and Jim.
- When Vincent enters Lance's house with the overdosed Mia, the games Life and Operation can be seen amongst the books and clutter.
- Despite Steve Prince's claims, injecting adrenaline into someone's heart will not save them from a heroin overdose. The proper antidote is Narcan, an opioid antagonist, injected intravenously, intramuscularly, or sprayed intranasally.
- The characters of Pumpkin, Honey Bunny, and Winston Wolfe were written specifically for Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, and Harvey Keitel, respectively.
- As the sole example of "real" pulp fiction in Quentin Tarantino's film Pulp Fiction, the character of Vincent Vega (John Travolta) is seen in several scenes reading the first Modesty Blaise novel while sitting on the toilet. The edition Vincent reads has a mock-up cover that Tarantino had his prop department make, based upon the cover of an early edition of the novel.
- Samuel L. Jackson has a cameo role in Kill Bill as Rufus, an organist in the El Paso Chapel. Jackson's character was also rumored to be Jules, because of that character's desire to "walk the earth like Caine in Kung Fu". The fact that he works at a church and is very well traveled supports this theory, and Rufus is killed (along with the rest of the people in the chapel) on the orders of Bill (David Carradine). Carradine portrayed Caine in the Kung Fu television series.
- The collector's edition DVD (region 1) comes with a printed menu for "Jack Rabbit Slim's," similar to the one read by Mia and Vincent. While "Vanilla Coke" and "$5 Shake" (listed as "Five Dollar Milk Shake") are on the menu, the entree items "Durward Kirby Burger" (ordered by Mia) and "Douglas Sirk Steak" (ordered by Vincent) are absent.
- Red Apple, the cigarettes Butch buys inside Marsellus's bar, is also advertised in Tokyo's airport in Kill Bill, Volume 1 and in LA's airport in the beginning sequence of "Jackie Brown". They also appear in Four Rooms.
- Virtually all of Tarantino's characters smoke the brand Red Apple. This is a fictional brand that Tarantino invented to avoid product placement. In Pulp Fiction, however, Vincent Vega rolls his own cigarettes using Drum, a real brand of tobacco.
- Big Kahuna Burger is Tarantino's fictional fast-food restaurant, and is featured in the Pulp Fiction apartment scene, From Dusk Till Dawn, and in Reservoir Dogs, when Michael Madsen walks in drinking a soda.
- The cereal that Lance is eating when Vincent comes to his house with Mia is called Fruit Brute and it was discontinued in 1983. Quentin Tarantino tries to get the same cereal box in each of his movies, which has shown up in Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, although the cereal through which Vernita fires a gun is called "Kaboom!".
- In the flashback to Butch's childhood, young Butch watches a TV show featuring static cartoon images with superimposed moving human lips. The show is Clutch Cargo, perhaps the best-known of the programs and commercials that used this "Syncro-Vox" technique.
- Jules uses a STAR model B pistol, and Vincent uses an Auto Ordinance Colt 1911A1 model pistol. Both are 9mm caliber, chrome plated, and have custom "mother of pearl" grips, and are actually owned by Quentin Tarantino himself.
- When we first see Jules and Vincent kill Brett in the apartment, you can see that Jules has emptied his gun. However, when we see them kill Brett again in "The Bonnie Situation", he still has one more round to kill the guy who bursts out of the bathroom.
- When the film was initially released in the United Arab Emirates, local distributers thought they'd received a "mixed-up" copy of the film, so they recut the entire film, placing it in chronological order.[citation needed]
- Many people missed the irony of the coversation Vincent and Jules have about McDonalds and differences in Europe in that Vincent spends his time in American style places in countries with many better things to offer and that Jules only asks about such things.
- The name "Winston Wolf" was borrowed from a regular customer named "Winston Wolff" who frequented the video store that Quentin Tarantino worked in. Later on, Wolff gained real world notice as a video game programmer at LucasArts, working on Dark Forces and Jedi Knight
- A popular internet rumor is that there is an announcement on the radio in one of Butch Coolidge's scenes saying that the trophy won by Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace was stolen. This is, in fact, a myth. All you can hear from the car radio in the scene where Butch leaves his car to go to his apartment is a radio advertisement for Jack Rabbit Slim's, but no mention is made of a stolen trophy.
- Butch's boxing opponent is mentioned on the radio as wearing blue shorts. Butch later kills him. At the very end of the movie, it can be clearly seen that Vincent is wearing blue shorts, signaling his impending death at Butch's hands.
- Harvey Keitel plays almost the exact same role, although he's a bit more sinister, in the movie Point of No Return (a man who cleans up botched hits).
- When Mia Wallace first meets Vincent Vega and is interviewing him with her camcorder, she asks him, "Can you dig it?" to which Vincent responds, "I can dig it." Mia responds, "I knew that you could!" in a nod to John Travolta's repeated phrase in Saturday Night Fever as Tony Manero.
- In Tarantino's original script the character of boxer Butch is a young fighter in his twenties. The character was aged to a washed up boxer to accommodate Bruce Willis playing the role.
- Jules was originally scripted with an Afro, but, due to a mix-up in wardrobe, had Jheri Curls.
[edit] References and footnotes
<references />
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Pulp Fiction at the Internet Movie Database
- 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
| The films of Quentin Tarantino |
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| Directed: My Best Friend's Birthday • Reservoir Dogs • Pulp Fiction • Four Rooms • Jackie Brown • Kill Bill • Grind House • Inglorious Bastards Written: True Romance • Natural Born Killers • From Dusk Till Dawn |
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