Pulp Fiction (1994)

Pulp Fiction is one of the most unique and original films out there. After directing the acclaimed Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino returns to the directing chair to make Pulp Fiction, which is generally considered his best film so far. By combining plot elements from everything he ever watched as a kid, throwing in old music that makes the soundtrack well worth buying, and writing an excellent script, Tarantino brought us a cult classic…in other words a “guy movie” is what we have here.

 

The film holds a few surprises, and despite its length it holds your interest with stimulating dialogue and plot twists, keeping you trying to put it all together by its unorthodox scene jumbling, and the result is a film that re-defines the genre. Click here for an essay on how it redefines and revives the gangster genre.

 

Click here for more information on what was in the briefcase, to get all the theories, some of which are just ridiculous. Seriously now…what was it they suggested, a Grammy?

Related Links:

• The Movie Vault
• Jeff’s Pulp Page – Audio and Pictures
• The Screenplay
• MovieMania’s Pulp Fiction Page
• RealAudio Pulp Fiction Sound Montage
• The Rendezvous Pulp Fiction Style
• Jack Rabbit Slim’s Pulp Fiction
• Reviews, Pictures, WAVs
• Gwarv’s Pulp Fiction Page
• Bomis Pulp Fiction Web Ring
• Sounds, Pictures, Video Clips
• Movie Poster
• Quentin Tarantino

 

Trivia about Pulp Fiction:

• When Vincent calls Lance on his cell phone, Lance is eating a bowl of Fruit Brute, a cereal from the older monster cereal family. Fruit Brute (which, along with Frankenberry, Boo Berry, and Count Chocula, make up the monster cereals) was the first of the type to be discontinued. Tarantino, Quentin has held onto a box and drops it into scenes from time to time. 
• The Big Kahuna burger was also eaten in the movie From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).
• Butch tells Fabienne that she does not speak Bora-Boran. Bora-Bora is a French colony, and Fabienne speaks French.
• Jules's character was originally written to have a gigantic afro. The wig failed to appear the day filming began, so Jackson, Samuel L.'s hair was then gerry-curled.
• Knoxville, Tennessee, where Butch was meeting his connection and where his great-grandfather bought the gold watch from was born, is also Tarantino's birthplace.
• The parts of Honey Bunny and Pumpkin were written specifically for Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth.
• Tarantino hesitated over the choice between the character he was going to play: Jimmie or Lance. He ended up choosing Jimmie's role because he wanted to be behind the camera in Mia's overdose scene.
• In the opening sequence with Honey Bunny and Pumpkin, Jules can be heard talking about quitting “the life.”
• Big Kahuna Burgers first appeared in Reservoir Dogs (1992), also written by Tarantino.
• The band-aid on Marsellus Wallace's neck was there because Rhames has a scar there that the makeup people felt would be too distracting during that scene. There are various rumors circulating that this was a deliberate reference to the removal of Marsellus's soul (which supposedly is in the briefcase that Jules and Vincent collect) but there has never been official confirmation of this. (Click here for more information on what was in the briefcase).
• Mia Wallace's comment, “An Elvis man should love this,” is a reference to an earlier cut scene where Mia claims that everyone can be classified as either an “Elvis man” or a “Beatles man.” She bets Vincent leans more towards “Elvis,” and he confirms it.
• Every time Vincent goes to the bathroom, something “bad” happens.
• The book that Vincent reads is “Modesty Blaise,” by Peter O'Donnell.
• Having Travolta pull the needle out, then running the film backwards, Tarantino filmed the shot of Vincent plunging the syringe into Mia’s chest.
• Vincent can be seen heading for the bathroom in the opening scene.
• When Vincent and Lance are attempting to give Mia the adrenaline injection, the board games “Operation” and “Life” are visible in the background.
• When Captain Koons visits the young Butch to give him his father's watch, his recollections refer to an airman named “Wynocki” who transports the watch back to safety. Wynocki is the name of John Garfield’s character in Howard Hawks’ film Air Force (1943). Hawks is one of Tarantino's favorite directors.
• The marquee where Butch boxes advertises the following fights: “Coolidge vs. Wilson” and “Vossler vs. Martinez.” The first is a reference to United States Presidents Calvin Coolidge and Woodrow Wilson, the second is a reference to Rand Vossler and Jerry Martinez who are two of Tarantino's friends from when he worked in a video store.
• When Butch is approaching his apartment, there is an advertisement for Jack Rabbit Slims on the radio. An ad for “Jack Rabbit Slims” can also be heard during the torture scene in Reservoir Dogs (1992).
• When Butch goes through the alley, the radio says that the dancing trophy from Jack Rabbit Slim's had been stolen! Therefore Mia and Vincent did not win, but in fact stole the trophy!
• The innocent bystander shot by Marsellus Wallace is the same actress pulled out of her car by Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs (1992).
• When Butch goes to leave the pawnshop after freeing himself, he pauses for a moment. He can either go to Tennessee and collect his money, or go back to help Marsellus Wallace. Near to where he pauses are a Tennessee license plate, and a neon sign for “Killian’s Red” on a shelf. The only letters that are still lit spell “Kill ed.” We are then shown a shot of Zed's key ring with the Z trinket: we are left with the subliminal message “Kill Zed,” which is what Butch proceeds to do.
• After Butch kills Maynard, Marsellus says he's going to call some friends “to go to work on [Zed] with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch.” In Charley Varrick (1973), a character named Maynard warns a bank manager that some mobsters “will go to work on you with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch.”
• Jimmy (Tarantino) is wearing a t-shirt bearing the logo of “Orbit,” a local alternative newspaper in Metro Detroit, for which Tarantino did an interview when he was promoting Reservoir Dogs (1992).
• In Reservoir Dogs (1992) (also written and directed by Tarantino), Nice Guy Eddie refers to a nurse named “Bonnie.”
• The F-word is used 257 times (give or take a few for when Marsellus was bound and gagged).
• Butch smokes “Red Apple” cigarettes. The same brand smoked by Roth’s character in Four Rooms (1995).
• The scene in which Butch waits at a stoplight and Marsellus walks in front of his car is reminiscent of that in Psycho (1960) in which Marion's boss crosses before her car.

 

Quotes from Pulp Fiction:

Mia: I do believe Marsellus Wallace, my husband, your boss, told you to take ME out and do WHATEVER I WANTED. I wanna dance, I wanna win. I want that trophy, so dance good.

The Wolf: That's thirty minutes away. I'll be there in ten.

Jules: Normally, both of you would be dead as fucking fried chicken by now, but since I'm in a transitional period right now I don't want to kill either one of your asses.

Jimmie: Well, the thing on my mind right now isn't the good coffee in my cup; it's the dead nigger in my garage.

 
Jimmie: I'm gonna get divorced. No marriage counseling, no trial separation, divorced.

Honey Bunny: Any of you fuckin' pigs move, and I'll execute every mother fuckin' last one of ya.

Vincent Vega: And you know what they call a-a-a Quarter Pounder with cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?
Vincent Vega: No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: Then what do they call it?
Vincent Vega: They call it “Royale” with cheese.
Jules: “Royale” with cheese! What do they call a Big Mac?
Vincent Vega: A Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it “le Big Mac.”
Jules: “Le Big-Mac”! (Laughs) What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent Vega: I dunno, I didn't go into Burger King.

Vincent: We should have shotguns for this.

Butch: You okay?
Marcellus: No. I'm pretty fuckin' far from okay.

Jules: Whoa...whoa...whoa...stop right there. Eatin' a bitch out, and givin' a bitch a foot massage ain't even the same fuckin' thing.
Vincent: Not the same thing, the same ballpark.
Jules: It ain't no ballpark either. Look maybe your method of massage differs from mine, but touchin' his lady's feet, and stickin' your tongue in her holiest of holies, ain't the same ballpark, ain't the same league, ain't even the same fuckin' sport. Foot massages don't mean shit.
Vincent: Have you ever given a foot massage?
Jules: Don't be tellin' me about foot massages - I'm the foot fuckin' master.
Vincent: Given a lot of 'em?
Jules: Shit yeah. I got my technique down ‘n’ everything, I don't tickle or nothin'.
Vincent: Have you ever given a guy a foot massage?
Jules: Fuck you.
Vincent: How many?
Jules: Fuck you.
Vincent: Would you give me a foot massage? I'm kinda tired.
Jules: Man, you best back off, I'm gettin' pissed.

Jules: Check out the big brain on Brett!

Jules: What does Marcellus Wallace look like?
Brett: What?
pointing his gun
Brett: He's b-b-black...
Jules: Go on.
Brett: He's bald...
Jules: Does he look like a bitch?
Brett: What?
Jules shoots Brett in shoulder
Jules: DOES HE LOOK LIKE A BITCH?
Brett: NO!
Jules: Then why you trying to fuck him like a bitch, Brett?
Brett: I didn't!
Jules: Yes you did. Yes you did, Brett. You tried to fuck him. And Marcellus Wallace don't like to be fucked by anybody except Mrs. Wallace.

Jules shoots the guy on the couch during Brett's interrogation
Jules: Oh, I'm sorry. Did I break your concentration?

Marcellus: No one needs to know about this except you, me and Mr. soon-to-be-living-the-rest-of-his-short-ass-life-in-agonizing-pain-rapist here.
 
Ezekiel 25:1, among others
Jules: 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 would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

After a long pause in their conversation
Mia Wallace: Don't you hate that?
Vincent Vega: Hate what?
Mia Wallace: Uncomfortable silences.

Lance: You're going to give her an injection of adrenaline directly to her heart.
Vincent: Then what happens?
Lance: I'm curious about that myself.

Marcellus: I'm prepared to scour the earth for that motherfucker. If Butch goes to Indochina, I want a nigger there waiting in a bowl of rice ready to pop a cap in his ass. 
 
Captain Koons: The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any of the slopes were gonna get their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.

Jules and Vincent take Marvin with them in their car and Vincent's gun blows Marvin's head off inadvertently.
Jules: Oh! Fuck's happening!
Vincent Vega: Man, I jus’ shot Marvin in the face.
Jules: Why the fuck did you do that! Oh man I've seen some crazy ass shit in my time!
Vincent Vega: Chill out, man. I told you it was an accident. You probably went over a bump or something.
Jules: Hey, the car didn't hit no motherfucking bump.
Vincent Vega: Hey, look, man I didn't mean to shoot the son of a bitch! The gun went off. I don't know why.
Jules: Well look at this fucking mess, man. We're on a city street in broad daylight.
Vincent Vega: I don't believe it.
Jules: Well believe it now, motherfucker! We gotta get this car off the road. You know cops tend to notice shit like your driving a car drenched in fucking blood.
Vincent Vega: Take it to a friendly place, that's all.
Jules: We're in the Valley, Vincent! Marcellus ain't got no friendly places in the Valley.
Vincent Vega: Well Jules this ain't my fucking town! Shit! What you doin'?
Jules dials a number on his cellular phone
Jules: I'm calling my partner in Toluca Lake.
Vincent Vega: Where's Toluca Lake?
Jules: Just over the hill here over by Burbank Studios. If Jimmie's ass ain't home, I don't what the fuck we're going to do, man. 'Cause I ain't got no other partners in 8-1-8. Hey Jimmie, yo, how you doin'? It's Jules. Listen up man. Me and my homeboy are in serious fucking shit. We're in a car and we gotta get off the road, pronto. I need to use your garage for a couple of hours.

Jimmie: Now let me ask you a question, Jules. When you drove in here, did you notice a sign out in front that said, “Dead nigger storage”?
Jules: Jimmie...
Jimmie: Answer the question! Did you see a sign out in front of my house that said “Dead nigger storage”?
Jules: Naw man, I didn't.
Jimmie: You know why you didn't see that sign?
Jules: Why?
Jimmie: Cause storin' dead niggers ain't my fuckin' business!

Winston Wolf takes exception to Vincent's taking exception to his brusque manner
Winston Wolf: So, pretty please - with sugar on top...clean the fuckin' car!

 
Vincent Vega: Jules, if you give that fuckin' nimrod fifteen hundred dollars, I'm gonna shoot him on general principles.

Jules: Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfuckers. Pig sleep and root in shit. That's a filthy animal. I ain't eat nothin' that ain't got enough sense to disregard its own feces.
Vincent: How about a dog? Dogs eat their own feces.
Jules: I don't eat dog either.
Vincent: Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?
Jules: I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy but they're definitely dirty. But, a dog's got personality. Personality goes a long way.
Vincent: Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, it'd cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true?
Jules: Well we gotta be talkin' about one charmin' motherfuckin' pig. I mean he'd have to be ten times more charmin' than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I'm sayin'?

Jules: We're all gonna be three little Fonzies - and what what was Fonzie?
Yolanda: Cool?
Jules: Correct-o-mundo!

Jules: Yolanda, I thought you were gonna be cool. When you yell at me, it makes me nervous. When I get nervous, I get scared. And when motherfuckers get scared, that's when motherfuckers get accidentally shot.

Jules Winnfield: Wanna know what I'm buyin' Ringo?
Pumpkin: What?
Jules Winnfield: Your life. I'm givin' you that money so I don't hafta kill your ass. You read the Bible?
Pumpkin: Not regularly.
Jules Winnfield: There's this passage I got memorized. Ezekiel 25:17. “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 the 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 I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.” I been sayin' that shit for years. And if you ever heard it, it meant your ass. I never really questioned what it meant. I thought it was just a cold-blooded thing to say to a motherfucker before you popped a cap in his ass. But I saw some shit this mornin' made me think twice. Now I'm thinkin': it could mean you're the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here, he's the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or is could by you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil and selfish. I'd like that. But that shit ain't the truth. The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin, Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be a shepherd.  

 

 

Cast overview, first billed only:

John Travolta ....  Vincent Vega 

Samuel L. Jackson ....  Jules Winnfield 

Uma Thurman ....  Mia Wallace 

Harvey Keitel ....  Winston Wolf 

Tim Roth ....  Pumpkin (Ringo) 

Amanda Plummer ....  Honey Bunny (Yolanda) 

Maria de Medeiros ....  Fabienne 

Ving Rhames ....  Marsellus Wallace 

Eric Stoltz ....  Lance  

Rosanna Arquette ....  Jody 

Christopher Walken ....  Captain Koons 

Bruce Willis ....  Butch Coolidge 

Quentin Tarantino ....  Jimmie 

Frank Whaley ....  Brett 

Laura Lovelace ....  Waitress