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AUTHOR RATING (5 out of 5)
SUMMARY
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 independent film about the lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair of armed robbers that intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.
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REVIEW
Pulp Fiction is a film that epitomises COOL, from the stimulating visual experience, absolutely awesome dialogue throughout the whole film, the fascinating characters, the cast, superb acting, the storyline, cinematography and of course the soundtrack.
This has been my number one favourite film since seeing it at the cinema way back in 1994. I have been pleased to see it in the number one slot in many best all time film lists.
I still remember feeling blown away after seeing it, I thought Reservoir Dogs (also by Quentin Tarrantino) was amazing, but this in my opinion is even better.
Pulp Fiction has also received the recognition it deserves by winning numerous awards, which include the prestigious Palm d’Or in 1994 and an OSCAR for best screenplay in 1995.
The plot is made highly entertaining due to the fact that the film is like four separate films with the main unique and interesting characters intersecting with each other throughout the film.
We get to know each of the quirky and interesting characters in depth during the film:
Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson), the two mob hit men who have to retrieve a mysterious brief case from a group of small time criminals in “biblical” style after which everything goes haywire (the contents of the briefcase are never revealed in this film, but it is obvious what the contents are if you have watched Reservoir Dogs, as Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction is the brother of Mr. White in Reservoir Dogs).
Yolanda (Amanda Plummer) and Ringo (Tim Roth), the two desperate robbers who decide on a career change and only rob restaurants. Quote –
Why not? Nobody ever robs restaurants. Bars, liquor stores, gas stations... you get your head blown off sticking up one of them. Restaurants on the other hand, you catch with their pants down. They're not expecting to get robbed. Not as expectant anyway.
Marcellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) the mob boss gets the boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) to throw a fight in a betting scam only for Butch to have plans of his own, and absolute mayhem ensues, with both of them getting kidnapped, tortured and one of them brutally raped in one of the darkest scenes in the movie.
Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman), Marcellus Wallace’s wife takes a shine to Vincent Vega after Vincent’s boss Marcellus asks him to look after his bored wife and “take her out”. After a great start of a meal out and winning a dance contest (another fantastic scene) at a themed restaurant staffed by lookalikes of pop icons, Vincent’s life suddenly turns upside down after Mia has a near fatal drugs “accident”. This is a dark but at the same time highly enthralling scene, as Vincent races to a friend’s house - Lance (Eric Stoltz) who has medical knowledge in desperation to save her life.
The above are just some of the main characters, with many others brilliantly cast and all playing very important roles and contributing greatly to this film, in brief:
Winston ‘The Wolf’ (Harvey Keitel) – he solves problems and that is exactly what he has to do after Vincent and Jules create a huge mess of killing someone “accidentally”. Quote -
Get it straight buster - I'm not here to say please, I'm here to tell you what to do and if self-preservation is an instinct you possess you'd better fucking do it and do it quick. I'm here to help - if my help's not appreciated then lotsa luck, gentlemen.
Captain Koons (Christopher Walken) – delivers one of the centre pieces of this film to the young Butch Coolidge (the boxer) – The Gold Watch. Quote -
The way your Dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any slopes were gonna put 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 he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk 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.
Lance (Eric Stoltz) - Vincent’s drug supplier and personal friend. Lance and Vincent are suddenly confronted with the task of resuscitating Mia Wallace who is dying slowly after mistakenly snorting Vincent’s heroine believing it to be cocaine:
Lance: You're going to give her an injection of adrenaline directly to her heart. But she's got, uh, breastplate...
[taps Mia's chest]
Lance: So you gotta pierce through that. So what you have to do is, you have to bring the needle down in a stabbing motion.
[demonstrates with a stabbing motion precisely 3 times]
Vincent: I-I gotta stab her three times?
Lance: No, you don't gotta fucking stab her three times! You gotta stab her once, but it's gotta be hard enough to break through her breastplate into her heart, and then once you do that, you press down on the plunger.
Vincent: What happens after that?
Lance: I'm kinda curious about that myself...
The above characters are just a quick introduction as this movie is so beautiful rich in dialogue, you would just about have to quote every character in the film.
It was so refreshing to see such a lack of political correctness, even one of my most hated words, usually referred to as the N word is often used throughout the film.
The dialogue was my favourite aspect of this film, who can forget Jules and Vincent driving around just before embarking on a mob hit talking about the differences between America and Europe:
Jules: Okay now, tell me about the hash bars.
Vincent: So what you want to know?
Jules: Well, hash is legal there, right?
Vincent: Yeah, it's legal, but it ain't a hundred percent legal. I mean, you can't walk into a restaurant, roll a joint, and start puffin' away. They want you to smoke in your home or certain designated places.
Jules: Those are hash bars?
Vincent: Breaks down like this, okay: it's legal to buy it, it's legal to own it, and if you're the proprietor of a hash bar, it's legal to sell it. It's illegal to carry it, but that doesn't really matter 'cause get a load of this, all right – if you get stopped by the cops in Amsterdam, it's illegal for them to search you. I mean, that's a right the cops in Amsterdam don't have.
Jules: [laughing] Oh, man! I'm going, that's all there is to it. I'm fucking going.
Vincent: Yeah baby, you'd dig it the most. But you know what the funniest thing about Europe is?
Jules: What?
Vincent: It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same shit over there that we got here, but it's just – it's just there it's a little different.
Jules: Example?
Vincent: All right. Well, you can walk into a movie theater in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And I don't mean just like in no paper cup, I'm talking about a glass of beer. And in Paris, you can buy a beer at McDonald's. And you know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?
Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?
Vincent: Nah, man, they got the metric system, they wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: What do they call it?
Vincent: They call it a "Royale with Cheese".
Jules: "Royale with Cheese".
Vincent: That's right.
Jules: What do they call a Big Mac?
Vincent: A Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it "Le Big Mac".
Jules: [in mock French accent] "Le Big Mac." [laughs] What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent: I don't know, I didn't go in a Burger King.
The whole film is full of quick fire dialogue like the above, and the above is just one of my favourites.
It is argued that this film re-launched the career of John Travolta and launched the career of Samuel L. Jackson.
The film is justifiably violent in places, but this is not gratuitous violence, just paints the correct picture of the seedy and violent underworld of LA.
To finish off, besides being my favourite film of all time, it is also a movie I can watch over and over again without ever getting bored of it, brilliantly written and probably the most quotable crime movie of all time.
MEMORABLE QUOTES
Way, way too many, so just a few of my personal favourites:
Mia Wallace - “Uncomfortable silences. Why do we feel it's necessary to yak about bullshit in order to be comfortable?”
Jules - “Hamburgers. The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast.”
Jules - “Mind if I have some of your tasty beverage to wash this down with?”
Jules - “If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions.”
Vincent - “I don't mean any disrespect; I just don't like people barking orders at me.”
Jules - “Why didn't you say something, Marvin? Slipped your mind? You forgot to mention someone's in the bathroom with a goddamn hand cannon?”
Marcellus - “The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride fucking with you. Fuck pride. Pride only hurts, it never helps.”
Butch - “You feel that sting, big boy, huh? That's pride FUCKIN' with you! You gotta fight through that shit!”
Jules - “I'm sorry, did I break your concentration? I didn't mean to do that. Please, continue, you were saying something about best intentions. What's the matter? Oh, you were finished! Well, allow me to retort.”
Jules - "What" ain't no country I've ever heard of. They speak English in What?
Jules - “Say 'what' again. Say 'what' again, I dare you, I double dare you motherfucker, say what one more Goddamn time!”
Jules - “Normally, both your asses would be dead as fucking fried chicken, but you happen to pull this shit while I'm in a transitional period so I don't wanna kill you, I wanna help you.”
Jimmy (Tarrantino) - “I don't need you to tell me how fucking good my coffee is, okay? I'm the one who buys it. I know how good it is. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff because when I drink it I want to taste it. But you know what's on my mind right now? It AIN'T the coffee in my kitchen, it's the dead n***** in my garage.”
Marcellus - “You see, this profession is filled to the brim with unrealistic motherfuckers. Motherfuckers who thought their ass would age like wine. If you mean it turns to vinegar, it does. If you mean it gets better with age, it don't.”
Jules - “Correctamundo. And that's what we're gonna be. We're gonna be cool. Now Ringo, I'm gonna count to three, and when I count three, you let go of your gun, and sit your ass down. But when you do it, you do it cool. Ready? One... two... three.”
Ringo - “What have we been talking about? Yeah, no more liquor stores. Besides, it ain't the giggle it used to be. Too many foreigners own liquor stores these days. Vietnamese, Koreans, they don't even speak fucking English. You tell them, empty out the register, they don't know what the fuck you're talking about. They make it too personal, one of these g*** fuckers is gonna make us kill him.”
Marcellus - “What now? Let me tell you what now. I'ma call a coupla hard, pipe-hittin' n******, who'll go to work on the homes here with a pair of pliers and a blow torch. You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'ma get medieval on your ass.”
Jules - “Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker. Pigs sleep and root in shit. That's a filthy animal. I ain't eat nothin' that ain't got sense enough to disregard its own feces.”
Fabienne - “I don't give a damn what men find attractive. It's unfortunate what we find pleasing to the touch and pleasing to the eye is seldom the same.”
BAD POINTS OF FILM
There really isn’t anything negative I can say about this masterpiece.
WHY SHOULD I WATCH THIS FILM?
As stated before - probably the COOLEST film ever made, the visual experience, the absolutely awesome dialogue, interesting characters, the cast, the acting, the storyline, the cinematography, the soundtrack and of course...
It's my favourite film of ALL time.
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