Pulp Fiction (1994)
Starring: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Ving Rhames, Maria de Medeiros, Eric Stoltz, Rosanna Arquette, Christopher Walken, Quentin Tarantino
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Rating: 10/10
“,,,ketchup!”
I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to be Quentin Tarantino in 1994. Just two years after unleashing the critically acclaimed and universally praised Reservoir Dogs as his first real release, he dropped Pulp Fiction on the masses as if it was just another movie. It wasn’t, and as a result he took home Oscars for best writing and best screenplay. Because the world simply isn’t fair, the film was denied Best Picture by the solid but inferior Forrest Gump, but as the years fade away it’s Pulp Fiction that only becomes more endearing to its audiences. It’s a modern classic, the kind of movie you certainly don’t see just once.
A lot of Pulp Fiction‘s stunning replay value is tied up in the world Tarantino created and how he presents the he crafted. The Los Angeles put forth in the movie is one so off kilter that it’s impossible not to lose yourself in it. Only in a Tarantino movie do scenes as bizarre and depraved as the one Butch the boxer (Bruce Willis) and Marcellus the mob boss (Ving Rhames) go through make sense. This is a Los Angeles in which literally anything can happen, and yet for 2 1/2 hours it feels like home. Tarantino ups the ante even further by taking each of the story lines he penned and mixing them up so that we’re never really sure what is happening and when until the closing credits roll. Some movies use structure as a crutch to dress up weak material; Pulp Fiction uses it to enhance something great to something legendary.
Pulp Fiction is special right from its beginning. A couple of star-crossed lovers (Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer) decide it’s time to stop robbing liquor stores and knock over the restaurant they’re currently sitting in, and Tarantino makes sure the conversation that leads to this decision is anything but boring. From here we cut to two amusing gangsters, Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson experiencing the first of many roles in Tarantino films), as they prepare to scare the shit out of a few kids who have stolen a crucial and mysterious briefcase from their boss Marcellus. We’re also of course treated to Vincent entertaining Marcellus’ wife Mia (Uma Thurman), Butch deciding whether or not to throw a fight, Butch and Marcellus enduring a torturous event, Vincent and Jules getting help cleaning up a sticky situation, and the ultimate resolution of the lovers we open the movie with. It’s a stunning masterpiece of a story, and not a single one of the plots we’re given fall short of excellence.
Tarantino’s crisp and evocative dialogue is genius, but it wouldn’t have nearly the same impact without a fantastic cast. Jackson, Travolta, and Thurman all received Oscar nods for their work, and all three deserved the honor. My favorite scenes in the movie are probably those in which Vincent and Jules are working together. They’re doing deadly work that would be portrayed so differently in so many other movies, but in Pulp Fiction the characters take time to have the kinds of conversations friends would have. Well, sort of. I wish I talked like these guys.
If you haven’t seen Pulp Fiction before, and I’m not sure that’s possible, there are tons of decisions Tarantino makes that will come across as shocking the first time around. There are unexpected deaths, a feud between two Butch and Marcellus that ends in a way that there would literally be no possible way to predict, and the constant curiosity of who Mia really is. And I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t briefly applaud Christopher Walken’s single scene, a monologue in which he describes the origins of a family watch to a young Butch before we get jolted back to the present. The inspired nature of this screenplay still crackles nearly two decades later. Watching Pulp Fiction feels a lot like watching a visionary in his prime; I could care less that Tarantino borrows concepts or tropes from familiar genres or obscure films. By the time he’s done working his magic, what he’s created is something distinctly his own.
The very best movies bring you into a different world, or at least that’s how I see it. For me, the most powerful material is often derived from a created universe that doesn’t exist until all of a sudden you’re in it. These are the kind of movies that fill a void you didn’t even know you had until you see them. Pulp Fiction accomplishes that with flying colors. Most of what happens in the movie, most of what the characters say, isn’t relatable in the traditional sense. The events on screen aren’t occurrences that prompt us to sit back and say, “oh, I knew a friend who went through this.” Instead, we get masterful storytelling that remains nearly as effective on the fifth viewing as it was on the first. The characters are all endearing on some level, but not for traditional reasons.
And maybe above all else, Pulp Fiction is wildly entertaining. Not a single scene is boring or feels too long even as Tarantino unspools lengthy line of dialogue after lengthy line of dialogue. I’ve been a fan, to varying degrees, or every movie Tarantino has directed and written, but Pulp Fiction holds a special place in my movie-going heart. It features Tarantino at his absolute peak, generating laughs, grimaces, genuine moments of revelation, and characters that are instantly memorable. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a movie I liked more.
