A 1994 crime drama told in the Quentin Tarantinotrademarknonlinear fashion. It covers three stories, all interconnected.The first is about two hitmen, Jules Winnfield (played by Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (played by John Travolta), who are out to retrieve a briefcase stolen from their employer, Marsellus Wallace (played by Ving Rhames). This leads into two subplots, one about Vincent being ordered to also take Mia Wallace, Marsellus's wife (played by Uma Thurman), out for a night on the town while Wallace is out of town doing business, and another about Jules and Vincent accidentally shooting a guy named Marvin in the face and trying to clean it up.The second is about an aging boxer named Butch Coolidge (played by Bruce Willis) who is paid by Wallace to throw a fight. Instead, Butch bets on himself and wins (accidentally killing the other boxer in the process), making swift plans to leave the country straight after. But before he can do this, he has to recover a certain gold watch that belonged to his father, which promptly leads into the weirdest day of his life, involving Marsellus, Vincent, and a pair of seriously nasty hillbillies.The third story which actually bookends the film is about a pair of robbers named Pumpkin and Honey Bunny (played by Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer) who spontaneously hold up a restaurant... a restaurant that Jules and Vincent are eating in.Known for its rich, eclectic, pop-culture-laden dialogue, and mix of humor and over-the-top violence, Pulp Fiction is known as one of the best, most iconic films to come out of The Nineties. Also somewhat infamous for the controversy over proper writing credits. The Gold Watch chapter originated as an original script by Roger Avary. Tarantino bought the script with the intention of adapting it, as one would do a novel. In the final credits, Avary is given a "story by" listing.There is also an interesting review of the layers and story in one segment of the movie, the "gold watch" incident, which can be found here.Not to be confused with actual Pulp Fiction as a genre, which is found under Pulp Magazine.
As Herself: Kathy Griffin is cast as herself. She's the red-haired woman who witnesses the crash Butch and Marcellus are involved in.
As The Good Book Says: Jules Winnfield is fond of quoting Ezekiel 25:17 (with a bit of his own embellishment, as only the final lines of Jules' speech, "And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger... And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee," appear in the aforementioned passage) before executing someone, and as he explains to one character, he always thought it was some "cold blooded shit" that one said to "a motherfucker" before "I popped a cap in his ass."
As Long as It Sounds Foreign: Esmarelda Villalobos. Colombia is the world's leading source of emeralds. No Colombian ever would name their child "Esmarelda" but "Esmeralda" (the Spanish word for Emerald).
Asian Store Owner: The opening conversation includes a lament about how this trope has made knocking over convenience stores nearly impossible; as Pumpkin explains, the small business owners are all either Jewish or Asian, and either way the business has been in the family for "fifteen fucking generations," so naturally they're going to be rather defensive when some jerk with a gun comes in.
Ass Shove: Captain Koons' "your father's watch" speech.
The Atoner: While Butch claims not to care about killing his opponent, he mutters, "Sorry, Floyd," to the air when he hears the news. His compulsion to save Marsellus may be connected.
While we don't see it, it seems Jules is starting down this path.
"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 the shepherd."
Author Appeal: Mia goes barefoot in at least two of her scenes, and foot massages come up in conversation twice. Esmarelda drives her cab barefoot, as well. Tarantino's foot fetish is well known at this point.
Badass: Jules, Butch, Marsellus Wallace, and even Mia in her own way.
Badass Back: Butch killing Maynard. After wounding him with a Diagonal Cut he then moves on Zed and casually shoves his katana backwards into Maynard's stomach.
Brick Joke: Does Marcellus Wallace look like a bitch? Yes.
Cavalier Consumption: While Jules and Vincent are putting on a hit. Man, Big Kahuna Burgers are tasty.
Chainsaw Good: Referenced,then averted: Butch considers a chainsaw when choosing his weapon for taking down the pawn shop rapists (he also sees and discards a carpenter's hammer and a baseball bat before spotting the katana.)
Chekhov's Gun: Vincent and Jules' T-shirts and shorts. They show up without any warning at the start of the third part of the movie, but the significance doesn't become apparent until much later.
Chekhov's Lecture: Zed learns the hard way that "Marsellus Wallace don't like to be fucked by anybody except Mrs. Wallace." As explained by this Venn diagram◊ here.
Cliché Storm: In-universe: the Fox Force Five pilot described by Mia Wallace. From what she says, it appears to be a very generic and cheesy Five Girl Band series that wasn't picked up for a good reason.
Cloudcuckoolander: Butch's wife has shades of this with the things she talks about.
The manager is credited as "Coffee Shop" because when he's about to say "coffee shop manager" to Pumpkin he was cut off.
Producer Lawrence Bender is "Long Haired Yuppie-Scum"
Emil Sitka is "Hold Hands, You Love Birds!", his "line" in the Three Stooges short Lance was watching.
The bartender's actual name in the script is English Bob (referenced by Jules in the diner scene). But his "My name is Paul and this is between y'all" line was so awesome that he's credited as "Paul" instead.
Driving A Desk: For no apparent reason Tarantino chose what looks like a 1940s black-and-white street background for the scene where Esmerelda drives Butch away from the fight.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Vincent. After being the central character of the previous story, he comes out of the bathroom and gets shot by Butch before he can even say or do anything.
Drugs Are Bad: Only those stupid enough to leave their submachine gun out in the open while going to the bathroom would ever dabble in heroin. Also, Mia nearly dies from an OD.
Faux Affably Evil: Jules when he and Vincent show up at Brett's apartment. Jules comes in, acts civil and friendly, and even politely asks Brett if he can take a bite of his burger and a drink of his Sprite. Of course, throughout the entire discussion, everyone present knows that Jules and Vincent are hitmen who, at best, are here to recover the glowy thingy in the briefcase, and at worst, are here to kill them, so Jules' act of civil politeness just serves to ratchet up the tension, until Jules finally dispenses with the whole thing and breaks Brett's concentration by shooting his buddy.
Foot Focus: Long before it became a popular internet theory, foot fetishists had Tarantino figured out. It wasn't just the famous foot massage dialogue...sole shots, walking shots, and even a brief pedal stomping scene (yes, there's a fetish for that).
Foreshadowing: Jules on Marsellus Wallace, "Does he look like a bitch?" "No." "Then, why did you try to fuck him like a bitch?...You tried to fuck him. And Marcellus Wallace does not like to be fucked by anybody except Missus Wallace."
Funny Background Event: By itself it's not particularly funny, but the classy party Winston Wolf is attending when he receives the summons to help Jules and Vincent becomes a lot funnier when you realize it's not even eight o'clock in the morning when it's taking place.
Heel Realization: The entire final part of the movie involves Jules' realization that he was, in fact, a tool used by wicked men. It's left unknown whether or not he helped Pumpkin and Honey Bunny have the same sort of realization as well.
Hypocritical Humor: Whether it was intended for humor or not, in one scene, Jules tells Vincent to stop committing blasphemy by taking God's name in vain. Before and after that scene, however, Jules has no problem using the same language he scolded Vincent for, himself.
During the opening scene, Pumpkin complains about how there's "too many foreigners own liquor stores", which makes robbing them harder. Pumpkin is an Englishman in America — a foreigner, in other words.
Imagine Spot: Jules imagines Bonnie's potential reaction to coming home and finding "a couple of gangsters in her kitchen doin' a bunch of gangster shit."
Intercourse with You: Girl You'll Be A Woman Soon can be perceived like this, because Mia and Vincent definitely have some sexual tension going on.
In the Name of the Moon: Jules Winnfield's (mis)quoting the Biblical book of Ezekiel before pulling the trigger.
Ironic Echo: Butch telling Marcellus "That's pride fucking with you" while hitting him in the head.
Karma Houdini: Pumpkin and Honey Bunny are made to give back the MacGuffin briefcase and Jules's wallet... but, other than that, they get to keep all the loot they've robbed, including the contents of the register, several of the other diners' wallets and a cell phone, and walk away entirely unharmed - while, admittedly, looking rather shook up. Of course, Jules has made it expressly clear that if it were any other day, he'd have just popped them both and finished his coffee, but he's making a conscious effort to change his ways.
Katanas Are Just Better: Butch chooses a katana over a variety of other weapons, including a chainsaw. The trope can be justified by the fact that Butch is trying to sneak up on two men armed with guns, and a chainsaw is not very sneaky, but Butch is clearly awed by the katana and sees it as the most AWESOME weapon.
Large Ham: Samuel L. Jackson at many points, such as the ending and of course the infamous "Describe what Marsellus Wallace looks like!" bit.
Left Your Lifesaver Behind: Vincent is waiting for Butch to show up at his (Butch's) house to kill him. While waiting Vincent needs to go to the bathroom, so he leaves his Ingram MAC-10 on the kitchen counter. While he's in the bathroom Butch shows up, and uses the Ingram to kill the unarmed Vincent as he leaves the bathroom.
Let Us Never Speak of This Again: The first of Marsellus' two things he asks of Butch after Butch saves him from Zed's... attentions.
The Load: While seemingly a cool and badass hitman at first, it soon comes to light Vincent Vega is an idiot. At least one person dies and another comes near it due to his general carelessness and a few of the conflicts inside the film are due to it.
Two, if we count himself.
Not to mention, when visiting the apartment in the beginning of the film, Vincent and Jules express deep concern over the fact that there could be as many as five guys there, all possibly armed. So what does Vincent do when they show up? Check the other rooms for mooks? Nope. Ask if there's anyone else there? Nope. He just sort of dicks around in the kitchen.
MacGuffin: The briefcase. Also the watch, which spent many years up various asses in a Vietnamese prison camp.
Magic Bullets: One of the major plot points involves the "bad bullets" version of this trope, where a man empties a high-caliber revolver at Jules and Vincent (at almost point blank range), but completely misses them. After killing him, Jules and Vincent examine the bullet holes in the wall, which the camera could not see until they stepped back, suggesting that the bullets should have passed through them. Lampshaded and arguably justified, as Jules points out that it couldn't possibly be anything but divine intervention and Vincent has no better rebuttal than any other Flat Earth Atheist. However, the commentary points out that some bullet holes were already in the wall when Vince and Jules went in.
Meaningful Background Event: In the first scene, when Pumpkin and Honey Bunny are discussing the merits of robbing liquor stores or restaurants, Vincent can be briefly seen heading for the bathroom.
Meaningful Name: Butch has a discussion regarding the meaning of names with a taxi driver who has some interest in the subject. He claims that for Americans, "our names don't mean shit". Which seems rather a strange thing for a professional boxer named Butch to say.
Mood Whiplash: Captain Koons' speech to young Butch starts off seriously, but then takes an abrupt turn for the absurd halfway through.
Mugging the Monster: Two robbers try to hold up a professional hitman. Unusually, the conflict gets resolved more or less peacefully because of benevolence on the hitman's part.
Noodle Incident: Tony Rocky Horror getting thrown by Marsellus Wallace. Rumor is Tony gave Mia a foot massage but Mia writes it off as bullshit and doesn't know Marsellus chucked him either.
Noodle Implements: Marsellus Wallace tells Butch that he's going to call several of his men to "go to work" on his rapist Zed with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch, then proceeds to tell Zed that he's going to "get medieval on his ass." Since Zed had already been shot in the groin, one can only imagine what else of his is going to be pinched and burned.
The blowtorch is for burning off his finger and toetips, so he can't be printed. The pliers are for pulling out teeth, so he can't be tracked via dental records. In other words, Marcellus wants him to die and never have it be known what happened. There are other uses for those pliers, but explaining will fall even further into squick territory.
N-Word Privileges: "Nigger" is peppered throughout the script, said by (and to) white and black characters alike. The most famous being Jimmie (who is married to a black woman), and his query about whether his garage has a sign saying "Dead Nigger Storage". If you are curious: it hasn't.
Only a Flesh Wound: By the way Marsellus says what specific time period he's going to get on the ass of the guy that just raped him, you get the impression that the guy would live to face it. Despite the fact that he just shot him in his crotch with a shotgun! However, birdshot or anything smaller than 00 buckshot penetrates quite poorly, so the chance of his injuries being fatal may be...unfortunately small.
Only Known by Their Nickname: The two robbers "Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny". Honey Bunny's real name is revealed to be Yolanda. Jules calls Pumpkin "Ringo".
Pants Positive Safety: After ditching their bloodied suits from the Marvin incident, Jules and Vincent are seen carrying their guns in their waistbands.
Share the Male Pain: Take a good long look at Butch after Zed gets blasted by the shotgun. Butch spends all but a couple seconds in the next few minutes of conversation covering his crotch.
Shot to the Heart: Vincent does this to Mia, since they don't want a drug lord's wife going to the hospital with a drug OD. In reality, she almost certainly would have died unless 911 was called. The epinephrine may have restarted her stopped heart, but it would do nothing about the heroin still in her system, she'd probably be tachycardic from the epi, and she'd probably also get an infection from the unsterilized needle in her chest.
Shout Out: Tarantino has stated that the briefcase was originally meant to be the same MacGuffin suitcase of diamonds from Reservoir Dogs until they changed it to a glowing object instead.
The scene where Butch is stopping at a crosswalk and Marcellus walks by is very similar to a scene in Psycho.
Signs of Disrepair: As Butch looks for weapons, one sign in the shop reads Kill___ _Ed.
Stupid Crooks: Vincent has a large number of personal What an Idiot moments, two of which are directly in relation to his job as a hitman and enforcer for Marcellus Wallace's criminal empire. Not only does he provide us the Trope Name for I Just Shot Marvin In The Face, but Vincent also leaves Marcellus' submachinegun in plain view while he goes to the bathroom at Butch's apartment when he's supposed to be waiting for Butch to show up and kill him. Butch does show up, and, upon noticing the gun, picks it up and shoots Vincent dead after he steps out of the bathroom.
Jules and Vincent going to breakfast at a Denny's less than 400 yards from the place they shot three people at under two hours prior. The restaurant is a Denny's in the script, and you can see the sign as Jules and Vincent are walking to the hit, talking about Mia.
Take Our Word for It: The audience never sees what Marsellus Wallace sent Vincent and Jules to retrieve, but, going by the glow that radiates from the briefcase containing it, and the reactions of all the characters who see it, we're to believe it's pretty fantastic. Tarantino originally intended it to be the loot from Reservoir Dogs, but changed it to an unseen light, and has stated that it's "whatever you want."
Third Person Flashback: At flashback to when Butch is given his father's watch, with Christopher Walken telling him the story, starts in first-person but then goes third.
Wham Line: "Garçon, coffee!" The second time we hear it. Wham, we're back at the beginning of the film. Oh, did you think we were just gonna let that scene hang there like that?
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