Pulp Fiction "That was f***in' trippy!"

OK now that I'm running the risk of repeating myself on here I thought I would do another post revisitation and this one is on Pulp Fiction, which I did back early last year which was taken from my other blog, but I thought I would revisit it and expand on some of the sections with looks at my fav bits of dialogue and a bit more analysis (well so to speak or basically me talking crap).  So with that let's get on the cheap hitman suit, get the guns loaded and knock the door again on this one....

So the plot is told in a typically non-linear fashion and is split across two main stories with some subplots and the first one features hitman Vincent Vega (Travolta) who goes on a job with his partner Jules Winfield (Jackson) to retrieve a briefcase from some young kids who were stupid enough to rip off their boss Marcellus Wallace (played by Vingh Rhames).  In the ensuing scene after they have killed the guys, Vincent accidentally kills one of their associates, Marvin (Phil LaMarr) by shooting him in the head while Jules is driving.  After that Jule's calls his local friend Jimmie for help (played by Tarantino himself) and Marcellus who sends one of his business associates Mr Wolf (Harvey Keitel), who "solves problems" and aids in cleaning up their mess for them.  The other story being Vincent who is asked by Marcellus to take out his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) one night on the town while he is away on business.  As the two of them have a good night out, and share a steak, burger, and take part in a twist contest, at a "wax museum with a pulse" 1950s style diner.  But when they go back to Mia's place, Mia accidentally overdoses on Vincent's heroin baggie, thinking it to be cocaine.  At this point Vincent in a panic takes the dying Mia over to his drug dealing buddie Lance (Eric Stoltz) from whom he bought heroin, which leads into the infamous "needle" scene where Vincent brings Mia round with an adrenaline shot.

The next big story is the "Golden Watch" with Bruce Willis as a boxer Butch Coolidge who is coming to the end of his career and is being forced to take a dive in his fight by Marcellus.  But Butch has other ideas and ends up winning the fight, killing his opponent in the process (unintentionally of course) and plans to flee with his girlfriend and the winnings he made from the bookies who placed bets on him.  But as Butch and his girlfriend, Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros) plan their departure, Butch notices that Fabienne neglected to pick up his precious golden watch, which was given to him as a present from a soldier (Christopher Walken) who was entrusted the watch given to him by Butch's dad, who later died of dysentary (from concealing the watch in his ass!) which leaves Butch furious and little choice but to go back to get the watch.  So as Butch goes back to his apartment to pick up the watch he proceeds to have the "weirdest fucking day of his life" as he rightly puts it.

And lastly the film concludes with Vincent and Jules having breakfast in a coffee house where they have a deep conversation about the freaky encounter they witnessed at Brett's apartment, when a gunman fired six bullets straight at them and they all missed.  Not long after two thieves, Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Yolanda (Amanda Plummer) hold up the coffee shop (whilst Vincent is in the bathroom) but as Pumpkin approaches Jules to get his wallet, the thief get's more than he bargained for as it leads into the film's surprising climax.
  
It has to be said that Pulp Fiction remains one of the most seminal and purely entertaining films of the last 20 years, which really established that Tarantino was no one-trick pony and he was a filmmaker that could really create something special.  Tarantino's script is wonderfully written and is filled with rich (and profane) dialogue which is highly memorable as well as quotable.  And its Tarantino's emphasis on the characters is what helps Pulp Fiction work so well as they are all very drawn out.  Vincent as the main character in the film, is both dim and smart at the same time, as he holds a rather stubborn view of life, but at key moments isn't the brightest of sparks (especially leaving his machine gun outside the bathroom, in the scene where Butch faces off him with his gun).

Jules on the other hand is much brighter, cockier and smarter, and as he and Vincent face certain death at one point in the film, Jules is smart enough to realise that at this point, this probably isn't the life for him.  And its most likely Jules decision after his dice with death that would go on to save him from a similar fate than Vincent's.  In the final scene Jules also helps the two coffee shop robbers (from the opening scene) to escape unharmed, as prior to that he would have just killed them.   Mia is also a really good character as she is nice and smart enough to know that her husband is protective of her, but she can look after herself.  And Mia's close call with death also, provides a chance for Vincent to be the good guy and save her, although he wouldn't stand a chance in hell if she died on him.  There's almost a fine line between Mia also flirting and going a step further with Vincent, but Quentin sensibly doesn't let it go that far, although in a later scene its implied they have been seeing each other behind Marcellus's back.

And performance is where Pulp Fiction shines as the cast are all on top form, starting with John Travolta who's career was totally revitalised here as he plays the part of the dim-witted hitman Vincent Vega, who get's into hot water when he unwittingly blows the head off a business associate and also has to try and save his boss's wife from overdosing on his own heroin.  Travolta has numerous highlights in the film such as his opening scene where he talks with Jules about the subtle differences between the cultures of America, Paris and Amsterdam.  And in the scene Jules says "Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris?" and Jules asks "Don't they call it a quarter pounder with cheese?" and Vincent says "No they've got the metric system they wouldn't know what the fuck a quarter pounder is.  They call it the Royale with cheese".  And of course when Jules asks him "What do they call a whopper?" Vincent says "I dunno.  I didn't go into Burger King".  Then there is the scene where Vincent teases Jules about giving foot massages and says "Would you give a guy a foot massage?  I'm little tired I could do with a foot massage myself!".  And later as he fights the temptation to try anything on with Mia after their dinner, he talks to himself in the bathroom mirror at her place and says "So what you're gonna do is go out there and say "I had a lovely evening" get in the car, go home, jerk off, and that's all your gonna do!".  And later the scene where Vincent desparately drives Mia over to Lance's place and drags her unconscious body out the car, despite Lance's protests "you are not to bring this fucked up bitch into my house!".  And Vincent let's her drop to the ground and says "This fucked up bitch is Marcellus Wallace's wife!  Do you know who Marcellus Wallace is???  Now if she croaks on me I'm a fuckin grease spot!".  And later after they shoot the gunman in Brett's apartment, Vincent kneels down and asks Marvin "Why the fuck didn't you tell us about the guy in the bathroom?  Did it slip your mind?  Did you forget there was someone in there with a goddamn hand cannon?!".  And lastly one of my favourite lines from Travolta is during the robbery of the diner and as Jules is about to give his money to Pumpkin he warns him "Jules if you give that fuckin nimrod 1500 dollars I'm gonna shoot him on general principle!".

Samuel L Jackson in this film needs no real introduction as this was the film that established his career and he is simply terrific in his role as the philosophical hitman who decides to turn a new leaf after his incident at Brett's apartment when retrieving Marcellus's case.  Jackson has so many highlights in the film as well as priceless dialogue its hard to name them all but I will mention a few.  The first being the scene where Jules and Vincent arrive at Brett's apartment and he asks Brett if he can take a bite of his burger and he does so and says "This IS a tasty burger!" followed by "Do you know what they call a quarter pounder in France?" and he tells Brett its a Royale with cheese and why and as Brett says "because of the metric system?" Jules says "Check out the big brain on Brett!".  And later in the scene he taunts Brett just before he shoots him and asks "What does Marcellus Wallace look like?!" leaving Brett a stuttering wreck who keeps saying "What?" and Jules's short fuse is about to reach the limit and he points the gun at him saying "Say what again?!  I dare you!  I double dare you, motherfucker!  Say what one more goddamn time!".   And this is of course is followed by his famous Ezekiel 25:7 passage from the bible, which Jules later on spouts back to Honeybunny in the coffee shop and admits "I never gave much thought to what it meant.  I just thought it was some cold blooded shit to say to a motherfucker before I popped a cap in his ass!".

Then there are some priceless Jackson moments in the "Bonnie Situation" storyline, such as when the gunman bursts out of Brett's bathroom and opens fire on Jules and Vincent but all the bullets miss.  And Jules looks down at the dead gunman, after they shoot him, and he says "Did you see the size of the gun he fired at us?  It was bigger than him!".  And one of Jackson's funniest moments comes in the scene where Jules and Vincent have to clean out the blood stained car and Jules groans in dispair as he cleans out bits of skull and blood "Oh, man!  I will never forgive your ass for this shit!  This is some fucked up repugnant shit!".  And when Vincent tries to say "when a man admits all his wrongdoings he is immediately forgiven" Jules says "Get the fuck out of my face with that shit!  The motherfucker that said that shit didn't have to pick up itty bitty pieces of brain and skull on account of your dumb ass!".  And when Vincent says how is "ready to blow" this is finally followed by "I'm a mushroom clould layin motherfucker, motherfucker!  Every time my fingers touch brain I'm Superfly TNT!  I'm the guns of the Navarone!  In fact what the fuck am I doing in the back?!  YOU'RE the motherfucker that should be on brain detail!".  And lastly when Jules grabs Pumpkin he tries to chill out Honeybunny (or Yolanda) by saying "We're gonna be like three Fonzies!  And what's Fronzie like?" and Yolanda says "cool?" and Jules says "Correct-a-mundo!".     

Uma Thurman is also excellent in her role as Mia Wallace, Marcellus's sultry wife who has dinner with Vincent and their scenes together provide a nice chemistry between them both.  Uma's highlights include the scene where Mia wants to dance for the Jack Rabbit Slim's dancing trophy and Vincent says no and she says "No, no, no, no.  I do believe Marcellus Wallace, my husband, your boss, told you to take me out and do what I wanted.  Now I wanna dance, I wan't that trophy.  So dance good!" and they proceed to carry out a pretty cheesy dance (which wins them the trophy nontheless!).  And after Mia has her harrowing near death experience and is saved bt Vincent she wearily asks him if he wants to hear a joke she told on the TV pilot she did.  And Mia tells the joke "A daddy tomato, a mommy tomato and a baby tomato cross the street.  The baby tomato starts lagging behind, the daddy tomato get's angry goes back and squishes him and says "Ketchup!".

Bruce Willis also puts in a good performance as the troubled boxer, Butch Coolidge, who is haunted by nightmares involving a soldier who hands Butch his late father's watch, who died in Vietnam and later on goes on the run from Marcellus Wallace as he ends up killing the boxer in his fight.  Willis play the part with his usual type of coolness combined with some hot tempered moments, which we see in the scene where he frantically looks through his suitcase for his father's watch, which his girlfriend Fabienne has forgotten.  And he says to Fabienne "That was my father's fucking watch.  Do you have any idea what he went through to get that watch??  I don't have time to go into it but it was alot!".  And one of Willis's best moments is where after he and Marcellus have been captured by the rednecks in the pawnshop and he breaks free of his bonds and knocks out the weird gimp and heads upstairs and rummages through the pawnshop for a weapon to rescue Marcellus with and he picks up a samurai sword and goes downstairs and exacts some revenge on the rednecks.  And later when Marcellus let's Butch go he takes Z's chopper (Z is played by Peter Greene) and picks up Fabienne, who asks him "Who's motorcycle is this?" and Butch says "Its a chopper baby" and she says "Who's chopper is this?" and Butch says "Zed's?" Fabienne "Who's Zed?" and Butch says "Zed's dead, baby.  Zed's dead!".

As for the rest of the cast, Vingh Rhames is great as the crime boss, Marcellus Wallace who sends Vincent and Jules to retrieve a case containing something of great value (and has a golden glow) which we never see what it is and later on has a confrontation with Butch.  Rhames also has some good moments such as in his first scene where Marcellus talks to Butch and tells him "I think when this shit is all done and over, you're gonna find yourself one smilin motherfucker" as he tells Butch to take a dive in his fight.  And later in the scene where Butch spots Marcellus cross the street, while driving his car, they look at each other and Marcellus shouts "Motherfucker!" just as Butch runs him over.  But later on Butch decides to save Marcellus during being raped by the rednecks, and Marcellus then takes the shotgun and blasts Zed's private parts to bits.  And as Butch asks him if he is OK, Butch says "Naw, man.  I'm pretty far from OK!" and he tells Butch they are cool and asks "Don't tell nobody about this.  This shit is between me, you and soon to be living the rest of his short ass life in agonising pain, rapist here, it nobody else's business" and he addresses Zed "You hear me talking hillbilly boy?!  I ain't through with you by a damn sight!  I'm gonna get medieval on your ass!".      

Eric Stoltz is also good in his role as Lance, the drug dealer who sells Vincent the heroin, which Mia later overdoses on and he takes the call from Vincent when Mia has OD'd he says to him on the phone "This is not my fuckin problem!  You fucked her up, you fuckin deal with this!  Are you talking to me on a cellular phone?!  I don't know you!  Prank caller, prank caller!" and hangs up.  Harvey Keitel also provides an amusing performance as Winston Wolf, the problem solver who turns and sorts out the "Bonnie Situation" which refers to Jule's friend, Jimmy's wife, Bonnie who will come home from work any time.  And Harvey's best line comes when Vincent disputes Winston's straight talking no-nonsense manner and Winston says "If I'm curt with you, its because time is a factor.  I think fast, I talk fast and I need you guys to act fast if you want to get out of this.  So pretty please, with sugar on top, clean the fuckin car!".  And lastly Quentin Tarantino also can't resist putting himself in the film in his small role as Jimmy who through little choice has to help out Jules and Vincent with their problem.  And Tarantino has some funny albeit rather offensive sounding lines such as "When you came pulling in here, did you notice a sign outside my house saying dead nigger storage?" and later when Winston asks what Jules and Vincent looks like in Jimmy's sporty shorts and t-shirts he says "Dorks!  They look like a couple of dorks!".     

As for Quentin Tarantino's direction and writing well they speak for themselves as they are simply first class and as he did with Reservoir Dogs he employs the use of long takes in certain scenes and even has a little nod to Brian De Palma with the scene where we see Butch on the right edge of the frame, exhausted on the run from a groggy Marcellus who went see in the disance on the left of the shot.  Tarantino also has a memorable soundtrack made up of tracks such as Dick Dale's "Miserlou", and Kool n the Gang's "Jungle Boogie", Aretha Franklin's "Son of a preacher man" as well as other songs like "Countin flowers on the wall" by the Statler Brothers, "Comache" by The Revels, used during the hillbilly rape scene and Chuck Berry's "You never can tell" used during Vincent and Mia's dance.    

Flaw wise how does Pulp Fiction stack up then????  Well despite the fact the film is two and a half hours long it rarely drags, although I do admit the Butch and Fabienne scene does drag on a bit, and is the only fairly tedious scene in the film, especially with Fabienne wittering on, about wishing she had a pot belly like "Madonna did when she did Lucky Star!".  The film is also probably guilty of Tarantino's own penchant to make nerdy observations possibly as a result of his travels, such as the comparisons between American and French cultures and gives those references for the actors to deliver.   

And one of the few things that does leave me slighly uncomfortable about Pulp Fiction is the somewhat racist element on the dialogue, especially in the scenes such as Lance the drug dealer saying to Vincent about his deals "Am I a nigger?  Are we in Inglewood??" as well as Jimmie saying to Jules "when you pulled in here, did you see a sign on the front of my house saying dead nigger storage??".  It does show an uncomfortable mix of humour blended in with racism, and it was the same in Reservoir Dogs where the gangsters talk about "how every nigger they know treats their women like a piece of shit?".  Also in the redneck scene where Marcellus is raped by one of the good ol boys, it does appear very stereotypical in its depiction of these characters and it almost like Quentin threw in the sodomy scene for shock effect more than anything else.  But apart from that its a mighty impressive film, which is also great because not just the dialogue but also how the characters react and interact with one another, when there is no dialogue.  And while Quentin was accused of writing racist dialogue by Spike Lee when he did Jackie Brown, I think at that time he wrote it specifically for the black guys in the film, so it certainly wasn't racist then, and I guess he is also writing the dialogue from the point of view of the character's attitudes.  Despite all that it can still leave a bitter taste in your mouth whilst you listen to the dialogue at times.  

Sooooo that's it for my revisitation to my original Pulp Fiction post and I hope you have enjoyed it and its amazing to think that Pulp Fiction is now 20 years old as a film and to this day it is still a fresh and highly entertaining as it was back then.

So with that I shall adios mofos!