Lethal Weapon Review (Revisited Part 2) "I haven't even started!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right, so as we are close to Christmas day, I figured I would get one more post in before it comes around and I thought I would take a look a film that is somewhat seasonal, which is the original Lethal Weapon, which is set around Christmas time. 

So, with that said let's take a look at this action classic after 35 years from its release...

And as usual the warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!! 

STORY  

So, the film is set in 1987 in Los Angeles at around Christmas time and it starts with LAPD police officer, Sergeant Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) who has just turned 50.  Roger is called in to investigate the suicide of a prostitute, who turns out to be the daughter of an old friend of his, Michael Hunsaker (Tom Atkins) who he fought alongside in the Vietnam war.

Meanwhile another LAPD police officer, Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) is in the middle of a drugs bust, however he nearly kills one of the disarmed suspects as he goes into a blind rage.  Riggs as it turns out is suffering from depression as the result of his wife's death, Victoria which has left him suicidal. Riggs then that night, goes home and nearly kills himself as he puts a gun in his mouth but at the last minute he relents and cries to himself and looks at the picture of his wife and says "I'll see you much later!".

The next day Riggs is reassigned to homicide and partnered up with Murtaugh, who is very reluctant to take on Riggs.  The two of them go to see Michael Hunsaker, and Roger reveals to Hunsaker that his daughter, Amanda, was in fact murdered as the pills she had taken were doctored and laced with window cleaner, so she would have died within minutes had she not jumped.  Hunsaker tells Roger that she was also involved in making pornographic video tapes and drugs and he wants Roger to find out who was responsible and kill them.

Murtaugh however finds out first hand what a loose canon Riggs is, when Riggs goes up to try and talk down a man, McCleary (Michael Shaner) who is threatening to jump off a building, and instead handcuffs him and they jump off together onto a large inflatable catch.  Murtaugh is furious with Riggs and taunts him to shoot himself with his gun, but stops short when he realises Riggs might actually do it.

Afterwards, the two men start to put aside their differences then they go to question a pimp in connection to Amanada at a mansion, which turns out to be a drug lab, however the pimp open fires on them and Riggs ends up having to kill the pimp in self defence and he saves Murtaugh in the process, which leads Murtaugh to slowly gain respect for his new partner.  The two of them later go and have dinner at Murtaugh's house, where Riggs meets Rog's wife and family (and finds out Roger's eldest daughter has a crush on Riggs!) and they also speculate on what was behind the case.

The next day they go to question the hooker that Roger spoke to earlier, Dixie (Lycia Naff) in connection with Amanda, however as Dixie's house is blown up as they arrive.  Riggs finds a piece of a mercury switch, which woud only be used by professionals, and as they question a young boy who witnessed a man lurking about the house, he spotted that he had the same tattoo as Riggs, which is a US Army special forces tattoo, with whom Riggs served with during Vietnam.

Murtaugh and Riggs then go and question Hunsaker, who admits to being involved in a drug operation run by mercenaries, who were all involved in special ops and that he was trying to get out the operation and that his daughter's death was ordered by the head of the operation, General McAllister (Ryan Mitchell).  However before Hunsaker can reveal anymore on the operation to Roger, McAllister's chief enforcer, Mr Joshua (Gary Busey) shows up in a helicopter and shoots Hunsaker dead, and McAllister decides to turn up the heat on the two cops and kidnaps Roger's eldest daughter, Rianne (Traci Wolfe).

Riggs and Murtaugh are given a meeting place with McAllister, Joshua and their men, however they are ambushed by Riggs, who provides cover far away with a sniper rifle, but he is eventually captured as is Murtaugh and Rianne, who attempts to escape by car.  As a result Murtaugh and Riggs are both tortured in order for the mercs to find out what they know, with Joshua administering electric shock treatment to Riggs, and McAllister having Murtaugh beaten.

Riggs however manages to escape and he enters and kills McAllisters men and releases Muratugh and Rianne and they flee out onto the streets, where Riggs gives chase to Joshua and Murtaugh exacts his revenge on McAllister by killing him, but Joshua get's away.  And its far from over as Riggs and Murtaugh have to try and hunt down Joshua in order to keep Roger's family safe....

THOUGHTS 
 

Well, if I had to pick my favourite of the Lethal weapon films I would say that this one is still the best.  As the series went on, there was a larger emphasis on the comedic tone, but here the film keeps a good balance of comedy and drama and the film has a pretty intense feel throughout.  And both the lead characters have a fair bit of emotional weight over their heads, with Murtaugh feeling his age having turned 50, being a family man realising he has more to lose as he get's older, and Riggs, who's has been driven half crazy with rage and sorrow over the loss of his wife, leaving him a near suicidal, emotional wreck, which we see in that scene near the start in Riggs's trailer (and no I don't mean the scene where he get's out of his bed, naked, and we see his ass!).

However where Lethal Weapon succeeds is that it takes the cop buddy buddy formula and puts two very unlikely cops together and they end up being dependent on one another, with Murtaugh becoming something of a saviour for Riggs who is so burnt out and close to the edge.  That's not to say that Lethal Weapon isn't funny as it still has plenty of humourous moments and Shane Black's witty script provides some funny lines, which I will get to soon.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers and strong language!) 

And that brings me onto the performances section of the review and they are excellent, particularly the two leading actors, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, who have a natural onscreen chemistry with one another.

Starting with Mel Gibson who is great as Riggs, the near pyschotic cop who is on the ragged edge who is thrown into a reluctant partnership with Murtaugh, but they soon end up becoming friends.

Gibson has quite a few highlights in the film such as in his first scene where he is involved in an undercover drugs bust and he convinces the dealers that he is interested in buying the drugs and they ask for "a hundred" and he starts to count out 100 dollars.  And one of the dealers angrily tries to stop him and Riggs says "Shut up, man.  I'm losing count" and as the dealer tells him he wants a hundred thousand dollards, Riggs says "Tell you what, why don't I take the whole stash off your hands for free and you assholes can go to jail!".

And as they cal him crazy, he pulls out his gun and says "Now that is a real badge, I'm a real cop and this is a real fucking gun!".  Then one of the dealers suddenly grabs Riggs from behind and points a gun at him and as a number of police officers show up and point guns at the dealer, Riggs shouts out to the other officers "Hey shoot him!  Shoot him!  Will somebody shoot this prick??!".  And as the dealer becomes more angry and agitated, Riggs crazily keeps taunting the dealer and shouts in his "Shoot me!  Shoot me!  Shoot me!  Shoot me!".  However, Riggs then manages to disarm the dealer and he turns the tables and points the gun under the dealer's chain and with an insane look says to him through gritted teeth "You wanna see crazy???!!".  The dealer is then arrested and taken away, leaving Riggs gasping for breath as he is riled from the encounter.

Then there is the scene where Riggs tries to talk down the would-be jumper off the roof of a building and as he handcuffs the jumper, the jumper defiantly tells him he will jump and Riggs grabs him and says "Do you wanna jump?!  Do you wanna??!  Because that is just fine with me, asshole!  Let's do it!" and they do just that much to Roger's chagrin.

Gibson also has some chilling moments in the film such as where Murtaugh taunts Riggs to put his gun under his chin and pull the trigger and he nearly does it, but Murtaugh stops him at the last second.  And in the scene as Roger yells at Riggs "Do you want to kill yourself?  YES OR NO, DO YOU WANNA DIE?!" Riggs tells Roger "What do you wanna hear, man?! You wanna about sometimes I think about eatin a bullet?!".  So, Riggs continues "Well, I do!  Make sure it blows the back of my goddamned head out and do the job right! Every single day I wake up and I think of a reason not to do it! Every single day! You know why I don't do it? This is gonna make you laugh! You know why I don't do it? The job! Doin' the job! Now that's the reason!". 

Then as Roger dares Riggs into pulling the trigger on Rog's gun, Riggs with the gun pointed under his chin, starts to pull the trigger but Roger stops him.  Roger, then looks at Riggs in shock and says "You're not trying to draw a psycho pension!  You really ARE crazy!" and Riggs glares at him and says "I'm hungry.  I'm gonna go and get something to eat!" and he walks off leaving Roger in a panic.

Another good scene is where Riggs and Murtaugh go to the firing range and discuss the case whole doing some target practice, however what they come up with sounds a bit thin.  So, Roger says to Riggs of their assessment "That's pretty fuckin thin!" and Riggs says "With your wife's cooking, I'm not surprised!" and he fires a few shots off (as Roger's wife is a terrible cook).  And Roger offended shouts "WHAT?!" and Riggs says "Nothing!" and Rog then says "Remarks like that will not get you invited to Christmas dinner!" and Riggs grins and says "My luck is changing for the better every day!".

Murtaugh shows off his skill as he fires a perfect shot at a paper target right in the centre and he boasts to Riggs "Hey, look at that!  Not bad for an old man!".  And Riggs says "Step aside old man!" and fires six shots at the target from a distance and brings it closer to see that the bullet holes he's made are a smiley face and Riggs says "Have a nice day!".

Then there is the scene where Riggs is shot on the streets by Joshua, who does a drive-by shooting, however Riggs survives it as he was wearing his bullet proof vest.  And in the scene Roger rushes over Riggs, who lies flat on the his back having crashed through a shop window but Rog opens Riggs shirt to see him wear a vest.  Then, Riggs springs to life and he painfully sits and says "I'm pissed now, Roger!  I'm pissed!" and as Rog helps him he says "If he was two inches higher he would have got your head!" and Riggs says "If it was two inches lower I would be a falsetto for life, come on let's fuck off!".  And after Riggs get's up on his feet he says to Roger "The guy that shot me!  It was the same Albino jackrabbit, son of a bitch that did Hunsaker!" and Roger asks him "Are you sure?!" and Riggs says "I'm sure.  I never forget an asshole!".

Then there is the scene where Riggs escapes the clutches of the torturer, Endo in the basement of the club they use as a front for their business and breaks in and kills McAllister's men.  And Riggs after looks at Roger, who grins and says "Pretty thin, huh?" and Riggs says "Anorexic!" then he frees Roger and Rianne and says "Let's do what one shepherd said to the other shepherd" and Roger says "What's that?" and Riggs says "Let's get the flock out of here!".

And last of all is the final scene (SPOILERS!) where Riggs and Murtaugh having survived their ordeal with Joshua, Murtaugh invites Riggs in for Christmas dinner and Riggs gives his bullet that intended to kill himself with to Rianne before Murtaugh comes out. 

 

So, in the scene Riggs says to Rianne "I want you to give your dad this, tell I won't be needing it anymore" and Rianne looks at the bullet and says "Its a bullet" and Riggs smiles and says "Yeah, but he'll understand". Rianne then invites Riggs in but he declines and Rianne goes back in only for Rog to come out a few seconds later. So, Roger says to Riggs "Hey Riggs! After all we've been through, if you think I'm gonna eat the lousiest Christmas turkey all by myself: you're crazy!". Riggs then says "I'll let you into a little secret, I'm not crazy" and Roger smiles and says "I know" and Riggs says "Oh, good! Let's eat! You mind if I bring a friend?" and Roger says "Of course you can bring a friend" and Riggs whistles and his dog, Sam, joins them. Roger says "I don't think Burbank the cat is gonna like this" and Riggs says "I'll put five on the mutt!" as they go in and we hear the dog cause chaos and the cat miaowing loudly.   

Danny Glover is also great in his role as Roger Martaugh, the middle aged cop who is starting to feel old and wary of his job and Glover provides a nice world weary cynicism yet deceny to Murtaugh's character.

Glover also has his share of good scenes and some funny dialogue as well throughout, such an example is in a scene near the beginning where he speaks to the hooker, Dixie.  And in the scene Roger tells Dixie to go home and Dixie says "Thanks.  I'm beat, you know how it is" and Roger says "Yeah!  All dressed up and no one to blow!" and Dixie, offended turns around and says "You're hilarious!" and walks off angrily.

And of course Glover delivers the film's most famous well recognised line when Roger first clocks Riggs in the office, dressed in jeans and a jacket and wearing a cap, take out his gun.  And Roger shouts "GUN!!" thinking that Riggs might be a perp, so Rog runs right at Riggs, who grabs him and throws him to the floor and puts his foot on his chest.  And as Roger is introduced to Riggs as his new partner, Roger groans and says "Oh, I'm too old for shit!".

Then in the next scene the two men walk toward Roger's police car and Roger talks about Riggs's police file and his background in Special Forces.  And Roger says to Riggs as they walk to the car "File also said you're heavy into martial arts. Tai chi and all that killer stuff. I suppose we have to register you as a lethal weapon!".  And Riggs says to Roger "Hey, look friend, let's just cut the shit. Now we both know why I was transferred. Everybody thinks I'm suicidal, in which case, I'm fucked and nobody wants to work with me; or they think I'm faking to draw a psycho pension, in which case, I'm fucked and nobody wants to work with me. Basically, I'm fucked!".  And Roger tells Riggs "Guess, what?" and Riggs asks "What?" and Roger says "I don't want to work with you!" and Riggs says "Hey, dont!" and Roger says "Got no choice. Looks like we both got fucked!".  The two men then get in the car and before Roger starts the ignition he tells Riggs "God hates me, that what it is!" and Riggs says "Hate him back, it works for me!".

Another good scene and a rather intense one is just after Riggs jumps off the roof with the suicidal jumper, McCleary and they both land in an inflatable airbag and after Roger angrily takes Riggs into a nearby store that is being painted.  And Roger yells at Riggs and says "OK, clown!  No bullshit!  You wanna kill yourself?!" and Riggs says "Oh, for Christ's sake..." and Roger yells "SHUT UP!! YES OR NO!! DO YOU WANNA DIE??!!".  Riggs then yells back "I GOT THE JOB DONE!  WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT??!" and Roger shouts back at him "JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION!!" and Riggs tell how he thinks about it and he even has a bullet for the occassion.  So, after Roger taunts Riggs to shoot himself with Roger's gun, Riggs nearly does but Roger stops him and says "You're not trying to draw a psycho pension!  You really ARE crazy!!". 

Then there is the scene where Roger and Riggs go to question a drug dealer at a mansion only for the dealer to shoot at them and Roger shoots the dealer in the leg and as Roger is about to read his rights he lectures Riggs on arresting a suspect.  So, Rog says to Riggs "See how easy that was? Boom, still alive. Now we question him. You know why we question him? Because I got him in the leg. I didn't shoot him full of holes or try to jump off a building with him!".  And Riggs says "That's not fair, the building guy lived!" and Roger says "The point being, no killing!" and Rigg says "No, killing right" but as Riggs is about to read the dealer his rights, the dealer suddenly produces another gun, so Riggs has no choice but to shoot him.  The dealer then falls into a pool and drowns as he caught up in a pool net and as Roger and Riggs resurface, Roger asks Riggs "Have you ever met anybody you DIDN'T kill???" and Riggs says "Well, I haven't kill you yet!" and Roger says "Well, don't do me no favours!" and Riggs get's out the pool and says "Don't you worry!". 

Glover also has some good dramatic moments as well especially the scene where Roger goes to question Hunsaker over his involvement with the mercaneries.  And Roger says to Hunsaker "Your daughter wasn't killed for something she was into. She was killed for something you're into. Stop me if I'm wrong".  And Hunsaker, puts his hand towards the inside of his jacket and says "Roger, I don't know what you're talking about!" and Roger says "Hey, Mike.  Keep your hand away from your pockets, OK?".  Hunsaker then produces some pills from his pocket and says "Take it easy, man!" and Roger then angrily shouts "Fuck easy!".

Roger then continues to ask Hunsaker "You called me the other day to blow the whistle, right?" and Hunsaker wearily asks "Blow the whistle on what?".  Roger then says "You were going to spill your guts, so they killed your daughter. Tell me if I'm wrong. Talk to me! They killed your daughter. They paid off a hooker to poison your little girl!  Talk to me!".

So, as Hunsaker tells Roger about the mercs heroin shipments, Hunsake warns him "This is big business, Roger" and Roger turns to him and says "Not anymore.  I'm gonna burn it down!".  Then as Roger insists that Hunsaker tell all the info he has on the mercs operation, Joshua suddenly shows up in a chopper and shoots Hunsaker dead.  Roger then checks Hunsaker's dead body and says to him "Heroin...you got off easy, you son of a bitch!".

Another good moment from Danny is when Roger and Riggs escape from McAllister and Joshua and they run out onto the streets and Roger, exhausted yells out to Riggs "Hey, Riggs!  He's going for the freeway!".  Riggs looks back and shouts "You OK?" and Roger exhausted says "Yeah!" and Riggs runs off and Roger calls out to him "Cut over the 3rd street bridge!  You'll be able to get ahead of him!".  Then Roger, who has sit down by a street lamp, slowly get's himself up and says "General McAllister....time for you to die!".

And last of all is the film's last scene where Riggs turns up to give Roger the bullet Riggs was going to use to kill himself, which he gives to Rianne at the door but as he is about to leave, Roger comes out.  And Roger says to Riggs "After all we've been through...if you think I'm gonna eat the world's worst turkey by myself...you're crazy!".  Riggs then smiles and says to Roger "I'll tell you a little secret....I'm not crazy" and Roger smiles and says "I know!" and Riggs says "Oh, good.  Let's eat!".  And as Roger allows Riggs to invite in his dog, we hear the commotion of the dog barking at Roger's household cat, Burbank and Roger at the front door says to himself the film's last line "I'm too old for this!".

 

Gary Busey in his role as the primary villain, Mr Joshua, is also excellent and he plays the creepy albino killer in quite an understated way (which is unusual for Busey!) and he makes for an effective villain.  Busey has some good scenes such as his intro where Joshua displays his ability to deal with pain as McAllister uses a lighter to burn underneath Joshua's arm, which he takes with ease.

And later on in the scene where he questions Riggs, prior to him being tortured by electric shock treatment and he refers to the Asian torturer, Endo (Al Leong) and says "You know Endo, has forgotten more about dispensing pain than you and I will ever know".  And he says to Riggs "See, we have a problem. Since we have Murtaugh...we don't need you. I believe in being thorough" and Riggs says to him "Yeah, I've heard that about you".  So, Joshua continues "Our problem, and yours too...is we have a shipment of merchandise to deliver" and Riggs says "Why don't you guys just call it heroin?!".  Joshua smiles and says "It's rather large, this shipment. It would be unfortunate...if we showed up to deliver our heroin..and were surrounded by 50 cops!" and Riggs says "That would be too bad".

Joshua then says "So, its essential for us to find out all the cops now" and Riggs says they don't know anything as he killed Hunsaker before he could tell them anything.  However, Joshua doesn't buy it and shouts "No!  No! I wish I could believe you but unfortunately I don't!  Now if you would kindly tell me everything you know then I promise I will kill you real quick!". And as Riggs says "I told you everything I know!" Joshua turns to Endo to start torturing Riggs and Endo holds two pairs of what looks like jump cables with sponges attached to them.  And Riggs nervously asks "What the fuck is that thing?!" and Joshua tells him "I'll tell what it is...its electric shock treatment!".   

And later when he turns up at Roger's house to kill his family he enters the house and shoots the TV and yells "Goddamn Christmas!  I'll give you a home to come back to!".  And as Joshua finds a note from Riggs saying "Dear bad guys.  No one here but us cops. The good guys" Joshua says "Crazy son of a bitch!" but then Roger's police car comes crashing through the living room and Joshua fills it with holes from his gun only to find it empty and a knife jammed in the accelerator.  So, Riggs then springs up on him and takes his gun and says to Joshua "What do you say, Jack?  Would you like a shot at the title?" and Joshua grins and says "Don't mind if I do!" and two of them engage in their climactic fight scene.  

Ryan Mitchell is also very good in his role as General McAllister, the leader of the mercaneries who captures the cops and later is forced to flee from them.

Mitchell has two main scenes, the first where he is introduced and he uses Mr Joshua to a prospective drug buyer, Mendez and he threatens him by showing Joshua's ability to withstand pain.  And McAllister asks the dealer "Do you smoke?" and the dealer says "What's that go to do with anything?" and McAllister snaps "Do you smoke??!".   And Mendez nervously says "Yeah" and McAllister asks "Give my your lighter" and Mendez asks "My...my lighter?" and McAllister yells "YOU'RE LIGHTER!!".  So Mendez takes out his lighter and all of a sudden, McAllister's men grab Mendez's arm and McAllister holds Mendez's hand with the lighter and as Mendez protests, McAllister yells "SHUT YOUR MOUTH!! SHUT UP!!".

So, McAllister looks to Joshua and says "Mr Joshua, your left arm, please" so Joshua rolls his sleeve and McAllister flicks on the lighter right under Joshua's bare arm as the flame burns into Joshua's arm, who just takes the pain in his stride, leaving Mendez terrified.  So, after the demonstration, McAllister tells and shaken Mendez "The bulk of the heroin will be here Friday night, we'll make delivery at that time. Have the money ready, and no tricks. If you try anything... you'll have to talk to Mr. Joshua. Merry Christmas!".

And later as he has Roger tortrured he walks over to Rianne, who is tied up and in her underwear and he says "That is one real good looking young woman you have there, Mr Murtaugh!".  And Roger tells McAllister "I've told you everything!" and McAllister looks at Rianne and says to Roger "We'll soon now, won't we?" and Roger angrily says of Rianne "I'm warning you....don't!".  McAllister then says "Spare me, son, its over.  There are no more heroes left in the world!". 

The rest of the supporting cast are also fine in their roles.

 

Starting with Darlene Love as Trish, Roger's wife who is has a rather small role here but she sets up her character nicely for the future films.  And Darlene has a couple of good moments such as the one where Roger first invites Riggs are to meet his family and he checks the oven to see what's for dinner.  So, Roger says as he looks in the oven "We'll see what's for dinner.  Its a brown sticky...." and Trish smacks his bottom and she says to him "Its roast!".  So, Roger sarcastically says to Riggs "How about a brown roast-like substance?" and Trish tells him "Roger, you're being an asshole".

And lastly there is the scene where Roger and Riggs learn that Rianne has been kidnapped as they receive a call from Joshua at Roger's house.  At this point, Trish appears at the top of the stairs, looking worried she asks "What is it?" and Roger says "Nothing!" and Trish shouts "What is it???!" and Roger tries to play it down and says "Nothing!" louder.  Trish then turns to her other children, Nick and Carrie "Get back in your room!  Back in your room!" and Trish then slides down on the stairs in tears.    

Steven Kahan is also pretty good as Captain Murphy, Rog and Riggs cynical superior officer and he shows little concern for Riggs's mental state and he says to the police psychiatrist, Stephanie Woods (Mary Ellen Trainor) "Look!  Riggs just wants the cash.  I've seen it a dozen times before!  He's a tough bastard, alright?!".  However Woods insists "He's on the edge.  I'm telling you he may be psychotic!" and Murphy says "That's a bunch of psych bullshit!".  Woods then says to Murphy "You're making a mistake keeping the man in the field.  The man is suicidal!".  So, Murphy cynically asks her "You're sure of that diagnosis?!" and Woods says "No, there are no absolutes in life!" and Murphy says to her "End of discussion.  We're going to wait and if he offs himself, we'll know I was wrong!".  And as Woods tries to continue their discussion, Murphy stops her as he is about to enter the men's room and he says to her "Excuse me, huh?!" and he goes in, leaving Woods annoyed and she says to herself "Asshole!".

Traci Wolfe is also pretty good (and very pretty!) in her role as Rianne, Roger's eldest daughter, who is later kidnapped by McAllister and Joshua and also has a crush on Riggs when they first meet.

And I will only mention one of Traci's scenes and its the one where Rianne asks if her date can take her to a club much to Roger's disaproval.  So, Rianne asks Roger in the scene "Didn't mean to interrupt one of those intellectual conversations...Mark asked me to a club tomorrow night".  Roger then asks "Which one is Mark?" and Rianne says "The blonde one" and Roger says "The one with pits in his face?" and Rianne annoyed, says "Those are dimples!" and Roger says "Those are pits.  When he smiles I can see through his head.  The answer is no!".  So, Rianne complains "Why can I have a beer and I can't smoke a joint? It's not coke, you know!" and Roger tells her "Because now, at this moment...beer is legal, grass ain't. Right or wrong?" and Rianne says "Wrong" but Riggs says "Right" and she smiles at him and says "Right" back.  So, Rianne gives in and walks off and says to herself "They sit there drinking six-packs and I get grounded!".

And lastly Tom Atkins is also very good as Michael Hansaker, Roger's Vietnam buddy who once saved his life during the war and turns to him for help as he tries to get out of the drug operation run by the mercs.

And Atkins primarily has only two main scenes in the film, which are both very good and shows Atkins is capable actor.   The first scene is when Roger meets with Hunsaker to tell him that his daughter was murdered and she didn't kill herself.  So, Hunsaker becomes emotional and says to Roger "You owe, Roger.  You remember?" and Roger quietly says "Yeah, I remember".  Hunsaker then continues and says "I want you to find whoever's responsible for this...however many of them there are. I know you can do it. Just find them and kill them".  Roger, then quietly tries to reason with Hunsaker and says "Mike, I'm a police officer..." but then Hunsaker angrily says "I don't give a shit that you're a police officer! I know you're a fucking police officer!  KILL THEM! JUST KILL THEM!".  Roger then just walks off annoyed but Hunsaker catches up to and says "Wait. Wait, Rog. Come on. You find them and you kill them. You can do that. You owe me!".

And lastly there is the scene where Hunsaker tells Roger about the mercs operation to run shipments of heroin.  So, Hunsaker tells Roger "I was with a special unit called "Shadow Company." Trained killers. When Charlie brought in heroin to finance the VC government...Shadow Company burned the whole thing down. We killed everybody".  And Hunsaker continues "A few years ago, Shadow Company got together again. The war was over. But we still had our sources in Asia. We've been bringing it in ever since".  Roger then asks "Bringing in what?" and Hunsaker tells him "Heroin.  Two major shipments a year" and Roger asks "If you got cold feet, why did they kill Amanda?  Why not you?!".  Hunsaker then says "They can't kill me, they need me!" and Roger asks angrily "Why?!" and Hunsaker says "My bank! My company is a perfect front.  Makes everything look great on the tax reports" and he says "This is big business, Roger" and Roger then says "Not anymore.  I'm gonna burn it down!".

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 
 
Finally getting onto the film's director, Richard Donner, who does a great job here and he carried on to direct the sequels and it would be hard to imagine another director carry the style, pace, action and humour that Donner brings to the series.  So overall, the original Lethal Weapon is one of Donner's best directorial efforts and he would continue to provide solid direction for the sequels (well maybe not so much for Lethal Weapon 4!).

The film is also notable for its stunts and action which are of course great and it also features a former stuntman, Dar Robinson, who died shortly after the film was completed, in 1986 having died during a motorcycle stunt aged just 39. Robinson himself pulled off one of the film's most difficult stunts as Riggs shoots a baddie who is up in a gantry and falls off and catches his leg in a chain, leaving the dead man dangling upside down.

As for the film's music score, its excellent which and was composed by Michael Kamen and it also features some good guitar work from Eric Clapton and also the distinctive saxophone from David Sanbourne, who plays part of Murtaugh's theme.  Although it has to be said the film does feature a truly awful and cringeworthy theme song, by the Canadian rock band, Honeymoon Suite , which is played over the end credits (who curiously went uncredited and I wonder why?!). 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!) 

As for the flaws of the film????  Well Lethal Weapon isn't perfect but it hasn't got too many glaring problems.

However perhaps one of its flaws is that the story itself is pretty flimsy an unimaginitive with two cops who become buddies and fight against drug dealers, which is nothing new in itself.  Also the baddies, despite the good performances from Busey and Mitchell, are a bit bland and one dimensional and while both actors play their parts with a decent amount of menace, their characters aren't that interesting, so when they cop it (no pun intended) who cares really.

Some of the characters in the film are also a bit underused such as Captain Murphy, who would later be utilised better in the sequels, and Kahan himself is Donner's cousin, so perhaps he had a word with him about it! I also felt that Murphy was depicted as being somewhat heartless in the film as he is not concerned about Riggs's mental state when he talks to the psychiatrist who warns him that Riggs might be suicidal but Murphy simply says "He's after the cash, I've seen a hundred times! But if he offs himself then we'll know I was wrong!". Yeah what a nice guy eh?! However they did at least improve Murphy's character in the sequels and made him more likeable.

I also felt the film at times had an uncomfortable mix of strong violence in which what we see onscreen is OK for the most part (I guess!) but Shane Black, who wrote the screenplay seems to have some weird fetish for putting torture into his scripts.  So, the scenes where Riggs is brutally tortured with electric shock treatment was the start of a rather disturbing fetish that would permeate in Black's other works (such as Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang).  Black also when he wrote the original outline for Lethal Weapon 2 also wanted Riggs to be tortured again and die at the hands of the South Africans but his idea was dismissed and he then decided to pull out of the production.

Another thing I found very peculiar was to do with the start of the film where Hunsaker's daughter, Amanda, dives off the rooftop of her apartment and lands heavily ontop of a car below and in the next moment and she lies there dead, we see the shadows of two people walk by!!!  I mean I take we are meant to believe that's how people are in LA that they are so desensitized to violence and death that they are willing to turn a blind eye to it!  But that one scene seemed pretty ridiculous to me I have to say.  Not unless of course they were the killers, who "doctored" the pills for Amanda are the ones who were walking by, however I still don't buy that myself.

I also have a criticism about the theatrical version of the film in the scene Riggs and Murtaugh walk through the police undergournd car park and Murtaugh says to Riggs he heard about his stunt the other day, which he thought was heroic, which would leave us to believe he means how Riggs busted the drug dealers. However, Murtaugh most likely was actually referring to the scene that appears in the director's cut of the film where Riggs shoots a crazed gunman at a school holding kids hostage and not the drug dealers. So, when you see the school scene it makes more sense for Murtaugh to says Riggs was heoric there rather than the drug bust but in the theatrical version without that scene it makes much less sense. 

Lastly there is the whole idea of Riggs being in the Vietnam war....look at Mel Gibson, he was 30 or 31 when he made Lethal Weapon (he was born in 1956), so if he was in the Vietnam war then he would have been merely 17 years old by the time the war had finished!  Basically, if Riggs was a Vietnam vet just like Murtaugh then it doesn't make any sense that he would be played a younger actor such as Mel Gibson at that time.  Surely Riggs should have just been another middle aged guy in this respect rather than a 30 something younger guy, who clearly couldn't have been old enough to participate in the Vietnam war in the first place!

Further to this point there is a piece of dialogue where McAllister captures Riggs and Riggs says to him "It'll be a shame when I nail you.  I ran into you shadow company pussies back in 69".  Again, Mel Gibson was 13 in 1969, Riggs must have been at least 19 or 20 in 1969, so again its blatant case of the actor being too young to play the part of a Vietnam vet.  So, basically I think in relation to Mel's age, they should have just left the Vietnam vet thing for Riggs out of the equation.  But hey that's just my interpretation but for me it still remains one of the film's flaws.    

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up the original Lethal Weapon is still the best one in my opinion although the first two films could arguably be said to the best of the four (with three the 3rd best and 4th the worst!).  However where the original stands apart here is that it is grounded a bit more in reality and the darker tone of the Shane Black's script helps give it a more gritty and realistic feel than the other films had in comparison, which got more farcical as they went on. 

So, throw onto all this a witty, funny script, two excellent lead performances and some very solid direction and an excellent music score then you've still got one of the great modern action classics of its day and to this day, Lethal Weapon is still definitely worth a look after 35 years and one of the best action films of its time.

And with that I will rate Lethal Weapon..

9 out of 10 

So, that's it for this one and I will wish you all a Merry Christmas and hopefully I will be back soon with another couple of posts before the new year.

Until then hope you all have a good one!  

Reservoir Dogs Revisited Part 2 "You wanna throw bad looks somewhere, throw em at a mirror!"

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I've covered Pulp Fiction in my last post, so I thought why not do a revisitation of my post of Reservoir Dogs, which is of course Quentin Tarantino's debut. Plus the film is now 30 years old, so why not also use that to take another look at this modern crime classic. 

And with that said, the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY
 
So, the story begins with eight men sitting in a diner having a discussion, the men in questioning are going to perform a heist at a jewelry store.  Six of the men are given alises of Mr Brown (Tarantino), Mr Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr White (Harvey Keitel), Mr Blue (Edward Bunker), Mr Orange (Tim Roth) and Mr Pink (Steve Buscemi) for the purposes of the robbery and the organiser and mob boss, Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) doesn't want them to use their christian names.  Cabot also organises the heist with his son and underboss, "Nice Guy" Eddie (Chris Penn) and together they discuss a lot of trivial things and then leave.

The next scene cuts to Mr White driving a car with Mr Orange in the back, who has been shot in the stomach and is bleeding badly.  White drives them to an abandoned warehouse, the agreed meeting point for the thieves and takes Orange in and tries to reassure him he will be okay.  Not long after Pink arrives, who is convinced that they were set up by the cops, given the fact that they showed up so fast at the scene of the crime.

White tells Pink that Mr Brown as killed at the scene of the heist as well and they both discuss how Mr Blonde killed several civilians during the robbery when the alarm was sounded, and White is angered at how Joe would employ a psychopath like Blonde.  Afterward White and Pink argue with one another over whether or not they should take Orange to a hospital, which becomes heated as they pull guns on one another, but it is soon diffused by the arrival of Mr Blonde.

White berates Blonde for his actions at the jewelry store, but Blonde quickly dismisses the criticism and tells them he has spoken to Nice Guy Eddie who has told them to stay put.  Blonde then takes White and Pink out to his car and opens the boot to reveal he has taken a police officer hostage, Marvin Nash (Kirk Baltz) and the three of them beat up to try and force him into revealing any information of an informant.

Later on Eddie arrives at the warehouse and confronts the men over the bungled heist and the possibility of a setup, which he refuses to accept and tells White and Pink to come with him to ditch the stolen cars and retrieve the stashed diamonds (which Pink has secured) leaving Blonde alone with Nash and Orange, who is unconscious.

Blonde then decides to torture Nash for his own amusement and while listening to a show on the radio named "K Billy's Super Sounds of the 70s" he tortures Nash by slashing his face and cutting his right ear off with a straight razor.  Blonde then goes outside and comes back in with some gasoline which he douses Nash with and prepares to set him alight, but at this point Orange regains consciousness and shoots Blonde dead.  Blonde tells Nash that he is an undercover cop and that the police are waiting in force to storm the warehouse once Cabot shows up there.

And from here we get Orange's back story, which leads into the events prior to the heist and then it cuts back to the aftermath of the heist, which leads into the film's dramatic climax....

THOUGHTS

It has to be said that Reservoir Dogs remains one of the most impressive film debuts over the last 30 years from any film maker and it remains ones of Tarantinto best films, as it is still a compelling, intense and entertaining film.  Tarantino, was a former video store worker, who had an indepth knowledge of films and his passion for film is clear in his works not only in Reservoir Dogs but his other films as well.  Tarantino also loosely based the plot of the film around Stanley Kubrick's film, The Killing, and it also pays homage to The Taking of Pelham, one two three, where they used similar aliases as Mr White, Mr Pink, etc, as well as the film's final stand-off resembling a climactic sequences from the Chinese action film, City on Fire.

Tarantino initially planned to make the film for only $30,000 using 16mm film but his screenplay soon gained the attention of Harvey Keitel, who helped raised funds to get it made into a proper film feature, with the film's final budget being 1.5 million dollars.  The film on its release was a critical and commercial success although it also received some controversy over its violence, but this of course is something that would feature heavily in Tarantino's other films.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language!).

Getting onto the performances, this is where Reservoir Dogs really excels as they are all top notch and Tarantino has assembled a great cast.

Starting with Harvey Keitel, who is superb in his role as Mr White and one of the more compassionate thieves who helps the dying Mr Orange, after he has been shot.

Keitel has plenty of highlights in the film, such as in the opening scene where he gets fed up with Joe Cabot reading from an old diary, and he grabs it off him.  And in the scene Keitel as White says "For the past 15 minutes, you have been droning on about names.  Toby??  Toby Wong.  Toby Wong??  Charlie fuckin Chan!  I've got Madonna's big dick coming out of my right ear and Toby the jap out of my left!".

Keitel also has some good moments with Tim Roth, especially in the scene just after the credits when Orange is writhing in pain after being shot in the stomach by a female driver, who's car they steal. So, in the scene Orange in agony says "I can't believe she killed me, Larry! Who'd have fuckin thought that!" and White says "Cancel that shit right now! You're hurt, you're hurt real fuckin bad but you ain't dying!". Orange continues to panic and says "All this blood is scaring the shit out of me, Larry! I'm gonna die I know it!" and White retorts back "Excuse me, I didn't realise you had a degree in medicine! What we're gonna do is get Joe to call you a doctor, the doctor's gonna fix up and you're gonna be OK!". Orange however continues to fight with the pain and White tries to encourage Orange and shouts at him "You're gonna be OK! Say the goddamn words "You're gonna be ok!" but Orange continues to writhe in pain. So, White shouts "SAY THE GODDAMN FUCKIN WORDS! SAY IT!" and Orange finally calms down a little and says "OK, Larry" and White with a little relief says "Correct!".

Then just after they arrive at the warehouse and White tries to reassure again that Orange will be OK and says to him "You're not gonna fuckin die, kid, alright?  Along with the kneecap, the gut is the most painful area a guy can get shot in.  But it takes a long time to die from it.  We're talking days, and time is on your side". 

Then there is the scene where White and Pink argue over how White had told Orange his first name and where he was from.  So, Pink angrily asks White "What was telling him your name when you weren't supposed to?!" and White angrily replies "He asked! He had just got shot! It was my fault he got shot! He's a fucking bloody mess! He was screaming and I thought he was gonna die right then and there! So, I kept telling how everything was going to be alright and that I'm gonna take care of him! I mean the man was dying in my arms...WHAT THE FUCK WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO??!! Tell him "Sorry! I can't give out that fuckin information! Its against the rules! I don't trust you enough! Or maybe should but I couldn't!".

 And as Pink is about to reply White yells "FUCK YOU AND FUCK JOE!!" and Pink mockingly says "I'm sure it was a beautiful scene between you two" and White furiously says "Don't fucking patronise me!". Pink then asks White if they have police sheet on him where he is from and White says "Yeah!" and Pink warns him now that Orange knows his name, where he is from and his specialty. Pink then asks "You didn't give him anything else to narrow down the selection?!" and White on his last nerve with Pink warns him "If I to tell you to back off again you and me are gonna go round and round!". 

Another scene is where White confronts Blonde at the warehouse over his killing spree at the store and White says to Blonde "You better start talkin, asshole!  Cos we've got alot of shit to talk about!  We're already freaked out, and we need you acting freaky like we need a fuckin bag on our hip!".  And as White is about to leave Blonde tells him not to take a step further, White pulls out his gun and points it at Blonde and yells "FUCK YOU MANIAC!  Its your fuckin' fault we're in this trouble!" and Blonde asks him what's his problem and White yells back "What's my problem? !Yeah I've got a BIG FUCKIN' PROBLEM!!  With any trigger happy madman, who almost gets me shot!".  And this is followed by "You almost KILLED ME!!  ASSHOLE!  If I knew what kind of guy you were I never would have agreed to work with you!".  So, as Blonde smoothly threatens White by saying "Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie or are you gonna bite?" White trying to restrain his anger asks Blonde "I'm sorry I didn't catch that. Could you repeat it???". 

And later on in the film where in the flashback scene, White tells Orange on how to handle a tricky customer at the jewelry store and he tells him what to do if the manager gives him hassle.  And White says "Now managers usually know better than to fuck around, but if you get one who's giving you some static, cut off one of his fingers, the little one and then tell him his thumb's next.  After that he'll tell if he wears ladies underwear!".

WARNING: SPOILER COMING UP IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

And last there is the final scene where Joe finally shows up at the warehouse and identifies Orange as the rat and working as a cop to the others but White refuses to believe and when Joe pulls a gun on Orange, White pulls his gun on Joe and Eddie in turn pulls his gun on White.

So, in the scene White says to Joe of Orange being the rat "Joe, I know you're hot and super fuckin pissed! We're all real emotional but I know this man and he wouldn't do that!".White then asks Joe "How do you know all this?" and Joe tells him "He was the only one I wasn't 100% on and I should have my fucking head examined going ahead when I wasn't 100%".  White however is not convinced and shouts "THAT'S YOUR PROOF?!" and Joe tells him "You don't need proof when you have instinct! I ignored it before but no more!". So as Joe pulls his gun on Orange, White does the same to Joe "Joe, you're making a terrible mistake I'm not gonna let you make" and Eddie tries to reason with White while pointing his gun at him. White however tells Joe "Joe, you kill that man you die next. Repeat, you kill that man you die next!". And as Eddie warns White not to point his gun at Joe, White says to Joe "Goddamn you, Joe! Don't make me do this!". 

Tim Roth is also excellent in his role as Mr Orange, the undercover cop who infiltrates the gang and takes part in the robbery, which goes awry and later suffers a gunshot wound to the stomach and spends most of the film lying in his own blood in the warehouse.

Roth also shares some excellent scenes with Keitel, especially in the scene where White takes Orange to the warehouse and Orange pleads with White to drop him off at the hospital and he says to White "Look in my eyes, man.  Look in my eyes.  I swear to fucking God!  I won't tell them anything!  You'll be safe, man".

And later on when Blonde regains consciousness and shoots Blonde just before he burns the cop, Nash, he quietly asks Nash his name and tells him that the police are waiting just a block away.  And when Nash petulantly yells at Blonde about his sliced off ear and slashed face, Blonde musters all he can and shouts back "FUCK YOU!  FUCK YOU!!! I'M FUCKING DYING HERE!  I'M FUCKIN DYING!!". Nash then calms down and Blonde says to him "We're gonna sit here and bleed and wait for Joe Cabot to show up, so don't pussy out on me now, Marvin".

And later on in the film during Orange's backstory, Orange talks to his fellow cop, Holdaway (Randy Brooks) about the group of thieves.  And at the start of the scene, Orange walks into the diner and up to Holdaway and tells him "Say hello to a motherfucker who's on the inside. Cabot's pulling a job and take a big fat guess who's on the team?" and Holdaway says "This better not be some Freddie joke" and Orange tells him "Its no joke. I'm there I'm up his ass!" and the two men hug. Orange then talks about how he met with Eddie and that he was a good thief "Eddie, said I was a good thief. I didn't rattle".

So as Holdaway asks what does Cabot look like, Orange says "Do you remember the Fantastic four??" and Holdaway "Oh yeah, that invisible bitch and flame on guy" and Orange dramatically holds out his hands and says  "The Thing!  The motherfucker looks just like the Thing!".

And lastly there is the climax scene where White, Pink and Eddie return to the warehouse to find Blonde dead and a shocked Eddie asks "What the fuck happened?!" and White tells him "He slashed the cop's face, cut off his ear and was gonna burn him alive". Eddie asks again as he approaches Nash and Blonde repeats himself "I said Blonde went crazy, slashed the cop's face, cut off his ear and was gonna burn him alive". Eddie then pulls out his gun and says to Orange "This cop?" and proceeds to shoot Nash dead and Eddie asks "He went crazy? Something like that? Worse or better?". Orange however insists "Eddie, he was pulling a burn, man. He was gonna wait for you to return, blow you to hell and leave with the diamonds. However Eddie refuses to believe Orange and goes over what he said again and asks Orange if that is what he was saying and Orange says "I swear on my mother's eternal soul is what happened".

Steve Buscemi is terrific in his role as the highly strung Mr Pink, who is the most sussed out of the group and realises quickly that they were set up.

Buscemi has plenty of great moments in the film such as in the opening scene where Pink disagrees with tipping waitresses much to the dismay of the other members of the group.  And Buscemi gets some good lines in this scene where he rubs his fingers together saying "You know what this is?  Its the world's smallest violin playing just for the waitresses!". However as White tries to reason with Pink about how waitresses deserve their tips as its the only jobs non-graduates can get and live on, Pink dismissively says "Fuck all that!" and the others laugh in disbelief. Pink then continues "I'm sorry but it appears that the waitresses are one of the groups that the government continues to fuck in the ass on a regular basis, that's not my fault! If we put it to a vote, I'll vote but what I won't do is play ball. And this non-college degree bullshit you're throwing me, I've got two words for you "learn to fucking type". However Joe soon comes back to the table and confronts him over it and Pink relents after Joe calls him a cheap bastard and says how he paid for his breakfast, so Pink says "Alright, since you paid for the breakfast I'll throw in but I don't normally do this".

Then there is the scene where Pink chastises himself for getting involved the job in the first place and that he sensed something was off. So, he says to White "What the fuck am I doin' here, man? I felt funny about this job right off. As soon as I felt it I should have said, "No, thank you," but I never fucking listen. Every time I ever got fucked buying weed, the same thing. I didn't trust the guy, but I wanted to believe him. If he's not lying and it really is Thai stick, then it's great. But it never is, and I always said that if I felt that about a job, I'd fuckin' walk. And I didn't! I DIDN'T BECAUSE OF THE FUCKIN' MONEY!".

And another great highlight in the film is Buscemi's scene with Keitel where White and Pink face off against each other in the warehouse and pull their guns on each other.  And Pink yells "You wanna fuck with me??!! I'll show you who you're fuckin with?!" and White shouts back "You wanna shoot, you little piece of shit?! Go ahead, take a shot!!" and Pink shouts "Fuck you, White!  I didn't create this situation I'm dealing with it!  You're acting like a first year fucking thief.  I'm acting like a professional!  You lookin at me like its my fault?  I didn't tell them my name or where I'm from!  Shit, 15 minutes you almost told me YOUR name! You and your buddy are stuck in a situation you created, so if you wanna throw bad looks somewhere, throw them at a mirror!".

And in the next scene where Pink diffuses a potential barny between White and Blonde and gets in between them shouts "You two assholes calm the fuck down! Hey come on! Am I the only professional here?! Fucking guys are acting like a bunch of fucking niggers! You ever work with niggers huh?! Like you two, always trying to kill each other!". White then says to Pink of Blonde "You said yourself you thought of taking him out!" and Blonde a bit annoyed asks "You fucking said that?!" and Pink tries to back pedal and says "I did! But that was then! Right now this is the only guy I completely trust! He's too fucking homicidal to work with the cops!". 

White then angrily asks Pink "You taking his side?!" Pink yells "Fuck sides man what we need here is a little solidarity!  If someone is sticking a red hot poker up our asses I wanna know who's name is on the handle!". Pink calms down and then says to White and Orange "Look, I know I'm no piece of shit" and he looks to White "And I'm pretty sure you're OK" and he looks to Blonde and says to Blonde "And I'm fucking positive you're on the level. So, let's try and figure out who is the bad guy here, alright?". 

And later on Buscemi also has a fun moment where he complains about being named Mr Pink for the heist, and Pink says to Cabot "Mr Pink sounds like Mr Pussy!" and White says to him who cares about the name and Pink says "Its easy for you to say, you've got a cool sounding name.  So if you don't mind being Mr Pink, do you wanna trade?"  And as Cabot grows tired of Pink's complaining, Pink says "Jesus Christ, Joe, let's forget about it.  Its beneath me.  I'm Mr Pink.  Let's move on".

Michael Madsen provides a memorable and rather chilling performance as the cool headed sociopath, Mr Blonde, who engages in a killing spree during the heist and later tortures the cop, Nash in the warehouse (the heist itself however is never seen).

Madsen in his role gets some good glib dialogue as Blonde, and his flashback story provides a nice introduction to his role, where Blonde (or Vic Vega as his real name is) meets up with Joe and Eddie.  And Blonde has some playful rapport with Eddie the scene where the two of them wrestle on the floor and Eddie comically accuses Blonde of trying to fuck him, and Blonde says "If I were a butt cowboy, I wouldn't even throw you to the posse!" followed by "Eddie if you keep talking like a bitch, I'm gonna slap you like a bitch!".

And after Eddie tells Blonde that he could get him a job as a dock worker to get his parole officer off his back, Blonde asks them "Look, I appreciate what you guys are doing for me but I want when I can come back and...you know...do some real work?". So, after some hesitation, Eddie suggests to Joe that they use Blonde in an upcoming heist job. So, Joe asks Blonde "Well, Vic, how would you feel about pulling off a job with about five other guys?" and Blonde smiles and says "I'd feel great about it".

Another amusing moment Madsen has is in the scene where Nice Guy Eddie turns up at the warehouse and White complains again about Blonde's behaviour at the jewelry heist. So, Blonde warily complains to Eddie and says "You see what I've been putting up with here, Eddie? I fucking walked in here and Mr White is sticking a gun in my face, calling me a motherfucking, saying he's gonna blow me away and blah, blah, blah!". So, White says to Eddie as he poins his finger "He was like this... BAM!  BAM! BAM!".  And Blonde wearily says "Yeah bam, bam bam!  I told them not to touch the fuckin alarm and they did!  If they haven't done what I told them not to do, then they would still be alive!" followed by sarcastic applause by White who says "My fucking hero!" and Blonde takes a little bow smiling and says "Thanks!". So, White asks Blonde "So, that's your excuse for going on a kill-crazy rampage?" and Blonde tells him "I don't like alarms, Mr White". 

And later on in the scene where Blonde is left alone with Orange and Nash, he walks up to Nash, who is tied to a chair and says to him "Guess what?  I think I'm parked in the red zone!".  And in the same scene Madsen delivers that immortal chilling line where he says to Nash "Look, kid.  I'm not gonna bullshit you.  I don't really give a good fuck what you know or don't know, but I'm gonna torture you anyway! Not to get information, it amuses me to torture a cop. You can say what you want as I've heard it all before. All you can do is pray for a quick death, which you ain't gonna get!". So, Blonde pulls out his gun and points it at Nash, who writhes around in panic but Blonde just laughs and puts his gun down and goes over pulls out a razor from his boot and he asks Nash "Have you heard K Billy's Super Sounds of the 70's?" and he goes over and switches on the radio and says "Its my personal favourite!".   

Chris Penn is also great in his role as Joe Cabot's son, Nice Guy Eddie, the underboss who co-organises the heist.  Penn also has some really good moments such as his first scene at the diner where Pink refuses to thrown in a tip for the waitress and Blue says to Pink "Hey this girl was nice" and Pink says "She was OK, she was nothing special" and Blue asks him "What's special? Take you in the back and suck your dick?" and the men all laugh and Eddie says "I'd go over 12% for that!".

And then there is the great scene where Eddie arrives at the warehouse to find White, Pink and Blonde beating up the cop and he asks what is going on. So, Pink tells Eddie "We were set up, the cops were waiting for us!" but Eddie angrily says "What?! Nobody fuckin set anybody up!" but Pink angrily says "Hey fuck you, man! You weren't there! The cops were staked out and waiting for us!". So, Eddie angrily asks Pink "OK, Mr Fucking Detective, how did it?" and Pink shouts "What the hell do you think we've been asking each other?!" and Eddie furiously asks "And what did you come up with? Do you think I did it?! DID YOU THINK I FUCKING SET YOU UP?!" and Pink says "I dunno but somebody did!".

Eddie with disgust at the situation says "Nobody did! You fuckin assholes turn a jewelry store into a wild west show and you wonder why the fuckin cops show up?!" and he asks why they are beating up the cop.  And Eddie says "If you fucking beat this prick long enough, he's gonna tell you who started the goddamn fuckin Chicago fire!  But that don't necessarily make it FUCKIN SO!  Come on, man, THINK!".  So, at the end of the scene, Eddie tells White and Pink to come with him and get rid of the cars outside and as Eddie tells them that they should never have let the cop out of Blonde's car boot in the first place, Pink says "We were trying to find out what he knew about the setup!". And Eddie and yells "THERE IS NO FUCKIN SET UP! Blonde you stay here and babysit these two! White and Pink come with because if Joe comes here and sees all these cars outside, I swear he's gonna be just as mad as me as he is at you!".

And later on Penn has a funny scene where he tells the story of "Lady E" a woman who's abusive partner lead her to play a practical joke on him.  And Eddie says in the scene "She buys this wacko glue and glues his dick to his belly!  The paramedics had to cut the prick loose!" and White asks if he was pissed off and Eddie laughs and says "How would you feel if every time you had to take a piss you had to do a handstand!".

And later Penn has one of his best moments when he confronts Orange over what happened to Blonde when Orange killed him and he refuses to believe Orange's excuse.  "You're telling me this man who did five years for us, and we're making good on our commitment to him, he's GONNA DECIDE OUT OF THE FUCKIN BLUE TO RIP US OFF???!!  Why don't you tell me what REALLY happened?!".

WARNING! SPOILER IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!

Last of all is the Mexican stand-off scene where Joe is about to shoot Orange after he tells the others that Orange was the one that set them up and Joe pulls out his gun to shoot Orange, only for White to pulls his gun on Joe. So, in turn Eddie pulls out his gun and points it at White and asks him "Have you lost your fucking mind???" and White says to Joe "Joe, you're about to make a terrible mistake I'm not gonna let you make". Eddie then tries to reason with White "Look, we've done a lot of jobs, done a lot of time but there's no need for this man". White then warns Joe "Joe, you kill that man you die next, repeat: you kill that man you die next". Eddie then warns White "Larry, we have been friends and I respect you but I will put bullets through your fucking heart if you don't put that gun down NOW!". White then gives Joe a final warning "Goddamn you, Joe. Don't make me do this!" and Eddie give his final warning and yells at White "LARRY STOP POINTING THAT FUCKING GUN AT MY DAD!!!".  

Lawrence Tierney also is very good in his role as the gruff aged mob boss, Joe Cabot, who masterminds the jewel heist.

And Tierney's best scene comes when he tells the men their names "Here are you're name, Mr Blonde, Mr White, Mr Blue, Mr Brown and Mr Pink" and when Pink asks "Why am I Mr Pink?" Joe sharply says "Cos you're a faggot alright?!!!".  And when Pink asks why can't they chose their own colours, Joe says "No, no way.  Tried it once, it doesn't work.  You got four guys all fighting over who wants to be Mr Black, but they don't know each other so nobody wants to back down!  No way.  I pick!  You're Mr Pink!  Be thankful you're not Mr Yellow!".  And at the of the scene Joe says to the men "I'm so goddamn mad hollering at you guys I can hardly talk!  Let's go to work!".

And last of all is the last scene where Joe finally shows up at the warehouse just as Eddie angrily confronts Orange over what happened with Blonde's death. So, as Eddie furiously asks Orange "Why don't you tell me what REALLY happened?!" Joe arrives and says "What the hell for?! It would just be more bullshit!" and Eddie says to Joe "Dad, I'm sorry but I don't know what the hell is happened". Joe then says to Eddie "Its alright, Eddie, I do" and he points to Orange says "This man set us up" and White shocked ask "What do you mean?" and Joe tells him "That lump of shit is working with the LAPD!".  And as White refuses to believe it, Joe says "You don't know what's goin on! I do! Mr Orange tipped off the cops and had Mr Brown and Mr Blue killed!" and Pink asks "Blue's dead?" and Joe delivers the great line "Dead as Dilinger!".

White then asks Joe "How do you know all this?" and Joe tells him "He was the only one I wasn't 100% on. I should have my fucking head examined going ahead when I wasn't 100%".  White however is not convinced and shouts "THAT'S YOUR PROOF?!" and Joe tells him "You don't need proof when you have instinct! I ignored it before but no more!".

Kirk Baltz is also very good in his role as Marvin Nash, the cop who is taken hostage, beaten and then tortured by Blonde, and I still find it hard to look at the open wound of his severed ear in the film 30 years on from the film's initial release!

Baltz also does very well in the film's most unsettling and difficult scene where Nash begs with Blonde to spare him just as Blonde douses the cop in gasoline and prepares to burn him. So, in the scene a terrified Nash shouts to Blonde "STOP! STOP! Look I've got my own kid now, please! I don't know anything about any fucking guys! I'm not gonna say anything!".

And after Orange kills Blonde, he asks Nash his name "What's your name?" and Nash tells him "Marvin. Marvin Nash" and Blonde says "Listen, Marvin Nash, I'm a cop" and Nash says "Yeah, I know". Blonde a little surprised asks Nash "You do?" and Nash says "Yeah, your name is Freddie something" and Orange says "Newendyke, Freddie Newendyke". Nash then tells Orange "Frankie Ferchetti introduced about 5 months ago" and Orange says "Shit, I don't remember that at all". Nash then asks Orange "Freddie...how do I look?" and Orange smiles sympathetically and says "I dunno what to tell you Marvin". 

So, Nash almost sobs and shouts re: Blonde "That fuck! That sick twisted fuck!" Orange tells Nash "I need you to hold on, Marvin. There are cops just waiting a block awat". So, Nash shouts  he says "What the fuck are they waiting for?!  I mean this guy slices my face and cuts my fucking ear off!  I'm fucking deformed!" and Blonde yells at him that he is dying and not to pussy out and wait for Joe to show up.

Randy Brooks is very good also in his role as the undercover cop, Holdaway, who helps out Orange and tells him to use a "commode" story to tell to Joe's men to amuse them to back his cover story as a drug dealer.

So, in Brooks scenes with Roth, Orange meets with Holdaway in a diner and they discuss he is undercover work and how he has infiltrated Joe's team. So, as Orange tells Holdaway about White, Holdaway says "I bet you from a diddle-eyed Joe to a damned-if-know, this motherfucker's from Wisconsin" and Orange says "bing!" and Holdaway says "So, what I want you to do is look at all the mug shots from, Wisconsin and identify this Mr White motherfucker's ass". Orange then discusses how his referral from another cop, "Long Beach" Mike helped him to get inside. So, Orange says to Holdaway "So, do right by him, he's a good guy" but Holdaway shakes his head and says "No, no, no, no, no. "Long Beach" Mike isn't your fucking amigo,  "Long Beach" is a fucking scumbag. He is selling out his amigos, that's what kind of nice fucking guy he is. So, you keep low-life scumbag outta mind". So, after a pause, Holdaway asks Orange "You use the "commode" story?". 

So, in the following scene up on a rooftop building somewhere, Holdaway explains the "commode" story and presents a four page script to Orange to rehearse. So, Holdaway says of the script "This is something funny that happens to you while on a fucking job. You remember what you need and make the rest your own, alright?".  Holdaway then tells Orange "To do this job you need to be a great fuckin actor, you need to be Brando. A bad actor is bullshit on this job!". Holdaway then insists Orange remembers the specific details about the commode itself and he tells Orange "You gotta remember if it stinks, if some nasty low-life motherfucker, man, sprays diahorrea all over the bowl! You gotta remember EVERY detail about this commode! Its all about you and how you perceived the events that went down. And the only way to do that is to keep saying it, saying it, saying it and saying it!". 

Edward Bunker also does well in his very brief role as Mr Blue. Bunker interestingly enough himself in reality had a criminal background as he was once a convicted felon, who served prison sentences for crimes such as armed robbery, drug dealing and extortion before he finally went straight in 1975. Bunker later died in 2005, aged 71. 

And Bunker's only comes in the opening diner scene where Blue says to Pink about the waitress that served them "Hey this girl was nice" and Pink say "She was OK, she was nothing special" and Blue asks him "What's special? Take you in the back and suck your dick?!" and as the men all laugh, Eddie ponders and says "I'd go over 12% for that!".

And last of all Quentin Tarantinto provides his own tuppence in the film as Mr Brown who delivers an admittedly silly and annoying monologue about the real meaning of the Madonna song "Like a virgin" and he refers to the woman in the song "Its all about this cooz who is a regular fuck machine, I'm talkin morning, noon, day and night! Dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick!"  And Blue then asks "How many dicks it that?" and White dryly says "A lot!".  And Brown continues by saying "You see the pain reminds a fuck machine what it was once like to be a virgin.  Hence like a virgin!".

And later on when Brown is given his alias of Mr Brown by Joe at the heist meeting, Tarantino delivers his best line when complains and says "Mr Brown it a little too close to Mr Shit!".

DIRECTOR

So finally getting onto the director, Quentin Tarantino does an excellent job and given that it is his debut its also a fairly impressive technical film, with Tarantino using a string of long takes to give the actors good distance from one another and it goes without saying his writing is of a very high quality as his script is witty, immensely profane, and above all very clever.  Tarantino also paces the film to perfection as it clocks in at just 99 minutes so there is not a minute's flab in there (well in movie length weight terms that is!).

MUSIC 

As for the music in the film, Tarantino here rather than go with an original score has chosen a number of classic pop/rock tracks from the 1970's and has created his own fictional radio channel "K-Billy's Super Sounds of the 70's" that is voiced by stand-up comedian, Steve Wright. The soundtrack itself is a pretty good mix of tracks such as "Little Green Bag" by The George Baker Selection, "I Gotcha" by Joe Tex, "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede and of course "Stuck in the middle with you" by Stealers Wheel. The soundtrack of course also has helped a lot of these songs to become iconic and anthems of their own for the film.     

FLAWS 

As for flaws does Reservoir Dogs have any glaring ones??? Yeah it does have some.

And to start off, I think the film's violence could be a real turn-off for some audiences specifically regarding the torture scene with Blonde cutting off the cop's ear even though you don't see the action itself.  The film was also even delayed its initial video release by the British film censors due to the timing of its impending video release with the Jamie Bulger murder, which occurred roundabout that time and as a result the film wasn't subsequently released until 1995 although I have to say I don't think for a second this film influenced that killing itself.

The film also has some rather uncomfortable racist and misogynistic tones to it especially in the language of the thieves which comes over in the scene where White, Pink and Eddie talk about how black men treat women.  And in this scene for example Pink says to the others "What a white bitch would put up with a black bitch wouldn't put up with for a second" and White says "If this is such as truism, how is it every nigger I know treats their woman like a piece of shit?".  And another scene is where Pink yells at White and Blonde in the warehouse and he says "Fuckin guys are acting like a bunch of fuckin niggers, man!  You ever worked with niggers?  Just like you two!  Always trying to kill each other!".

And in Reservoir Dogs it is a predominantly male orientated universe and women play very much second fiddle to them, where the only women we see in the film is the one who is dragged out of her car window by Pink or the other one who Orange shoots dead in retaliation for her shooting him in the abdomen. However, Tarantino would of course go on to have more female leads in his films, most notably Uma Thurman in Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction as well as Pam Grier in Jackie Brown. 

I also felt Tarantino's small performance is very much superfluous to the film itself and his whole monologue on Brown's analysis of "Like a Virgin" is pretty annoying where the smug criminal tells the men his pointless and silly theory on the meaning of the song.   But at the same time you get that Tarantino wanted to announce himself on and off the screen as well so people could quickly put a name to the face but its still the most annoying scene in the film that to this day still makes me cringe to watch. 

I also thought it was a bit unusual that Mr Pink isn't given a backstory given that he is quite prominent in the film too and we do get at least get a short backstory from Mr White but nothing for Mr Pink. So, I think that is something that Tarantino could have added into the script but then again maybe he just felt that we learn enough about Pink and his attitude from the scenes he wrote.

And last of all, I found the whole idea of Mr Orange's cover story a bit daft in that he has to rehearse a four page script of a time he was in a men's room and his fellow cop, Holdaway wants Orange to memorise all the details about the commode, i.e. what paper towels they used, condition of the stalls, if it had hand driers etc.  Now, OK I'm willing to buy that Orange would be able to learn the details of the story from a dealer stand point but I find it a bit ridiculous that he would be expected to remember all the details of the condition of the commode itself. I mean the story was set back in 1986, so by the film's production it was 1991, so basically he is supposed to remember the condition of the toilets from 5 years ago! So, I just think Holdaway's expectations are a bit daft.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Reservoir Dogs after 30 years is still a modern classic crime film and also remains one of Tarantino's best films, which is very well written and tightly paced. The film's cast are also all top notch particularly the performances by Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi. The film also has a very memorable soundtrack with the songs chosen having become very iconic themselves as a result. And if you are still watch QT's debut then it is certainly worth checking out.

And so I will give Reservoir Dogs...

9 out of 10 

So, that's it for this post and I will be back hopefully with another either before or just after Christmas.

Until then bye for now! 

 

Pulp Fiction Review (Revisited) "Correct-a-mundo!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I figured I'd do another post just now and it will be yet another revisitation of a revisitation (so to speak!) of Quentin Tarantino's 2nd film, Pulp Fiction. So, the previous post was already pretty hefty in size, so I won't be adding too much here just one or two little things and tidying up any spelling errors (yep its come to this for content lol!).

So, after 28 years, let's see how this modern crime classic stacks up...

And yep as usual...

PLOT SPOILERS WILL BE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So the plot is told in a typically non-linear fashion for writer/director Quentin Tarantino 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 associates lead by Brett (Frank Whaley) who were stupid enough to rip off their boss Marsellus Wallace (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 Marsellus 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 follows Vincent, who is asked by Marsellus 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 Mia over to his drug dealer, Lance (Eric Stoltz) from whom he bought the 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" where a boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) who is coming to the end of his career and is being forced to take a dive in his fight by Marsellus.  But Butch has other ideas and ends up winning the fight, unintentionally killing his opponent in the process and plans to flee with his girlfriend and the winnings he made from the bookies who placed bets on him.

However 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.  Enraged by Fabienne's failure to pick up the watch, Butch decides, with little choice, 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 gets more than he bargained for as it leads into the film's surprising climax.

THOUGHTS 
  
It has to be said that Pulp Fiction remains one of the most seminal and highly entertaining films of the last 30 years, which really established that Tarantino was not a one-trick pony and that he could continue to craft excellent films.  Tarantino's script for the most part is wonderfully written and is filled with rich (and very 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 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 Marsellus's back.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers and strong language!) 

As for the performances, well the film features a star cast that are all on top form.  

Starting with John Travolta who's career was totally revitalized here as he plays the part of the hitman Vincent Vega, who gets 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 as Jules tells Vincent it wasn't right that Marcellus threw Tony "Rocky Horror" out of a window for giving Mia a foot message, Vincent responds.  So, Vincent tells Jules " Now look, I've given a million ladies a million foot massages, and they all meant something. We act like they don't, but they do, and that's what's so fucking cool about them. There's a sensuous thing going on where you don't talk about it, but you know it, she knows it, fucking Marsellus knew it, and Antwon should have fucking better known better. I mean, that's his fucking wife, man. He can't be expected to have a sense of humor about that shit!". 

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 "You see, this is a real test to see if you can prove loyality, which is very important".  And then after he says to himself "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 desperately 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 Marsellus Wallace's wife!  Do you know who Marsellus Wallace is???  Now if she croaks on me I'm a fuckin grease spot! Now I will forced to tell him that you let her die on your fuckin lawn, so please help me get her up!".

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 as Jules insists it was "divine intervention" that has kept them alive from being killed by the hail of bullets, Vincent tells him "Do you wanna continue this theological discussion in the car, or at the jailhouse with the cops?!".  

Another good scene is when Jules tells Vincent what he intends to do with his life after choosing to quite being a hitman and Vincent calls him a bum. So, Vincent says "So, you decided to be a bum?" and Jules says "I'll Jules, Vincent, no more, no less" and Vincent says "No, you decided to be a bum, just like those pieces of shit that beg for change and eat what I throw away. They got a name for that, Jules and that's a bum and without a job, residence or legal tender, that's what your gonna be, man, you're gonna be a fuckin bum!". 

Vincent then refers to back to their freak incident with the gunman in the bathroom missing them completely and Vincent tells Jules "Jules, what happened this morning was peculiar I agree but water into wine..." and Jules says "All shapes and sizes, Vincent" and Vincent shaken says "Don't fuckin talk to me that way man!". Jules then says "If my answers frighten you, Vincent you should cease asking scary questions!". Vincent after a pause then announces "I'm gonna take a shit" and he gets up and says to Jules "When did you make this decision? While you were sitting there eating that muffin?" and Jules says "Yeah, I played the incident in my head when I had what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity" and Vincent says "Fuck! To be continued" and he walks off.

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!". And in the final moment when the robbery has been diffused, Jules takes his wallet back and Vincent says quietly to him "I think we should be leaving now" and Jules says "Yeah, that's probably a good idea!".

Samuel L Jackson next up, who made his breakthrough with this role, is simply terrific in his role as the philosophical hitman, Jules Winfield, who decides to turn a new leaf after his incident at Brett's apartment when retrieving Marsellus's case. Jackson himself was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance but he lost out to Martin Landau's performance in Ed Wood.

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 Marsellus 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 he finishes by shouting "And you will know my name is the Lord, when I lay my vengeance upon thee!" before unloading into Brett.

Then there are some priceless Jackson moments in the "Bonnie Situation" story line, 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 as Jules looks at the bullet holes in the wall he says "We should be fuckin dead, man" and Vincent says "Yeah, I know, we were lucky" and Jules says "No, this shit wasn't luck, this was divine intervention.  Do you know what divine intervention is?".  And Vincent, humouring Jules says "I think so.  It means that God came down from heaven and stopped the bullets?" and Jules says "That's exactly what it means.  God came down from heaven and stopped these motherfuckin' bullets!". 

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 despair 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 ity-bity 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 "Well, I'm a mushroom cloud 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!  We're fuckin switching!  I'm washin windows and you're picking this nigger's skull!".

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 "Correctamundo!".  And as Yolanda tells Jules to let Pumpkin go, Jules tells her "Yolanda, I thought you were going to be cool.  Now, when you yell at me that makes me nervous and when I get nervous, I get scared.  And when motherfuckers get scared that's when motherfuckers accidentally get shot!".  Then Jules negotiates with Pumpkin and gives him money so he doesn't have to "kill his ass" and he quotes the Ezekiel 25-17 bible passage and explains what he thinks it means.

So, Jules says to Pumpkin "I been sayin' that shit for years, and if you heard it, that meant your ass. I never gave much thought to what it meant. I just thought it was some coldblooded shit to say to a motherfucker... before I popped a cap in his ass.  But I saw some shit this morning made me think twice. See, now I'm thinkin' maybe it means...you're the evil man, and I'm the righteous man, and Mr. 9-millimeter here, he's the shepherd...protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean... you're the righteous man, and I'm the shepherd, and it's the world that's evil and selfish. Now, 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 trying real hard....to be the shepherd!" and he lowers his gun and let's Pumpkin and Honeybunny go. And after they go, Vincent quietly walks up to Jules and says "I think we should be leaving now" and Jules says "Yeah, I think that's probably a good idea!" and they both leave.  

Uma Thurman is also excellent in her role as Mia Wallace, Marsellus's sultry wife who has dinner with Vincent and their scenes together provide a nice chemistry between them both.

Uma's notable moments all take place mainly at Jack Rabbit Slims restaurant, so I will start with the scene where Vincent at the diner with Mia, asks her about the incident with Tony and Marsellus.  And Mia asks him "So, did you think of something to say?" and Vincent says "Actually, I did.  However you seem like a nice person and I don't want to offend you" and Mia, surprised says "Ooohh! This doesn't sound like the usual, mindless, boring, gettin'-to-know-you chitchat. This sounds like you actually have somethin' to say".  And when Vincent asks her if Tony ever gave Mia a foot massage, she replies "Only thing Antwan ever touched of mine was my hand when he shook it... at my wedding.  Truth is, nobody knows why Marsellus threw Tony out that window... except Marsellus and Tony. When you little scamps get together, you're worse than a sewing circle!".

Then there is the moment where the Jack Rabbit Slim twist contest takes place and Mia wants to dance but Vincent is having none of it but Mia insists. And as Ed Sullivan look-a-like announces "Now who will be our first contestants?" Mia puts her hand and says "Right here!" And Vincent looks horrified and Mia says "Wanna dance" but Vincent quietly says "No, no, no, no, no". Mia however cuts him off and firmly says "No, no, no, no, no, no! I do believe Marsellus Wallace, my husband and your boss told you take to ME out and do whatever I wanted! Now I wanna dance, I wanna win, I want that trophy, so dance good!". 

Then there is the scene just after they dance, we see that they won the trophy as they dance into Mia's place and they share a laugh and an awkward moment where Vincent asks "Is that what you call an uncomfortable silence?" and Mia says "I don't know WHAT you call it!". Mia then quickly snaps out of her reverie and says "Music! Drinks!" and Vincent smiles and says "I'm gonna take a piss" and as Mia prepares to play something on her eight track, she says "That's a littttttle bit more information then I needed, Vincent but go right ahead!".

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 in the scene Mia asks him "Vincent, do you wanna hear my Fox Force Five joke?" and Vincent says "Maybe but I'm still a little too petrified to laugh" and Mia says "No, you want laugh because its not funny but if you wanna hear it, I'll tell it" and Vincent says "I can't wait". So, 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 gets angry goes back and squishes him and says "Ketchup!" and Vincent smiles a little. Mia then looks at Vincent and says "See you around" and she walks off and Vincent blows her a kiss. 

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 Butch continues "All this other shit you could've set on fire, but I specifically reminded you not to forget the fucking watch! Now think!  Did you get it?" and Fabienne nervously says "I think so".  However, Butch now angry says "You believe so???!"  What the fuck does that mean??!  You either did or didn't get it!!" and Fabienne says "Then I did" and Butch asks again "You sure?" and Fabienne, frightened says "No".

So, then Butch explodes in a rage, yelling "FUCK!  FUCK!!! FUCK!!! MOTHERFUCKER!!!" and he starts leaping up and down and he grabs the motel room TV and smashes it and yells "DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING STUPID YOU ARE???!!".  However Butch then regains his composure and shouts "NO!  It's not your fault. You left it at the apartment. If you left it at the apartment, it's not your fault. I had you bring a bunch of stuff. I reminded you about it, but I didn't illustrate how personal the watch was to me".  And after he leaves and reassures Fabienne, we cut to him in his car and he pounds the steering wheel angrily, shouting "SHIT!! OF ALL THE FUCKING THINGS SHE COULD FUCKING FORGET, SHE FORGETS MY FATHER'S WATCH!!  I specifically reminded her!  Bedside table!  On the kangaroo!  I said the words "don't forget my father's watch!".   

And one of Willis's best moments is where after he and Marsellus have been captured by the rednecks in the pawnshop and he breaks free of his bonds and he decides to save Marsellus.  So, Butch rummages through the pawnshop for a weapon to rescue Marcellus with and he picks up a samurai sword (a katana) and goes downstairs and exacts some revenge on the rednecks.  And in the scene, Butch skewers one of the rednecks and then points the katana at the other, Z, and he notices a gun on a table near him and he says to Z "You want that gun, don't you, Zed?  Go ahead and pick it up!".  And as Z is tempted to pick it up, Butch says "Atta boy!  I want you to pick it up...Z!" but then Marsellus stands up behind Butch armed with a shotgun.....

And later when Marsellus let's Butch go he takes Z's chopper (Z is played by Peter Greene) and picks up Fabienne and he tells her "Honey, since I left you, this has been, without a doubt, the single weirdest fuckin' day of my life!".  And as Fabienne get's on the bike, she 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!" and they drive off.

Vingh Rhames is great as the crime boss, Marsellus 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 Marsellus 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 in ths scene, Marsellus holds out an envelope of money to Butch and he says to him "Are you my nigga?" and Butch takes the envelope and says "It would certainly appear so".  And Marsellus says to him "The night of the fight you might feel a slight sting.  That's pride fucking with you.  Fuck pride!  Pride only hurts, it never helps.  You fight through that shit.  Cause a year from now when you are kickin it on the Caribbean you're gonna say to yourself "Marsellus Wallace was right!".  

And later in the scene where Butch, driving his car, spots Marsellus cross the street, carrying a box of doughnuts and they look at each other and Marsellus shouts "Motherfucker!" and Butch puts the car into gear and runs him over only to crash into another car in the process. 

But later on Butch decides to save Marsellus 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 Butch asks Marsellus "What now?" and Marsellus says "Let me tell you what now. I'm gonna call a couple of hard, pipe-hittin' niggers...to go to work on the homes here...with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch"  And Marsellus shouts at Z, who writhes on the floor in agony, nursing what is left of his gentialia "You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight! I'm gonna get medieval on your ass!". 

So, Butch asks "I mean what now between me and you?" and Butch says "Oh, THAT what now.  I tell you now what between me and you.  There IS no me and you.  Not no more".  And Butch asks "So, we cool?" and Marsellus says "Yeah, we cool.  Two things: 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 lastly there is the scene where Jules make a call to Marsellus about the "Bonnie" situation and what can the do to resolve it. So, in the scene Marsellus on the phone to Jules says re: Bonnie "If she comes what do you think she'll do?" and there is a beat as Jules replies and Marsellus "Yeah no fucking shit she'll freak. I mean how much? A lot or a little?". And as Jules anxiously explains that if Bonnie catches them trying to shift Marvin's body when she comes home "there aren't no telling what she is a liable to do!".

So, Marsellus says "I know that, Jules. All I'm doing is contemplating the ifs" which prompts Jules to snap back "I don't wanna hear about no motherfuckin ifs! All I wanna hear from your ass is "You aint got not problem, Jules! I'm on the motherfucker! Go back in there and chill those niggers out and wait for the cavalry, which should be coming directly!". So, Marsellus calmly replies "You aint got not problem, Jules. I'm on the motherfucker. Go back in there and chill those niggers out and wait for the Wolf, who should be coming directly". Jules, surprised then asks "You sending the Wolf?" and Marsellus says "You feel better, motherfucker?" and Jule smiles and says "Shit, negro! That's all you had to say!". 

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.

And later when Vincent brings the OD'd Mia to Lance's place, the two of them squabble as Lance prepares the needle with adrenaline to resuscitate Mia.  And Lance says "Here, I'll you what to do" but Vincent refuses, saying "You're gonna give her the shot" and Lance insists "No, you're gonna give her the shot!" and they continue to argue.  So, Lance finally says "I never done this either! I ain't starting now! You brought her here. You give her the shot. The day I bring an O.D.ing bitch to your house, then I give her the shot!  Give her the shot!".

So, Vincent relents and takes the needle and uses a black marker to mark the point on Mia's chest where he is to inject the needle.  And Vincent says "All right, tell me what to do" and Lance says "Okay, you're giving her an injection of adrenalin straight to her heart. But she's got a breastplate... You gotta pierce through that. You gotta bring the needle down in a stabbing motion!" and Lance indicates a stabbing motion three times.  So, Vincent asks "So, I've got to stab her three times?" and Lance shouts "No, just stab her once! But it's gotta be hard enough to get through her breastplate into her heart. Once you do that, you p-press down on the p-plunger".  And Vincent asks "OK, then what happens?" and Lance shrugs and says "I'm kinda curious about that myself" and Vincent angrily says "This is ain't no fuckin joke!  Am I gonna kill her?!" and Lance says "She's supposed to come out, just like that!".

 And after Vincent injects the needle in Mia, she suddenly is brought to life and screams out loud and Lance nervously asks her "If you're alright, then say something" and Mia looks a bit needle embedded in her chest and says "Something...." and Vincent and Lance sigh in relief. 

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. The character of Winston would of course later appear in a series of parody television adverts for Directline.com

And Harvey's best scene comes when Vincent disputes Winston's straight talking no-nonsense manner and says to him "A please would be nice" and Winston, taken aback asks "Come again?" and Vincent says "A please would be nice".  So, Winston tells Vincent "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 fuckin' do it and do it quick. I'm here to help. If my help's not appreciated, lotsa luck, gentlemen!".

So, Jules tries to step in to diffuse the tension and says "No, it ain't like that, Mr Wolf, you're help is definitely appreciated!" and Vincent says to Winston "Mr. Wolf, listen. I don't mean disrespect, okay? I respect you. I just don't like people barkin' orders at me that's all".  So, 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!".

Another good scene is when Winston gets Jimmie to get a bunch of blankets together to cover over the bloodied seats of Jules's car and Jimmie explains his concerns about his bedset being used as it belong to his Aunt Jenny. So, Winston in the scene asks "Let me ask you a question, Jimmie. Was your Aunt Jenny a millionaire?" and Jimmie says "No" and Winston tells him "Well, your Uncle Marsellus is and I'm positive he will furnish you with a whole new set". So, Winston takes out a wad of dollar bills and says to Jimmie "I like oak myself. How about you, Jimmie? Are you an oak man?" and Jimmie with little choice says "Oak's nice" and Winston starts counting out the money.

And last of all is the scene where Winston, Jules and Vincent successfully dispose of Marvin and the tainted car and they meet his girlfriend, Raquel. So, in the scene Winston offers them a ride but when they tell them where the live, Winston looks to the skies and says "Its your future...I see...a cab ride! Way out of the sticks, fellas!" and he says to Raquel "Say good night, Raquel" and she sarcastically repeats "Goodnight, Raquel!". Jules and Vincent then both thank Winston saying it was a pleasure to watch him work and Winston smiles and says "Call me Winston" and then he heads to his car with Raquel and says to her "You see young lady! That's respect! Respect shows character" and Raquel protests "I HAVE character!" and he tells her "Just because you ARE a character doesn't mean you HAVE character!". 

Christopher Walken who makes a cameo appearance in the film as the solider who gives Butch as a child, his father's watch, is also great and his long speech is nicely written and also pretty funny.

And of course there is funny moment where he tells the young Butch "The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned (in Walken's unique style!) if any slope's gonna put their greasy, yellow hands on his boy's birthright, so he hid it in 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 give me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass two years. Then...after seven years, I was sent home to my family and...now...little man, I give the watch to you!".

Maria de Medeiros is also good in the film as Butch's girlfriend, Fabienne although it has to be said that she get's the worst of Tarantino's dialogue given that she has to say lines such as "Pot bellies are sexy!" and "I'm gonna order a big plate of blueberry pancakes... with maple syrup, eggs over easy and five sausages!".  So in all honesty I'm not going to bother quoting any of her scenes here just for the sake of time (sorry!).

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 his performance in all honesty isn't that great but he does what he can. However some of his delivery feels like he is trying to remember some of his lines particularly when says how Bonnie is working "the graveyard shift at the hospital!" it just feels weird and unnatural. Basically Quentin, stick to the directing and writing, that's what your good at!

And Tarantino's most noteworthy scene comes when Jules compliments Jimmy on how good his coffee is and asks what flavour it is and Jimmy says "Knock it off, Julie!".  And Jules asks "What?" and Jimmy angrily tells him "I don't need you to tell me how fuckin' good my coffee is. 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 'cause when I drink it, I wanna taste it. But you know what's on my mind right now? It ain't the coffee in my kitchen. It's the dead nigger in my garage!".

So, as Jules tries to calm Jimmy, Jimmy interrupts him and asks "When you came pulling in here, did you notice the sign on the front of my house that said, "Dead Nigger Storage"?".  And as Jules is about to reply, Jimmy asks louder "Did you notice the sign on the front of my house that said, "Dead Nigger Storage"?!!".  And Jules says No, I didn't" and Jimmy asks him "You know why you didn't see that sign?" and Jules asks "Why?" and Jimmy yells "Cause it ain't there, 'cause storing dead niggers ain't my fucking business, that's why!".

And Jimmy then tells Jules "Now, look, you know, she comes home from work in about an hour and a half. The graveyard shift at the hospital. You gotta make some phone calls? You gotta call some people? Well, then, do it, and then get the fuck out of my house before she gets here!".  And as Jules tries to reassure Jimmy that "We don't wanna fuck your shit up" Jimmy angrily yells "You're fucking my shit up right now! You're gonna fuck my shit up BIG TIME if Bonnie comes home!  Do me that favor, all right? The phone is in my bedroom. I suggest you get going!".

DIRECTION AND MUSIC 

As for the director himself, Quentin Tarantino does a great job here of course and technically it is also pretty good film 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 distance on the left of the shot.  He also makes good use of visual creativity, such as in the scene with Fabienne's reflection standing inside the motel room TV while an action film is playing. Perhaps time wise the film does feel a bit flabby in places with certain scenes overrunning but for the most part this is certainly one of Tarantino's very best efforts.    

As for the music in the film it features 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.  

FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)

As for flaws....yeah well as good as Pulp Fiction is, it still has some worth mentioning.

And for starters, I do think that the film could be a little shorter as certain scenes do feel a bit panned out.  And for examples sake the scenes between Butch and Fabienne do drag on a bit, and are the only fairly tedious scenes in the film, especially with Fabienne wittering on, about wishing she had a pot belly like "Madonna did when she did Lucky Star!". At this point you want to just hit the fast forward button as the dialogue starts to get a bit cringe worthy! Further to this, I think its also a bit fair to say that Fabienne is a bit too cutesy a character for the film itself as she is quite a contrast to the rest of the hard boiled gangsters and molls we get but maybe that's the point I guess.    

And one of the few things that does leave me slightly 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 the film has an uncomfortable mix of humour blended in with racism, and it was the same in Reservoir Dogs where e.g. Harvey Keitel's character, Mr White, talks about "How is it every nigger I know treats their women like a piece of shit?".

I also though that in the redneck scene where Marsellus 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.  Its almost like Tarantino is doing a nod to the classic 1970's thriller "Deliverance" where Ned Beatty's character is also sexually assaulted by hillbillies.

Another issue is to do with the idea of Winston driving the tainted car with Marvin's dead body in it as he tells Jules and Vincent that he will drive that car and he gives Vincent the keys to his own Acura sports car.  So in the scene Winston tells Vincent "I drive real fuckin fast, so keep up" but if he does that then surely they will get pulled over by the police!  So, in this instance wouldn't it be better for Winston to exercise a little care when he is driving a car containing a dead body rather than belt it out at 90 miles an hour and risk being pulled over and arrested!

Then of course there is the continuity flaw in the scene where the guy in the bathroom bursts out and unloads his magnum at Jules and Vincent only to miss them both and the bullets go into the wall instead.  However if you look carefully before this scene, the bullet holes are already in the wall!  This however is already a well noted continuity flaw in the film itself, so I guess its nothing new but still worth pointing out all the same.

And further to this point, its surprising that the cops aren't alerted at all in any of the scenes involving gunfire in this film, not even where Marsellus shoots at Butch on the streets in broad daylight! I mean Jules and Vincent unload on Brett and his associates in an apartment with loud 9mm guns but NOTHING is heard or done about it, so no one calls the cops! I guess it was just a very apathetic neighborhood I guess where gun crime is so rife no one can be bothered to call the police! And even further to this, why DIDN'T Jules and Vincent use guns with silencers instead to keep things quiet?! I mean they even talk about using shotguns and that would be even worse! Ah well, we're not talking about real life here as it is a Tarantino film after all.

Another problem I had with the film was to do with Butch's choice when he went back to his apartment to get his watch and THEN go in and make himself some pop tarts in the kitchen!  I mean what hell???!  Surely to God he should have just got his watch and left the apartment straight away!  However I guess the flipside is that by killing Vincent that's one other problem dealt with but on the other hand even though Butch saves Marsellus's life, he does also kill one of his main henchmen, so wouldn't that also cancel out Marsellus's new found faith in Butch??!  Just maybe  In short, Butch really should have just left the apartment straight away than hang about to make breakfast for himself.

I also though it was strange how Butch appears to have the same dream about being a kid and receiving the gold watch and that he wakes up startled. It begs the question: is this the only dream Butch has? If so then I'm kind of surprised that Fabienne wouldn't be used to him having this dream by now when she said she was startled by him and she even asks "Did you have a bad dream?". Then again maybe he only has the dream when he is under stress and there is a lot on his mind and there certainly was in this film! And to be fair Butch does refuse to tell Fabienne as he says "its rare that I remember my dreams".

There are also another couple of oddities in the story such as the scene where Vincent tells Jules that he doesn't watch TV and he later on asks Jules if he watched a show called "cops" which totally negates what he said to Jules earlier! Now, you could argue that Vincent was being sarcastic in his response that he doesn't watch TV earlier in the film but it is still a bit bizarre how Tarantino doesn't refer back to it in the script at that point although clearly Jules's mind is elsewhere after their near death experience. 

Also was it really a good idea for Vincent to shoot up heroin just BEFORE he is due to go off and pick up his boss's wife for a dinner date?!  I mean what if he crashed the car enroute or worse crashed it while he was driving her to dinner?! I guess its OK for Mia to get all coked up since she won't be driving but not so much for Vincent surely! But again it is a Quentin Tarantino film where gangsters can shoot up people in neighbourhoods, scream and shouts as they do it as well as get pissed up on drugs and booze and drive cars at the same time!   

And last of all is the change of dialogue in the scene where Honey Bunny says in the opening scene "Any of you fucking pricks MOVE and I'll execute every single last motherfucking one of ya!" and later on the dialogue changes during the robbery finale itself. And it changes to "Any of you fucking pricks move and I'll execute everyone one of you motherfuckers!". It always bugged me this change as it feels mainly pointless even if Tarantino himself argued that its from a different perspective but even so I think he could easily have kept the dialogue the same as it works much better than the changed version.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Pulp Fiction remains easily as one of Quentin Tarantino's very best films and its script and cast are both top notch and direction is by large terrific and sharp and he even makes good use of panning shots and fills frame at times in a creative way (where we see Lance's reflection in the mirror of his bedroom as he lays out on it being one). The film also has a very memorable soundtrack with the unforgettable "Miserlou" at the beginning and the use of other tracks such as "Jungle Boogie" by Kool n the Gang. 

And yes it does have some minor flaws and some plot holes and yes even some of the dialogue is a bit cringey at times and yes it does come across as being quite racist in places. However if you forgive it all that, Pulp Fiction is still one of the best films of its era and of the 1990's.

So, I will rate Pulp Fiction...

9.5 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post or two hopefully before Christmas. 

Until the next one bye for now!