Pulp Fiction

2019 saw the release of Quentin Tarantino’s ninth written and directed film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It won me over like most of Quentin’s work and I instantly picked it up when it hit home video several weeks ago, but that is for a future entry. I reference the slightly belated latest release from Quentin so I can piggyback off it to catch up on another backlog box entry from a previous Quentin joint I upgraded to BluRay several years ago and did not get to pulling out of said box until now. That film is Tarantino’s movie that launched him into his first worldwide commercial and critical success in 1994’s Pulp Fiction (trailer). I have not seen the film since shortly after I got my original DVD copy as a birthday gift some 16-17 years ago, so a re-watch has been long overdue.

For those unfamiliar, Quentin was riding high from the indie breakout success of his debut feature directed film, Reservoir Dogs (which I already covered right here). His unique filmmaking attracted A-list star attention, and Pulp Fiction brought in Bruce Willis, transitioned Samuel L Jackson and Uma Thurman into top level stars and re-introduced John Travolta as Hollywood-headliner material. An intro title card defines the meaning of ‘Pulp Fiction’ and it is how Quentin takes us for a ride on four tales of about 30-40 minutes in length each that each has their own unique gritty journeys that occasionally interweave with one another.

One of its iconic scenes is where gangster hit men Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L Jackson) have a seemingly ordinary back-and-fourth water cooler-esque conversation about Vincent’s recent vacation. The banter comes off very workman-like and they have a vintage Tarantino-style lengthy dialogue until they arrive at their destination which turns out to be a hit on a few targets who double-crossed their boss, Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). How the two seamlessly pivot from everyday chit-chat into their job description is remarkable and Tarantino pulls it off with aplomb.

The film then segues to Vincent taking Wallace’s wife, Mia (Uma Thurman) out for a night on the town. It is highlighted with the two eating at an extraordinary 50s-themed diner, Jackrabbit Slims, where the two enter into a dance contest that sees Travolta retained his dance skills from Grease and Uma able and willing to keep up in another evergreen scene. I had a riot checking out the alternative angle b-roll from this scene in the BluRay extras that sees a sweat-soaked Quentin enthusiastically dancing along about as well as I could (which is not very well at all, but dammit he is into it!) in the background.

From there the film focuses on boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) and how he not only ignores Wallace’s orders to throw a fight, but unknowingly kills his opponent in the ring. Him and his wife, Fabienne (Maria de Medeiros) are then on the run until they realize Butch’s prized possession (masterfully explained in a flashback cameo from Christopher Walken) was forgotten at home. The unfolding aftermath where Butch goes to retrieve the item knowing that hitmen are on the prowl for him, and the whole world of out-of-nowhere hurt that transpires for both him and Wallace is the most gripping material in Pulp Fiction. After Butch’s tale concludes, the film jumps back to Vincent and Jules again from where it left off before after they finished the job, and follows Jules questioning his lifestyle until fate lands the pair in multiple precarious scenarios and saves the most pivotal dialogue in the entire picture until the very end that succeeded in once again in me finishing the movie floored by taking in this entire journey and thinking hard over Jules’ climactic final words.

Another reason I wanted to re-watch Pulp Fiction for a while now is that Chris Jericho and Kevin Smith collaborated their podcasts to do a two-part commentary for the movie. The podcasting veterans have a nonstop dialogue, and Smith has a lot of useful filmmaking insights to add since his debut film, Clerks, also hit from Miramax in 1994 and both Smith and Tarantino were being billed as the next great wave of filmmakers. I admittedly wound up ignoring large chunks of the commentary though because I was reinvigorated from re-watching Pulp Fiction for the first time in nearly two decades and taking in all of Quentin’s elaborate verbiage exchanges again.

The BluRay is jacked with bonuses, both new and recycled from the DVD. Not the Usual Chit-Chat is the standout new HD extra where most of the cast touches on how they first met Quentin and how they landed the role and key production memories. Travolta’s memories I got the most out of from how he said Quentin gave him the boost he need to get back on top of his career and additional details on the aforementioned dance scene. Here are Some Facts on the Fiction is another BluRay exclusive extra with a roundtable discussion where five critics dissect their key takeaways from the film which brought a whole new perspective on the importance of Pulp Fiction to me.

There are a surplus of carried over extras from the DVDs like fact tracks, deleted scenes, photo galleries, award speeches, press tour junkets and previous interviews. The two I want to emphasize though are an episode of Siskel & Ebert at the Movies covering Quentin’s early fame. Watching this again made me forget how much I dug the classic Siskel & Ebert show and this is the only movie I can recall that used segments of that classic film review show as a home video extra. A near hour long episode of the The Charlie Rose Show is also included where Quentin and Rose have a discussion about Quentin’s background and influences with a couple heated exchanges when Rose follows up Quentin on some pressing details. What was not carried over from the original DVD release is the special edition packaging, and Criterion Edition-esque booklet filled with critic essays from Entertainment Weekly and on-set photography. A replica Jack Rabbit Slims menu also did not get bundled with the BluRay, and all this is reason enough for me to retain my DVD copy.

I would be remiss if I did not mention my desire for the Tarantino commentary track he is notorious skipping out on for his own films. That, and the lack of original packaging and insert booklets are my only nitpicks with this otherwise excellent BluRay edition of Pulp Fiction. Tarantino is my favorite director, and being a big fan of most of his films makes it hard to rank Pulp Fiction, but it is definitely at or near the top. Watching it all these years later and I found no problem with it not holding up, and it only got better with age watching this now in my mid-30s compared to back in my early 20s. This is an important piece of cinema that put an exclamation point on Tarantino’s style and revolutionized cinema. For you youngins’ this is highest recommendation viewing if you have not seen it already.

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
The Accountant
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers: Infinity War
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed
Deck the Halls
Detroit Rock City
Die Hard
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Dirty Work
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
Indiana Jones 1-4
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Major League
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Man vs Snake
Marine 3-6
Merry Friggin Christmas
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Mortal Kombat
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Slacker
Skyscraper
Small Town Santa
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Sully
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past