Pulp Fiction
Overview
Writer-director Quentin Tarantino revisits the seedier side of Los Angeles--following 1992's RESERVOIR DOGS--with this funny, violent, tongue-in-cheek tribute to the less "classic" side of filmmaking--the potboilers and capers, the Blaxploitation flicks and gangster movies. The film interweaves three tales, told in a circular, fractured manner, which only fully connect by the time the final credits roll. The first story focuses on Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), two hit men on duty for "the big boss," Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), whose gorgeous wife, Mia (Uma Thurman), takes a liking to Vincent. In the second, a down-and-out pugilist (Bruce Willis), who is ordered to take a fall, decides that there's more money in doing the opposite. The final chapter follows a pair of lovers (Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth) as they prepare to hold up a diner. Tarantino wears his cinematic influences proudly, bringing them to life in the ironically hip, self-referential 1990s. The result is a work that changed the face of independent cinema forever, making it a legitimate player in the Hollywood mainstream. The all-star cast steps into their roles with obvious glee, and Tarantino once again uses his soundtrack to up the "cool" ante yet another notch, making for a motion picture event that has worked its way into our national vernacular.
Awards:
1994 - Cannes - Palme d'Or - Winner
1994 - Academy Awards - Best Original Screenplay - Winner
Main Cast & Crew:
Quentin Tarantino - Director
John Travolta
Samuel L. Jackson
Uma Thurman
Harvey Keitel
Tim Roth
Amanda Plummer
Maria De Medeiros
Ving Rhames
Christopher Walken
Bruce Willis
Details
- Format: 4K Blu-ray (With Blu-Ray, 4K Mastering, AC-3, Dolby, Digital Theater System)
- Run Time: 154
- Color Format: Color
- UPC: 032429348265
- Genre: MYSTERY / SUSPENSE / THRILLER
- Rating: R (MPAA)
- Release Date: December 2022
Movie Reviews
Synopsis:
Quentin Tarantino's blockbuster follow-up to RESERVOIR DOGS is a breathtaking tribute to old dime store novels about small time hoods and dangerous criminals, and a lot of what they do between jobs. It features deftly woven plotlines, creating a mythic Los Angeles underworld of drug dealers, molls, affable hitmen, restaurant-robbing lovers, and a boxer out to scam the mob on his last professional bout. This is the film that put John Travolta back on the map as a major box-office draw in the '90s and officially established Samuel L. Jackson as a superstar. It also inspired a seemingly endless slew of imitators.
Notes:
PULP FICTION is number 95 on the American Film Institute's list of America's 100 Greatest Movies.
PULP FICTION grossed $9.3 million the first weekend it opened. It took $8 million to produce.
The film shoot took approximately 500 days.
Jack Rabbit Slim's took 75 people, nine weeks and $75,000 to build. The restaurant was based on diners in the movies SPEEDWAY, RED LINE 7000, AMERICAN GRAFFITI, and GREASE.
Uma Thurman (Mia Wallace) is the daughter of the first American to be ordained a Buddhist monk. She was named after the Hindu bestower of blessings.
Reviews:
"...PULP FICTION is ferocious fun....154 deliciously lurid minutes..." - 10/06/1994 Rolling Stone, p.79-81
Ranked #4 in Entertainment Weekly's "10 Favorite Films of the '90s" - "...Mod and merry....[An] achievement..." - 04/01/2000 Entertainment Weekly, p.160
"...A remarkable achievement...Stylishly shot in neo-cartoon style, with massive, distorting close-ups offset by attractively angled shots..." - 11/01/1994 Sight and Sound, p.50-1
"...[Tarantino] has come up with a work of such depth, wit and blazing originality that it places him in the front ranks of American film makers..." - 09/23/1994 New York Times, p.C1
"A spectacularly entertaining piece of pop culture....[The] performances are sensational..." - 05/23/1994 Variety
"...In stunning fashion, Tarantino fulfills the promise of RESERVOIR DOGS. The film looks great and moves at a gallop..." - 07/01/1994 Film Comment, p.3-11
"...Jackson gives a strong performance..." - 10/14/1994 Los Angeles Times, p.F1
"...If the situations are inventive and original, so is the dialogue..." - 10/14/1994 Chicago Sun-Times, p.43
"Quentin Tarantino's ode to the gangster life hit Hollywood like a bullet to the underbelly....[T]he movie forever altered the aesthetic of cool..." - 12/01/2003 Premiere, p.14
"[A] self-reflexive postmodern black comedy of thugs and lugs, kingpins and common criminals, rampage and redemption." - 08/21/2009 Wall Street Journal
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