Pulp Fiction (the movie)

Pulp Fiction was not directed by Dreyer.

Having watched it again for the first time in a long while, it was nice to hear the songs and quotes back in the context of the movie. "Let's Stay Together" is playing in the background while Marcellus is telling Butch to take the fall in the fight, right? I seem to remember thinking, and still do, "What a PERFECT daytime at a bar song. Just chillin'..."

I enjoy the ride a lot.

Great, great movie, despite all the shite that came in its wake.

Pulp Fiction is entertaining, but I missed the initial impact so it doesn't mean much to me and it suffers from Monty Python syndrome in a bad way (so tired of hearing quotes I don't want to watch it again).

I saw it on its opening weekend with a packed house. I'll never forget everyone's reaction at seeing the needle get plunged into Uma as well as everyone holding their breath as Butch makes it back up the stairs and almost out the door. Maybe the closest to an event movie that I've ever been to.

I've been catching it on cable recently. That QT/Keitel segment certainly hasn't aged well (Hello, Julia Sweeny.) I can't help but notice the bullet holes already in the wall before the guy comes out of the bathroom with his gun blazing. But it's still a great movie.

The thirty-second sequence with the toaster might be my favorite part of the movie. The smoke detector still going off as Butch walks back out into the courtyard...

The next time I saw it was over whatever vacation was next -- Christmas? -- when I went with the friend I'd always seen movies with in high school, and by then it'd been hyped and they'd done SNL skits or whatever, and the theater was packed: it was that moment in a popular movie's theatrical life when there are people in the audience seeing it for the second time and shouting lines out or laughing in anticipation of the joke, alongside people who are only there because it's really popular and they want to know why. The difference in vibe was just really cool to notice -- it's not often I see a movie in the theater in such different circumstances. (Revival theaters seem to be dying off just in time to prevent me from seeing a revival of anything I saw when it was new.)

I went a long time without watching it because my ex got the video and I still don't have it on DVD, but it was on On Demand the other day ... and yeah, I understand the Python effect, but like Ned alludes, the joy of rewatching it is all those moments that haven't been made iconic, weren't relived throughout the nineties. Even the over-familiar parts, in a lot of cases it just demonstrated what a poor job the imitators did.

Though I think my favorite moment might actually be Travolta's apparently arbitrary attitude with Butch in the bar.

otm, they forget that his movies are essentially comedies-of-manners for underworld types not action movies

The Rodriguez section of that is great! I won't defend any of the rest of it.

Would you like to see a leisurely paced Things to Do In Denver When You're Dead or Killing Zoe?

And ya gotta remember, almost no one involved was a name at that point - other than Travolta, who was a joke, the biggest names involved were Eric Stoltz, Rosanna Arquette, and (thanks to RES DOGS) Harvey Keitel - and there hadn't been a thousand other movies in which everyday-people gangsters sat around talking about cheeseburgers.

The sheer frequency of short sharp shocks was dizzying, and while I'm firmly in the "it's all surface" camp the surface was particularly brilliant in its offhand explosion of the (generally crypto-essentialist and painfully turgid) contemporary discourse of race and identity.

Also, I will confirm QT's fascination with degreed women and f33tz0rz.

xpost

Famous yes. Bankable, not so much. He'd scored big cast against type in DIE HARD, but he was coming off HUDSON HAWK, LAST BOY SCOUT and STRIKING DISTANCE.

Oh, you don't remember STIKING DISTANCE either? Nope, Willis was another one who PULP FICTION brought back to life.

The guy who gets shot on the couch first during the whole Eziekel segment. In the script, it said the character would have a Flock of Seagulls haircut, though that wasn't really the case in the movie.

That said, this:

I was SO tired of hearing the Ezekiel 25:17 intro EVERY SINGLE FRIDAY NIGHT that I stopped listening to it entirely.

Never have truer words been spoken. I still can't listen to that bit of the film and will switch away until it's over.

Also, cosign w/ the soundtrack and undergrad life. Freshman year was 94-95, and EVERY SINGLE FUCKER on my floor would blast this. When I worked the travelling movie poster show that would come to campus twice a year, we sold dozens of related one-sheets every day for years. (full disclosure: i did have a poster of Jules sitting in the cafe)

Jackie Brown I will go back and watch from time to time and enjoy, but I have no interest in seeing this flick again for a very long time.

One unifying theme I noticed while I rewatched it is that the movie is all about how how little decisions and seemingly irrelevant acts can build up to make a big change. There's two or three occasions when someone's life is either lost or saved because he happens to be in a toilet. Also, there's the Willis character forgetting his watch, him running into Marcellus Wallace on the street, etc etc. I think there are of many of these scenes in the film for it to be unintentional.

isn't it alexis arquette--who did have a flock of seagulls haircut in the wedding singer? and in real life he is gay. so yeah.

No, Arquette's the guy in the bathroom. They guy who gets shock on the couch is Flock of Seaguls guy.

"Tarantino's Toilets"
http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/45/toilets.htm

xposts

This is something else I was enjoying in the rewatching as well -- he does quiet and calm brilliantly, while still keeping you engaged (that's the other element of those long Willis tracking shots, but also the pacing of the one on one conversations and much more besides).

Also, I think the scene with Willis and de Medeiros in the motel room on the night after the fight is a great *love* scene, period. I don't know if Tarantino ever gets any credit for that (though I note Chaki's post, in which case I don't know if Avery gets any credit for that, but at least in terms of directing it Tarantino needs a nod).

The soundtrack served, along with Enter the 36 Chambers, Sublime's 40 oz to Freedom, The Fugee's The Score, and the Resevoir Dogs soundtrack, to the albums most likely to be blared out of a room on my freshman year dorm floor. I was SO tired of hearing the Ezekiel 25:17 intro EVERY SINGLE FRIDAY NIGHT that I stopped listening to it entirely.

I think I got lucky with this in that I was in the grad dorms by this point rather than undergrad. We were a little more studious/psychotic, and even the Cure being playing a little too loud by me once got pounding on the wall from my neighbour.

it suffers from Monty Python syndrome in a bad way

I was also lucky there in my experience. (This is not to say other things weren't quoted as often around that time. There's also an issue of Bob Fingerman's Minimum Wage that has a bit which is the final word that ever needs to be said about overly quoted references by anyone ever -- logically, I will not quote it.)

Which I had totally forgotten until the end credits. Threw me for a loop!

December 13, 2008
Prosecutors charged Oscar-winning screenwriter Roger Avary with gross vehicular manslaughter on Friday, alleging that the author of such hits as "Pulp Fiction" and last year's "Beowulf" was driving drunk when he killed a passenger and injured his wife in a rural Ojai car crash.

Avary, 43, pleaded not guilty in a Ventura courthouse to manslaughter and other charges connected to the Jan. 13 single-car collision. Investigators said Avary was at the wheel of a Mercedes sedan late that night when he failed to make a curve and crashed into a telephone pole. Prosecutors said his blood alcohol level was above the legal limit.

Passenger Andreas Zini, 34, was killed in the collision. Avary's wife, Gretchen, was ejected from the vehicle. She suffered serious injuries but recovered.

Zini and his wife, Maria, 33, both of Italy, were visiting the Avarys on their honeymoon, said Mike Lief, the prosecutor on the case. Maria Zini was in a separate car when the crash occurred, he said.

Avary's attorney, Mark Werksman, said that his client is distraught. Avary, in a dark suit, attended Friday's hearing but did not speak.

Now that charges have been filed, Avary hopes to quickly resolve the case, his attorney said. Besides felony manslaughter, Avary faces two felony counts of causing bodily injury while intoxicated, charges that could bring 11 years behind bars. A pretrial conference is set for Feb. 20 in Ventura.

In a separate hearing Friday, Lief sought to raise Avary's bail to $80,000 from $50,000. But Judge Kevin McGee, noting that Avary has attended all court proceedings, turned down the prosecutor's request. The judge also gave Avary, who is out on bail, permission to travel outside the country.

Avary and co-writer Quentin Tarantino won an Academy Award in 1994 for "Pulp Fiction." Avary also co-wrote the screenplay for 2007's fantasy hit "Beowulf."

Reading a review not too long ago that said that Sam Jackson's Bible-quoting psychopath comes from Night of the Hunter, which is plausible, but when I watched 1972's 'The Ruling Class' with Peter O'Toole not too long ago O'Toole's character (esp. towards the end) struck me as a better touchstone. The movie even ends with a similar speech ("And they shall know that I am the Lord that SMITETH!!!".

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-avary28-2009nov28,0,3500921.story

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-avary28-2009nov28,0,3500921.story

Not exactly earth-shaking but some cool tidbits in this VF story

I especially liked the story of how Jackson ended up having to fight for the role
http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2013/03/making-of-pulp-fiction-oral-history#

lol @ the parenthetical here:

The script was sent out to actors with the warning “If you show this to anybody, two guys from Jersey [Films] will come and break your legs.”

They talked until sunrise. Tarantino told him he had two films in mind for him. “A vampire movie called From Dusk Till Dawn and Pulp Fiction,” says Travolta, who replied, “I’m not a vampire person.”

also wtf can't believe there's ANYTHING Travolta won't do

otm

A New Yorker profile of Travolta before the release of Get Shorty quotes Tarantino saying exactly that. Something like "He'll star in Look Who's Talking 16, where the CHAIRS talk."

it's funny how much these "making of" oral histories always break down to "and then a bunch of REALLY EXCITING meetings happened"

Daniel Day-Lewis was considered!

how weird would that be

At the wrap party, held on the Jack Rabbit Slim’s diner set, Walken danced alongside John Travolta. “Somebody said, ‘They should do a musical together!’ ” remembers Stoltz. (They were later both in Hairspray.)

"Somebody said, 'They should take a roadtrip together!'" (They were later both killed in an automobile accident.)

"Someone said, 'Travolta is SO gay!" (John Travolta has not come out).

i love how Travolta came up with the 'Batman' and 'Swim' moves in the dance scene!

yeah that was awesome. lol at the 9 year old Travolta winning the twist contest

http://nyookami.tumblr.com/post/43539515046

aw travolta was awesome Hairspray

I couldnt stand it any longer. Am watching it right now

Pulp. Not Hairspray

http://i.imgur.com/h8pW41T.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/liajkPb.jpg

and none of them were "bad motherfuckers"

Worst fairytale ending ever

Watched this last year - it still moves, but time has not been kind to the effect of the "5-dollar milkshake".

Haha, yeah I remember thinking that didn't sound all that expensive even in 1994.

I worked at a Friendly's back then. One of their milkshakes was about $2. McDonald's was a little over $1.

$5 dollar or 5 euro milkshake would seem a bit pricey to me tbh

what if it has bourbon in it

“My name’s Paul and I leave the rest to y’all.”
I like how, besides the dancing, Vincent Vega is a walking disaster through this film. He makes every single situation worse by his actions or inaction!

Had a boy in a grade 7 class this morning with wild red hair who wouldn't sit down. Was so tempted to go Sam Jackson on him--"You, Carrot Top" (points to desk)--but thought better of it.

I was trying to find J. Hoberman's review of Natural Born Killers--couldn't, but did scare up Stanley Kauffmann's Pulp Fiction review:

https://newrepublic.com/article/61392/shooting

Found the last couple of paragraphs interesting as a snapshot of an old-guard critic (Kauffmann was 78 at the time) confronted with a sea-change of sorts. If you love the film, and maybe even if you don't, you'll dismiss it as cranky old-guy whining. I have great patience with that perspective. (I wish he were still around, in part because I think he'd be taking a battering ram to the last few Wes Anderson films.)

“tried various keys in the lock and had at last picked the right one.”

Ha this is a good metaphor for why I don’t like Reservoir Dogs (and other things as well). Guess it’s just an elaboration on “trying too hard”

the last paragraph is pretty awful ad hominem trash though. glad fewer like him are no longer around to spew that shit. Does he just want to go back to the Donna Reed Show? ugh.

I wish he were still around, in part because I think he'd be taking a battering ram to the last few Wes Anderson films.

He'd be 108 tho, so he probably wouldn't know what Wes Anderson, a battering ram, or films were by that point.

Does he just want to go back to the Donna Reed Show?

Kauffmann? I think he wanted to go back to early-'60s Antonioni and Bergman.

(xpost) True enough! I really didn't care much for the reviews he wrote the last two or three years he was active. (He kept at it for at least another decade-plus after the Pulp Fiction review.) Battering-ram wasn't his style anyway.

Funny to see Pulp Fiction alongside grunge music. Do think the latter was speaking to a younger crowd whereas I am not sure PF will hold up in the same way.

For what it's worth, at 78, I'm pretty sure "grungy" to Kauffmann meant grunge meant rock meant hip-hop--all just undifferentiated noise to him. The thing I take from that last paragraph is that the meaning of escapism had completely flipped from the '40s to the '90s. And I think there's at least some truth to that. (Less so today in the superhero epoch.)

Very weird how people will say x thing will have nothing to say when it's selling millions!

The thing I take from that last paragraph is that the meaning of escapism had completely flipped from the '40s to the '90s. And I think there's at least some truth to that.

Well, to "well actually" this at least a little bit, 40's escapism also included poverty row westerns and crime thrillers alongside the musicals and comedies Kauffman was thinking of - and of course ACTUAL pulp fiction! So I think that escaping into the lives of violent men was as much a thing then as it was in the 90's, just perhaps the level of respectability of this escapism changed, you wouldn't have seen it at Cannes.

Good point.

I read this review (and Kauffmann generally) in the pre-internet '90s. When I discovered John Simon a couple years later I often found it difficult telling them apart; I realized Kauffmann was often the better writer.

I don’t find the review heinous but calling Tarantino “Tarantino himself, passable in a small role” and expressing that he doesn’t understand why Uma is meant to be desirable are big thumbs down from me. Tarantino cameos are always the worst thing about his films, especially when he’s dropping racial slurs - yeah i know these are seedy underworld characters but the man truly cannot act and it comes across terribly.

I actually watched Reservoir Dogs again for the first time in about fifteen years and had forgotten how much I loved Mr Orange’s whole deal and how fucking dumb everyone is in that film. Nice Guy Eddie’s ability to read people but inability to follow through on his hunches is fatal.

I wish I would have been old enough to have seen Pulp Fiction when it came out. I saw it one night when I was babysitting and I thought it was electric. Over twenty years later, it still had that feel to me despite the fact the film itself has entered mass culture reference hell (and also Keitel doing those ads as the Wolf, yuck) ages ago.

Plummer and Roth are beneath comment.

I remember reading this line at the time and thought, "OK? Elaborate?"

That’s not a statement it makes sense to elaborate on tbf

They're below in the comments.

"Keitel doing those ads as the Wolf, yuck"

Lol I really like them

he doesn’t understand why Uma is meant to be desirable

Dude was 78 but apparently died at 76. RIP.

xp I don't like or hate those ads, but they are in character for the Wolf. Like the Wolf would actually do those ads if he was a real person.

I probably mentioned this upthread or so, but before this movie came out my friend had a copy of the screenplay. I didn't want it to be spoiled, but made a copy of it for myself for later, though when I was xeroxing it the only word I saw was "chainsaw."

xp those ads are like Pulp Fiction, which is a series of little sketches.