Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary. It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence in Los Angeles. The film stars John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman. The title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue.

Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction in 1992 and 1993, incorporating scenes that Avary originally wrote for True Romance (1993). Its plot occurs out of chronological order. The film is also self-referential from its opening moments, beginning with a title card that gives two dictionary definitions of "pulp". Considerable screen time is devoted to monologues and casual conversations with eclectic dialogue revealing each character's perspectives on several subjects, and the film features an ironic combination of humor and strong violence. TriStar Pictures reportedly turned down the script as "too demented". Miramax Films co-chairman Harvey Weinstein was enthralled, however, and the film became the first that Miramax Films fully financed.

Pulp Fiction won the Palme d'Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and was a major critical and commercial success. It was nominated for seven awards at the 67th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won Best Original Screenplay; Travolta, Jackson, and Thurman were nominated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress respectively. As a result of the film's success, Travolta's career was reinvigorated. The film's development, marketing, distribution, and profitability had a sweeping effect on independent cinema.

Pulp Fiction is widely regarded as Tarantino's magnum opus, with particular praise for its screenwriting. The self-reflexivity, unconventional structure, and extensive homage and pastiche have led critics to describe it as a touchstone of postmodern film. It is often considered a cultural watershed, influencing films and other media that adopted elements of its style. The cast was also widely praised, with Travolta, Thurman, and Jackson earning high acclaim. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named it the best film since 1983 and it has appeared on many critics' lists of the greatest films ever made. In 2013, Pulp Fiction was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Pulp Fiction's narrative is told out of chronological order and follows three main interrelated stories that each have a different protagonist: Vincent Vega, a hitman; Butch Coolidge, a prizefighter; and Jules Winnfield, Vincent's partner in crime.

The film begins with a diner robbery staged by a couple, then begins to shift from one story line to another before returning to the diner for the conclusion. There are seven narrative sequences; the three primary story lines are preceded by intertitles:

If the seven sequences were ordered chronologically, they would run: 4a, 2, 6, 1, 7, 3, 4b, 5. Sequences 1 and 7 partially overlap and are presented from different points of view, as do sequences 2 and 6. According to Philip Parker, the structural form is "an episodic narrative with circular events adding a beginning and end and allowing references to elements of each separate episode to be made throughout the narrative". Other analysts describe the structure as a "circular narrative".

A pair of thieves, Pumpkin and Honey Bunny, reminisce on their past robbery attempts as they eat breakfast in a diner. Pumpkin proposes they rob the diner at that moment because he believes the patrons and employees will be unprepared to stop them. Honey Bunny agrees.

Two hitmen, Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega, arrive at an apartment to retrieve a briefcase for their boss, influential local gangster Marsellus Wallace, from a business partner, Brett, and his friends. On the way, Vincent mentions that he had been tasked by Marsellus to take his wife, Mia Wallace to dinner and asks Jules questions about Mia. After Vincent checks the contents of the briefcase, Jules shoots one of Brett's friends. Jules rebukes Brett over his attempt to double-cross Marsellus and recites what is portrayed as a passage from the Book of Ezekiel, before he and Vincent kill Brett.

Jules and Vincent give the briefcase to Marsellus, who bribes boxer Butch Coolidge to take a dive in his upcoming match. Vincent purchases heroin from his drug dealer, Lance. He shoots up and drives to meet Mia, having agreed to escort her while Marsellus is out of town for the night. They eat at a 1950s-themed restaurant and participate in a twist contest, then return home. While Vincent is in the bathroom, Mia finds his heroin, mistakes it for cocaine, and snorts it, resulting in an overdose. Vincent rushes her to Lance's house, where Lance helps revive her by getting adrenaline for Vincent to inject into her heart. Vincent takes Mia home, and they agree never to tell Marsellus about the incident.

Butch double-crosses Marsellus by winning the bout, but accidentally kills his opponent in the process. He plans to flee with his girlfriend, Fabienne, but discovers she has forgotten to pack an heirloom: a gold watch which belonged to Butch's father. Returning to his apartment to retrieve it, he notices a gun on the kitchen counter and hears the toilet flush. When Vincent exits the bathroom, Butch realizes he is there to kill him, shoots him dead and departs.

When Marsellus spots Butch stopped at a traffic light, Butch rams his car into him. Marsellus chases him into a pawnshop. Maynard, the shop owner, captures them at gunpoint and binds and gags them in the basement. Maynard and his accomplice, Zed, take Marsellus into another room and begin to rape him. Butch breaks free and is about to escape, but decides to save Marsellus and arms himself with a katana from the pawnshop. He kills Maynard and frees Marsellus, who shoots Zed in the crotch with Maynard's shotgun. Marsellus tells Butch that they are even, and instructs him to tell no one about the incident and depart Los Angeles forever. Butch picks up Fabienne on Zed's chopper and they drive away.

In the apartment, after Jules and Vincent kill Brett, another man bursts out of the bathroom and fires at them. Every shot misses and they shoot him dead. Jules says that their survival was a miracle, which Vincent disputes, believing the man was just a lousy shot. While driving away with another one of Brett's friends, Marvin (who was actually a plant from Marsellus's organization), Vincent accidentally shoots him in the head when Jules drives over a bump in the road, covering Vincent, Jules, and the car interior in blood. They hide the car at the home of Jules's old friend and former business partner Jimmie, who demands they deal with the problem before his wife Bonnie comes home. Marsellus sends a cleaner, Winston Wolfe, who directs Jules and Vincent to hide the body in the trunk, clean the car, dispose of their bloody clothes and take the car to a junkyard.

At the diner from the film's prologue, Jules tells Vincent that he plans to retire from his life of crime, convinced that their survival at the apartment was divine intervention. While Vincent is in the bathroom, Pumpkin and Honey Bunny hold up the restaurant and demand Marsellus's briefcase. Pumpkin initially holds Jules at gunpoint, but Jules soon overpowers Pumpkin and holds him at gunpoint. Honey Bunny becomes hysterical and points her gun at Jules. Vincent returns with his gun aimed at her, but Jules defuses the situation. He recites the biblical passage, expresses ambivalence about his life of crime, and allows the robbers to take his cash and leave. Jules and Vincent leave the diner with the briefcase.

Bronagh Gallagher plays Jody's friend Trudi who does little but smoke a bong during the scene where Vincent revives Mia. According to author Jason Bailey, "Quentin thought it would be funny to have this casual observer who just happened to be there. All of this was born out of the experience of, when you go to someone's house to buy drugs, there are always people who are just there". Phil LaMarr portrays Marvin, an associate of Jules and Vincent. LaMarr auditioned for Tarantino after both had done a show for an improv group a few months prior. He read for the roles of Jules Winnfield and Brett before being cast as Marvin. Tarantino appears as Jules' friend Jimmie, in whose house they clean up a murder. Tarantino was unsure whether to play Jimmie or Lance, choosing Jimmie as he wanted to be behind the camera during Mia's overdose scene.

Frank Whaley portrays Brett, who has a briefcase requested by Marsellus. Whaley met Tarantino while he was filming Reservoir Dogs at a lab in Sundance Institute. He recalls, "we ended up meeting and spending time together, and I liked him, so I was really happy when he asked me to be in this movie." Burr Steers appears as Roger, a friend of Brett's nicknamed "Flock of Seagulls" by Jules. The scene of the confrontation between Brett and Jules went through several takes due to Steers making mistakes. Steers recalled in an interview that he had found acting difficult due to the loudness of the gunshots.

Angela Jones portrays Esmarelda Villalobos, a cab driver who aids Butch's escape. Her casting and character were inspired by her performance in the 1991 short film Curdled, later remade as a 1996 feature film with finance from Tarantino and again starring Jones. Duane Whitaker, Peter Greene and Stephen Hibbert play Maynard, Zed and the gimp. According to The Daily Beast, these "three psycho hillbillies" that rape Marsellus in Maynard's shop's basement allude to the film Deliverance. Steve Buscemi makes a cameo appearance as a waiter at Jack Rabbit Slim's, dressed as Buddy Holly. Buscemi, who had appeared in Reservoir Dogs, was originally considered for the role of Jimmie but was unable to commit. Kathy Griffin appears as herself. Michael Gilden and Joseph Pilato also appear at Jack Rabbit Slim's as waiter Phillip Morris Page and a Dean Martin impersonator, respectively. Emil Sitka made a cameo via archival footage from the Three Stooges short Brideless Groom (1947), Karen Maruyama appears as "Gawker #1" after Butch's car accident, and Julia Sweeney portrays Raquel, the daughter of the owner of the junkyard in which Marvin's body is disposed of. Producer Lawrence Bender makes a cameo as a victim of the diner robbery, credited as "Long Hair Yuppie-Scum". Jerome Patrick Hoban appears in the Jack Rabbit Slim's segment as an Ed Sullivan impersonator. Susan Griffiths appears alongside Hoban as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator.