Pulp Fiction

A Quintin Tarantino Film (Miramax)
by Joe Hacking

People are always intrigued by bad guys. In Pulp Fiction, video clerk-gone-genius Tarantino gives us lively, very real bad guys (plus a coupla heroes) in three intertwining stories which feed off of each other. Taken from ’40s and ’50s pulp novels, Tarantino breathes new life into these old, much used formulas with brilliant dialogue and perfect casting. You get black humor, gals, guns, and a tale of honor with redemption in the end. We follow John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson (playing hitman pals Vincent Vega and Jules) working for L.A. kingpin mobster Marcellus Wallace (Ving Rhames).

Jackson’s portrayal of Jules is worth the price of admission; you can almost see the gears turning in his mind. The role of Vincent Vega was specifically written for Travolta, as Tarantino felt that the one-time sweathog disco-king hadn’t been given many roles worthy of his abilities. Travolta proves his worth, bringing to the character a likability few bad guys command. But probably the biggest surprise was Bruce Willis’s outstanding portrayal of Butch Coolidge, a prizefighter on the dole.

The actors wanted to be in this movie so badly that they took percentage points of the film’s profits rather than salaries. Pulp Fiction excels for its painstakingly well-written, bizarre dialogue, and character development – just when you think he’s about to commit a cliché, he throws in something which surprises both the characters and the audience.