Pulp Fiction (1994)
8.482 /10
30520 Reviews
Rate This Movie:
A burger-loving hit man, his philosophical partner, a drug-addled gangster's moll and a washed-up boxer converge in this sprawling, comedic crime caper. Their adventures unfurl in three stories that ingeniously trip back and forth in time.
Videos & Photos
cast
... Vincent Vega
... Jules Winnfield
... Mia Wallace
... Butch Coolidge
... Marsellus Wallace
User reviews
***The cream of the crop of quirky crime thrillers***
RELEASED IN 1994 and written & directed by Quentin Tarantino, "Pulp Fiction" is a drama/thriller/black comedy about two hit men in Los Angeles (John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson), their mob boss & his wife (Ving Rhames and Uma Thurman) and a champion boxer who incurs the wrath of the boss (Bruce Willis).
The lurid, droll tale is told in a non-linear fashion, but it's easy to follow and the final act ties everything up nicely. The dialogue's witty and the story maintains your attention, despite its 2 hour and 34 minutes runtime. The film's stylish and pulsates with energy and innovation; it understandably influenced many 90's films and beyond.
I put off seeing this iconic picture until almost twenty years after its release because the protagonists are all big city gangsters or somehow involved with 'em. These are lawless people who would kill a person without batting an eye. Their god is money or hedonism. Let ’em shoot each other to smithereens for all I care. But if you can look beyond this and the constant profanities, the film's worth your time. What redeems it for me, besides the all-around entertaining movie-making, is that it's a tale of redemption and the high price of stubborn folly: The wise person recognizes God’s grace and responds accordingly while the fool doesn’t and blithely goes on his (doomed) way. Once a person receives grace they naturally extend it to others. There are additional gems spiced throughout.
Both Travolta and Jackson shine here. There are several other celebrities on hand, like Harvey Keitel, with many in cameos, e.g. Christopher Walken; not to mention several formidable females, like curvy Julia Sweeney (Raquel), cutie Maria de Medeiros (Fabienne), Angela Jones (Esmarelda) and voluptuous Susan Griffiths (Marilyn Monroe).
BOTTOM LINE: If you're in the mood for a quirky crime drama/thriller you can't go wrong with "Pulp Fiction." It's top-of-the-line in every way, including the subtext.
THE FILM WAS SHOT in the Greater Los Angeles area. ADDITIONAL WRITER: Roger Avary.
GRADE: A
Director:
Release Date:
1994-09-10
Run Time:
154 min
MMPA Rating:
R
Reviews of
Pulp Fiction
***The cream of the crop of quirky crime thrillers***
RELEASED IN 1994 and written & directed by Quentin Tarantino, "Pulp Fiction" is a drama/thriller/black comedy about two hit men in Los Angeles (John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson), their mob boss & his wife (Ving Rhames and Uma Thurman) and a champion boxer who incurs the wrath of the boss (Bruce Willis).
The lurid, droll tale is told in a non-linear fashion, but it's easy to follow and the final act ties everything up nicely. The dialogue's witty and the story maintains your attention, despite its 2 hour and 34 minutes runtime. The film's stylish and pulsates with energy and innovation; it understandably influenced many 90's films and beyond.
I put off seeing this iconic picture until almost twenty years after its release because the protagonists are all big city gangsters or somehow involved with 'em. These are lawless people who would kill a person without batting an eye. Their god is money or hedonism. Let ’em shoot each other to smithereens for all I care. But if you can look beyond this and the constant profanities, the film's worth your time. What redeems it for me, besides the all-around entertaining movie-making, is that it's a tale of redemption and the high price of stubborn folly: The wise person recognizes God’s grace and responds accordingly while the fool doesn’t and blithely goes on his (doomed) way. Once a person receives grace they naturally extend it to others. There are additional gems spiced throughout.
Both Travolta and Jackson shine here. There are several other celebrities on hand, like Harvey Keitel, with many in cameos, e.g. Christopher Walken; not to mention several formidable females, like curvy Julia Sweeney (Raquel), cutie Maria de Medeiros (Fabienne), Angela Jones (Esmarelda) and voluptuous Susan Griffiths (Marilyn Monroe).
BOTTOM LINE: If you're in the mood for a quirky crime drama/thriller you can't go wrong with "Pulp Fiction." It's top-of-the-line in every way, including the subtext.
THE FILM WAS SHOT in the Greater Los Angeles area. ADDITIONAL WRITER: Roger Avary.
GRADE: A
Insane movie!
One of the bests(if not the best) Tarantino's movies!
Ving Rhames ("Wallace") is the kingpin who provides the loosest of templates for a couple of inter-twining tales that are amusing, bizarre and sometimes down right dangerous before we get a sort of alignment at the conclusion. "Winnfield" (Samuel L. Jackson) and "Vincent Vega" (John Travolta) are a pair of dapper enforcers, despatched to retrieve a stolen briefcase. Though their manner may be precise, the execution of their tasks are usually more hit and miss, definitely messy - and frequently requiring of the specialist clean-up services of "Mr. Wolf" (Harvey Keitel). "Vega" is also charged by his boss with looking after his cocaine-loving wife "Mia" (Uma Thurman) and that flirts with dancing and disaster too. Meantime, ageing boxer "Butch" (Bruce Willis) is supposed to help the boss by taking an early dive in a fight. Instead he manages to kill his opponent! Soon he is intent on fleeing town, well at least he tries before he and "Wallace" end up being the playthings of some interesting characters who keep their own leather-clad gimp locked in a box... It's really difficult to make sense of the narrative in writing. It flows really well, but at differing speeds and in several different directions at once. The stories are violent but delivered in an almost tongue-in cheek way. The dance between "Mia" and "Vega" has become the stuff of cinema legend; there is loads of chemistry - especially between Travolta and an on form Jackson who really does deliver his biblical verses with a puritanical - an lethal - zeal; Willis is as good here as he ever was and you cannot but feel sorry for poor old "Pumpkin" (Tim Roth) and his pal "Honey Bunny" (Amanda Plummer) whose habit of committing petty robberies when they realise that nobody ever thinks to hit a restaurant, all goes awry. The dialogue is cleverly targeted, with wit and pith but also used sparingly when the first rate soundtrack is allowed to let everyone come up for air. Tarantino himself features towards the end as just about everybody gets their just desserts. This is a classy and sharp piece of enigmatic and enjoyable cinema held together well by a creative and visionary director who appreciates how to get the best of a cast that know how to entertain!
Tarantino is the most overrated director of our times, all his films are silly but people say they are masterpieces, perhaps they are but not for the right way, the only good thing about Tarantino is that he isn't afraid of revenge for the sake of making his characters good.
really fun to watch and the attention to detail is great
**One of the unavoidable movies to know Tarantino… but I think it's not as incredible as it is sometimes said to be.**
This was one of the films that consolidated Tarantino's career and made him one of the "superstar" directors who, whenever he releases a film, whether good or bad, attracts a legion to the cinema. I was never a fan of his, and I don't think I will be. He made some films that I liked and others that I hated. I wouldn't call it regular, a “safe bet”, but we can't deny it, it's original, true to his style and doesn't seem concerned about pleasing anyone.
The film follows more than one plot: we have a couple of violent bandits who try to rob a cafeteria, we have a boxer at the end of his career who has to flee after winning a fight he had agreed he would lose, we have a couple of murderers in the pay of a mobster who are tasked with recovering a stolen suitcase, and we also have the capricious girlfriend of that same mobster, whose boredom forces her darling to assign one of his assassins to babysit for her. What unites them all? In addition to the fact that they naturally intersect, they are all part of the same violent, brutal and marginal universe.
For many, this film is one of the best of the 90's. I would never consider it as such, that is, for me, an exaggeration. It's reasonably good, it's gained cult status, it has fans, but it's not a masterpiece, not for me. It's not a boring film, it doesn't tire us out and the various sub-plots are intertwined very well, with skill and elegance. There's a lot of violence, heavy slang and drugs, and that can be really hard at times, I felt that too. However, this heavier language, drugs and violence end up being a natural part of the underworld of crime and marginality where the characters move, so it's something we can count on right from the start. And there are no sympathetic characters who can arouse some empathy, so it doesn't matter to us whether they live or die in the most unpleasant ways (and some of them suffer a lot).
These are all qualities, and will be even more valued by those who are more familiar with the “pulp” literary subgenre. I'm not, it's not part of my culture, and I even had to go look it up on the Internet to understand what it was, and what its characteristics were. Despite that, there are a few things about this film that I really didn't like or felt over the top. One of them is the dialogues. There are scenes with a lot of dialogues, dialogues without any interest, which can dwell on boring topics, just because. One of them, right at the beginning of the film, is about foot massages, just to give a small example. There are many scenes that seem overly drawn out due to these endless dialogues. I also think the film has too many images of bare feet. Tarantino gained fame as a fetishist, but he always said he wasn't… watching this film makes it hard to believe him. And one of the characters, who is a murderer, makes a very long quote from the Bible… it's the kind of “literature” that I think an underworld murderer probably wouldn't know by heart.
The actors are very good, we have several notable names: John Travolta is excellent in the role he was given, with that black suit and his hair soaked in oil. Samuel L. Jackson is not far behind, and Uma Thurman is fantastic. I would say that, at least, Thurman and Travolta achieve performances at the best level of their respective careers in this film. Bruce Willis isn't bad, but he's just not that interesting. I enjoyed seeing my countrywoman Maria de Medeiros in her only major international role, I'm sorry she couldn't go further, but that's life. Tarantino also appears in the film, and it would have been much better if he hadn't. He's a ham as an actor.
Technically, the film has many qualities, starting with the excellent cinematography, with vivid colors and good lighting. There are excellent action scenes, for all tastes, and the soundtrack makes good use of several musical themes that we know very well.
Pulp Fiction taught me that silence can be as powerful as dialogue—it builds curiosity and keeps you waiting for what's next.
Cast & Crew of
Pulp Fiction
Cast
... Vincent Vega
... Jules Winnfield
... Mia Wallace
... Butch Coolidge
... Marsellus Wallace
... The Wolf
... Lance
... Pumpkin
... Honey Bunny
... Fabienne
... Jimmie Dimmick
... Captain Koons
... Jody
... Zed
... Maynard
... Esmarelda Villalobos
... Marvin
... Buddy Holly
... Trudi
... Waitress
... Brett
... Roger
... Paul
... Ed Sullivan
... Page for Phillip Morris
... Ricky Nelson
... Marilyn Monroe
... James Dean
... Dean Martin
... Jerry Lewis
... Mamie van Doren
... Hold Hands You Lovebirds (archive footage)
... Mrs. Coolidge - Butch's Mother
... Young Butch
... Klondike
... Sportscaster #1 - Coffee Shop
... Sportscaster #2
... Wilson's Trainer
... Dead Floyd Wilson
... Gawker #1
... Kathy Griffin
... Pedestrian / Bonnie Dimmick
... Shot Woman
... The Gimp
... Fourth Man
... Raquel
... Long Hair Yuppy Scum
... Winston Wolfe's Girlfriend at Party (uncredited)
... Bar Tender (uncredited)
... Drug Dealer (uncredited)
... Woman in Bathroom (uncredited)
... Diner Patron #2 (uncredited)
Crew
... Production Design
... Set Decoration
... Gaffer
... Producer
... Executive Producer
... Art Direction
... Executive Producer
... Director of Photography
... Casting
... Editor
... Casting
... Costume Design
... Production Manager
... Executive Producer
... Special Effects Technician
... Special Effects Assistant
... Co-Executive Producer
... Co-Executive Producer
... Music Supervisor
... Music Supervisor
... Electrician
... Assistant Costume Designer
... Costume Supervisor
... Post Production Supervisor
... Stunt Coordinator
... Casting Associate
... Casting
... First Assistant Camera
... Wigmaker
... Key Hair Stylist
... Assistant Editor
... Set Costumer
... Thanks
... Makeup Artist
... Sound Editor
... Color Timer
... Editorial Staff
... Hairstylist
... Grip
... Construction Foreman
... Painter
... Leadman
... Lead Painter
... Hair Designer
... Craft Service
... Art Department Coordinator
... Set Designer
... Key Grip
... Set Dressing Artist
... Driver
... Steadicam Operator
... Construction Coordinator
... Assistant Art Director
... Camera Operator
... Carpenter
... First Assistant Director
... Makeup Effects
... Stand In
... Rigging Gaffer
... Unit Publicist
... Music Editor
... Post Production Assistant
... Sound Recordist
... Script Supervisor
... Best Boy Electric
... Property Master
... Stunts
... Transportation Coordinator
... First Assistant Editor
... Assistant Sound Editor
... Special Effects Coordinator
... Set Production Assistant
... Production Coordinator
... Production Sound Mixer
... Security
... Boom Operator
... Supervising Sound Editor
... Sound
... Thanks
... Thanks
... Assistant Music Supervisor
... Thanks
... Assistant Music Supervisor
... Stand In
... Thanks
... Thanks
... Thanks
... Co-Executive Producer
... Thanks
... Thanks
... Thanks
... Thanks
... Story
... Story
... ADR Voice Casting
... Second Assistant Camera
... ADR Mixer
... Swing
... Foley Artist
... Camera Loader
... Assistant Decorator
... Graphic Designer
... Assistant Location Manager
... Assistant Craft Service
... Music Coordinator
... Charge Scenic Artist
... Foley Mixer
... Music Consultant
... Second Second Assistant Director
... Stunt Double
... Dolly Grip
... Assistant Accountant
... Second Assistant Director
... Key Rigging Grip
... Special Effects Assistant
... Assistant Property Master
... Best Boy Grip
... Post Production Coordinator
... Costumer
... Assistant Production Coordinator
... Supervising ADR Editor
... Location Assistant
... Production Secretary
... Director
... Writer
... Stunts
... Special Effects Makeup Artist
Similar Movies To
Pulp Fiction
The Creep Behind the Camera (2014)
5/10
An exploration of the making of b-movie sci-fi cult classic "The Creeping Terror" and its con-man director Art "A.J." Nelson/Vic Savage.
Release: 2014-04-13
D Company (2013)
3.7/10
An anthology of three stories which portray various shades and motives of violence through different characters that are dissimilar in nature.
Release: 2013-09-13
Four Rooms (1995)
5.905/10
It's Ted the Bellhop's first night on the job...and the hotel's very unusual guests are about to place him in some outrageous predicaments. It seems that this evening's room service is serving up one unbelievable happening after another.
Release: 1995-12-09
Judgment Night (1993)
6.46/10
Four young friends, while taking a shortcut en route to a local boxing match, witness a brutal murder which leaves them running for their lives.
Release: 1993-10-15
Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)
8/10
An assassin is shot by her ruthless employer, Bill, and other members of their assassination circle – but she lives to plot her vengeance.
Release: 2003-10-10
Amores Perros (2000)
7.646/10
A fatalistic car crash in Mexico city sets off a chain of events in the lives of three people: a supermodel, a young man wanting to run off with his sister-in-law, and a homeless man.
Release: 2000-06-16
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
7.61/10
In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease.
Release: 1995-12-29
Brazil (1985)
7.653/10
Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a case that led to the wrongful arrest and eventual death of an innocent man instead of wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle, he meets the woman from his daydream, and in trying to help her gets caught in a web of mistaken identities, mindless bureaucracy and lies.
Release: 1985-02-20
Pareja enloquecida busca madre de alquiler (1990)
7.5/10
In this Spanish comedy, a couple’s attempt to find a surrogate mother leads to a whirlwind of humorous situations and misunderstandings. Directed by Mariano Ozores, the film explores the unpredictable twists of family life and the lengths people go to fulfill their dreams.
Release: 1990-04-06
Groundhog Day (1993)
7.634/10
A cynical TV weatherman, along with his idealistic producer and his sardonic cameraman, is sent to report on Groundhog Day in the small town of Punxsutawney, where he finds himself repeating the same day over and over.
Release: 1993-02-11
Bad Education (2004)
7.4/10
When an old friend brings filmmaker Enrique Goded a semi-autobiographical script chronicling their adolescence, Enrique is forced to relive his youth spent at a Catholic boarding school. Weaving through past and present, the script follows a transvestite performer who reconnects with a grade school sweetheart. Spurred on by this chance encounter, the character reflects on her childhood sexual victimization and the trauma of closeting her sexual orientation.
Release: 2004-03-19
Mars Attacks! (1996)
6.4/10
A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim, "come in peace." U.S. President James Dale receives assurance from science professor Donald Kessler that the Martians' mission is a friendly one. But when a peaceful exchange ends in the total annihilation of the U.S. Congress, military men call for a full-scale nuclear retaliation.
Release: 1996-12-13
Blade Runner (1982)
7.935/10
In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
Release: 1982-06-25
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
7.211/10
Fast-talking, quick-thinking Detroit street cop Axel Foley has bent more than a few rules and regs in his time, but when his best friend is murdered, he heads to sunny Beverly Hills to work the case like only he can.
Release: 1984-12-05
Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
6.533/10
Axel Foley returns to the land of sunshine and palm trees to investigate the near-fatal shooting of police Captain Andrew Bogomil. With the help of Sgt. Taggart and Det. Rosewood, they soon uncover that the shooting is associated with a series of "alphabet" robberies masterminded by a heartless weapons kingpin—and the chase is on.
Release: 1987-05-18
The Blue Lizard (2002)
8/10
Nick, a mob hired hand is sent to investigate the theft of five million dollars taken from the Blue Lizard, a club mixed with dance, live performances and gambling. Nick's life takes a turn when he confronts Ariana, his ex-lover and co-manager of the club about the stolen cash. Unfortunately for Nick, his expected meeting with Ariana brings up old emotions that leads them both down a violent path.
Release: 2002-02-02
Chhakka Panja (2016)
7/10
Raja is rich but illiterate and enjoys life, and tells his friends to not get married or hold any job. However, he secretly has affairs with married women. Then one day Raja gets married to Champa, and the story enters a serious mode.
Release: 2016-09-09
Slice of Life (2019)
9.1/10
Story about a low-life drug dealer who tries to turn his life around, but finds himself at the mercy of fate when he encounters a cop with an agenda of his own.
Release: 2019-06-09
Sing 2 (2021)
7.834/10
Buster and his new cast now have their sights set on debuting a new show at the Crystal Tower Theater in glamorous Redshore City. But with no connections, he and his singers must sneak into the Crystal Entertainment offices, run by the ruthless wolf mogul Jimmy Crystal, where the gang pitches the ridiculous idea of casting the lion rock legend Clay Calloway in their show. Buster must embark on a quest to find the now-isolated Clay and persuade him to return to the stage.
Release: 2021-12-01
Vivegam (2017)
4.827/10
A group of counter-terrorism agents are brought in to track down a man who was once the head of their squad, and is believed to have gone rogue.
Release: 2017-08-24