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!