Modern Classic Movies: Pulp Fiction

Without a shred of doubt, we can safely say that Pulp Fiction is one of the defining films of the 1990s. Quentin Tarantino’s contribution to film in that era was at least as significant as the contributions made by Nirvana and Pearl Jam to the music scene. He simply defined the world of film for those ten years and, alongside Goodfellas, created the film that people most remember that decade for.

The story follows… Well, there are three stories, actually, all overlapping and branching off of one another. We start with a prologue about a Bonnie and Clyde duo robbing a diner, then we get into John Travolta as a low rent hitman taking his boss’s wife out for dinner, then we get into Bruce Willis as an aging boxer who rips that same boss off for a nice sum of cash, and then we get into a story about Travolta’s partner, played by Samuel L. Jackson, having a change of heart about being a paid killer.

These stories don’t just crash into one another, they also crash into different genres. It starts as a crime film, becomes something of a comedy, then drifts into action, back to comedy, into romantic comedy, it suddenly becomes a sports movie, a chase flick, and the last third of the film can really only be described as a Three Stooges routine.

The film doesn’t really rely on this gimmick so much as it explores it, it defines a new type of cinema therein. Tarantino points out that the film is not really about the “look at me!” feel of being placed out of order, as, if it were a novel, nobody would have batted an eyelash. Other mediums follow multiple stories all the time, but you so rarely see it in a major American film.

Tarantino’s real strength is, of course, his dialog, and this film still stands as one of his best works in that regard. Just about every single line in the film is quotable and you’ll find yourself referencing the film in dozens of every day scenarios. In that regard, it really ranks alongside some of the classic comedy films.

This wasn’t Tarantino’s debut film, that would be Reservoir Dogs, but, this is the film that really showed the world what he was capable of. Reservoir Dogs was the film that film buffs fell in love with, Pulp Fiction was the one that you watched with your mom, the one everybody saw, and loved, and the one that became an instant favorite whether or not you can name five French directors.

Tarantino’s career has taken as many surprising turns and twists as the film in question. While Fiction and Dogs covered relatively similar territory, he’s never really repeated himself. Dogs was a heist film, Fiction a bizarre crime themed comedy, then he made Jackie Brown, which wasn’t so much the blaxploitation film it was said to be, but rather, a sincere commentary on mid-life. Kill Bill was just pure, wild action, but pure, wild action with a heart. The critically panned Death Proof has, if nothing else, an incredible chase scene at the end and a great villain in Kurt Russel, and Inglourious Basterds is probably the most insane war movie since Apocalypse Now.

The heart of Tarantino’s work isn’t the twisted timelines, the pop rock soundtracks, the clever title cards or the killer dialog, it’s the “cool” that emanates from his stories and characters. Whatever QT does next, you can bet it’ll be cool.

When you hit the second chorus, add backing vocals and a lead riff. Rent Movie My first opportunity to speak with several people alleged to have been involved with U.S. I need a faster computer than most because I do more projects than most.