Is there a sign outside my house which say "Dead Nigger Storage"? (Pulp Fiction (DVD))

Member Name: angry chris

Product:	Pulp Fiction (DVD)
Date:	21/11/02 (1098 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Best script ever, Best soundtrack ever, Best film ever

Disadvantages: None that I can think of.

To coincide with the release of this classic on Special Edition DVD, I've decided to have another look at surely one of the greatest films of all time...
If you have never seen this film and do not want to know what happens, go read one of my other ops(they could certainly do with some more reading!!!)
In 1993, Quentin Tarentino blew the movie world away with this stunning follow-up to his first film, Reservoir Dogs. The idea was simple enough, show five interlocking short films which blended together would create one full length classic. What resulted was a film almost unique in it's style, script, character and genre, that nine years on people like me still feel compelled to write about it.

We start in a coffee shop, where a man and his lover are discussing criminal activity. They then decide to rob the very place they are in. Youlanda then quietly announces to everyone to stay where they are, and we cut to the theme music.
Next off is the story involving Vincent(John Travolta) and Jules(Samuel.L.Jackson), who we discover are hitmen for a guy named Marcellus Wallace, a big black guy with a dislike of foot massages. Jules and Vincent dress like gangsters, act like gangsterS and talk like...Plato and Socrates. They appear to do a great line in philosophy, ranging from cheeseburgers to oral sex. They pay visit to Brett, who has a debt to Marcellus, and has been "Fu**ing him like a bitch!". Another of Jules's many talents seems to be that he is a man of the bible, particularly fond of one chapter. After collecting a mysterious briefcase, our "heroes" dispose of unwanted rubbish, and take a guy with Marvin with them.

After a fleeting introduction to Butch(Bruce Willis) and the back of Marcellus Wallace, we join Vincent who has a pressing appointment with first, his dealer and his wife("she of many piercings"), and then with Mrs Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman), who he takes out for the night. Af
ter sampling the delights of a five dollar shake and winning a dancing contest, Vincent goes to a bathroom to compose himself("You're gonna go home, jack off and that's all you're gonna do...), while Mia mistakes his "Madman" heroin for coke and promptly OD's. Cue a great car "chase" and a moment of "heart stopping" tension.

Christopher Walken, paid $10 million for his three minute partcipation, then speaks to a young Butch about the suffering his father went through to give him the family airloom: His daddies watch. Let's just say he didn't send it in the mail.
We then cut to Butch, now a boxer, who having agreed to fix his fight and taking money from Marcellus, has ignored Marcellus's "advice", and is diving into a taxi to flee the scene. He gets to his hotel room where his missus is waiting, falls asleep, wakes up the next morning, and finds his watch is gone. He goes back to his apartment to find it. He finds more than his watch, but escapes and is driving back to meet Fabien when he bumps into a lunching Marcellus Wallace. What follows next is a fight, a pursuit, a pawnshop, a security guard, some great weapons and a gimp. More on this later.

We go back to Vince, Jules and Marvin following the Brett incident, and while Jules is talking to the Lord, we see Brett's friend is in the kitchen holding a "Fu**ing hand cannon". He burst in, shots and Jules and Vince, and misses. He is killed, but it has a profound effect on Jules, who calls it a miracle. They start driving while discussing the miracle when Vince accidently blows Marvin's head off. In desperate need of a clean up, they stop of at Jules' contact, Jimmy (Quentin Tarrentino), who has a moan, warns them that his wife Bonnie is on her way, and that they had better sort themselves out, quick. Marcellus calls in "The Wolf", a man who fixes things. He does, after some initi
al teething problems.

Dressed as tourists, Vince and Jules decide to have breakfast in a rather familiar looking coffee shop. They discuss the days effents, Jules announces his plans and all seems fine until Youlanda makes her little speech. Jules manages to foil the robbers, Vince returns from the toilet, and the film concludes.

Despite the fact that most of you who have seen this film will be moaning about the bits of the film my synopsis has missed, it is still the longest film synopsis I have written. Most films can be summed up in a few lines. Pulp Fiction cannot accurately be summed up like that.

I have deliberately missed bits out of the synopsis, some to preserve the enjoyment of those who haven't seen the film (there are still some!), and others I wish to discuss forthwith.

Bruce Willis (Die Hard, 6th Sense, Fifth Element) plays an excellent "Rich and prosperous" Mr Butch. He is perfectly cast in this role, and it shows. John Travolta plays Vincent Vega well in the role that finally cast him out of his Grease shadow, and restarted his career(Face-Off, Battlefield Earth). Uma Thurman plays Mia well enough, although it possibly not her best performance and Harvey Keitel(Reservoir Dogs, Sister Act, Cop Land) is a superb Mr Wolf efficient while deadpan. But the real star is Samuel.L.Jackson, who is a magnificent Jules. He plays the part perfectly, arousing our compassion despite being a ruthless mother fu**er.

The soundtrack is magnificent, from the dancey "Goes to show you never can tell..." to the opening soundtrack, it captures the mood perfectly. Even Butch singing about his kangaroo in his car is magnificently done.

To fully enjoy this film, may I reccomend the purchase of the script, available in paperback for about £6 in most book shops. For this is where Pulp Fiction truly stands head and shoulders about almost anything else. No other film has so many memorable line
s and quotes. For proof, just check out how many of the opinion on this film on this site have a quote for a headline. Bloody loads. So here, as a little test, are some of the best:

1. "You know what they call quaterpounder in France? A Royale with cheese".
2. "Ummm! This is a tasty burger!!!"
3. "...You may feel a bit of a sting. That's pride fu**ing with ya! F**k pride!"
4. "If she fucking dies on me I'm a fu**in' grease-spot!"
5. "If he's in Indo-China, I want a nigger in a bowl-ful of rice, waiting to pop a cap in his ass."
6. "You hear me hill-billy boy, I aint done with you by damn sight. I'm gonna get medieval on you ass!"
7 "Zed's dead, baby, Zed's dead!"
8. "If she comes in the kitchen, see's a bunch of gangsters doing a bunch of gangster shit."
9. "Do I have a sign on my house saying "dead nigger storage".
10. "Don't any of you fucking prikes move, or I'll execute every last mother-fu**ing one of ya!"

As I'm sure you know, there are tons more.

The best bit for me has to be the scene in the basement. When Butch knocks the Gimp out and opens the door, the sight of Marellus being raped by Zed is horrific. You really feel for him, despite the fact that he is a hard-arse gangster. When Butch selects his weapon(I'd have had the chainsaw) and we see it as he's using it, the feeling to jump out of your chair and cheer is overwhelming.

It is unfortunate that this film ended up coming out in the same year as several other good ones, The Shawshank Redemption to name but one, but for it to be so overlooked by the Acadamy was a scandal. And they know it, as do all those who have seen this film. It's uniqueness lies in it's ability to cross genres: to make us like and feel emotions for people who we should not, for m
aking us see their emotions which we always assume do not exist. This film is not a better gangster film than say "Goodfellas", because it is not, in truth, a gangster film. It is much more than that. It is the best film ever. There I said it. Now go and buy it!!

Thank you for reading and rating this opinion.

Summary: