'Pulp Fiction' (part 2)
The Rewatchables! The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast. In Part 2, Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey run through the categories for Quentin Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction.'
Cast
Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield
John Travolta as Vincent Vega
Bruce Willis as Butch Coolidge
Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace
Harvey Keitel as Winston Wolfe
Ving Rhames as Marsellus Wallace
Tim Roth as Pumpkin / Ringo
Amanda Plummer as Honey Bunny / Yolanda
Christopher Walken as Captain Koons
Eric Stoltz as Lance
Rosanna Arquette as Jody
Frank Whaley as Brett
Phil LaMarr as Marvin
Peter Greene as Zed
Steve Buscemi as Buddy Holly
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Written by: Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avery
Notes
- Bill watched 'Pulp Fiction' with his 16-year-old son Ben who had never seen it – Ben was speechless during the Gimp scene and made an excited noise when Butch picked up the samurai sword.
- The Butch's Girlfriend (Fabienne) scenes are named the 'Butch's Girlfriend Award' for the weak-link category – 12 straight minutes that all three hosts agree is the weakest part.
- Vincent Vega had the craziest 72 hours in movie history AND is completely incompetent – aids murder of three men, shoots Marvin in the face, takes boss's wife on a date where she overdoses, then gets killed on the toilet.
- Tarantino wanted 'My Sharona' for the sodomy scene but 'Reality Bites' got the licensing. He's now glad – 'it would have been too cutely comic.'
- The film is set in approximately 1992, not 1994 – Butch's fight card says Thursday July 16th, which matches a 1992 calendar.
- Bill argues this might be the #1 most culturally defining standalone movie that you can't believe someone hasn't seen.
Categories
- Mia's overdose through the adrenaline needle revival
- The final diner sequence when Tim Roth sits down across from Sam Jackson
- Marvin getting shot through the Wolf going to the diner
- Christopher Walken's watch monologue
- A $5 milkshake seeming like a lot
- Striving to be on a network TV pilot
- Heroin making a comeback
- Smoking in restaurants
- Flip phones
- Sam Jackson's performance transcending its meme-ification
- The nostalgic lifestyle: cheeseburgers, vanilla cokes, constant smoking
- Time-shifting storytelling – now everywhere in TV/film
- Tarantino's shared universe concept
- The 'Let's keep this one between us' moments
- Harvey Weinstein as producer
- The N-word usage – 'more jarring by the year,' especially Tarantino's own usage as Jimmy
- All the Pulp Fiction rip-offs from the mid-90s
- The bullet holes already visible on the wall before the shooting
- Looking up from the trunk
- The jaw shot of Mia getting stoned
- Marcellus with the donuts (back of head, Band-Aid)
- Bruce Willis walking through North Hollywood backyards
- 'You Never Can Tell' by Chuck Berry for the dance sequence
- 'Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon' by Urge Overkill
- 'Misirlou' by Dick Dale into 'Jungle Boogie' opening
- 'Flowers on the Wall' – the song Butch sings in the car
Butch's girlfriend Fabienne – 12 straight minutes, named the 'Butch's Girlfriend Award' for this category
- Chris: Butch is a piece of shit for letting his corner guys get tortured by Marcellus
- Sean: Vincent Vega had the craziest 72 hours in movie history AND is completely incompetent
- Bill: Cut 8 of 12 minutes of Fabienne and add an actual boxing scene
- Amanda Plummer's Honey Bunny: 'Execute every motherfucking last one of you'
- Tarantino's Jimmy: 'Don't fucking Jimmy me, Jules'
- Peter Greene as Zed
- Duane Whitaker as Maynard
- Bronagh Gallagher as Trudy – created the 'Jody's Friend Trudy Award'
Christopher Walken – comes in for 4.5 minutes, crushes it, leaves
- Sam Jackson – yes, Oscar nominated, cemented as leading man
- Tarantino – yes, could do whatever he wanted after this
- Ving Rhames – yes, gets him Mission Impossible
- Christopher Walken monologues – yes
- Coffee – yes, '30 years of coffee becoming a kajillion-dollar industry starts with Jimmy'
Chris and Sean see Cruise as Vincent Vega with TJ Mackey energy from Magnolia
- How do Vincent and Jules fire a dozen shots in an apartment and walk out with no police?
- Mia draws a rectangle, not a square
- Butch made the cover of Ring magazine but lives in a nondescript North Hollywood apartment
- What's in the briefcase?
- Does Jules ever give the case back?
- Did Vincent intentionally kill Marvin?
- When exactly is the movie set? (Probably 1992)
- What made Jimmy's coffee so good?
- The briefcase
- The watch
- The Bad Motherfucker wallet
- Respect for one's elders shows character
- Don't snort heroin
- Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – beginning and end of Tarantino's career, 25 years apart
- Inglourious Basterds – structural short-story similarities
Quentin Tarantino – unanimously. Sam Jackson is the runner-up.
Craig has seen it about a dozen times, says it gets better every viewing. Praised Travolta for playing a non-movie-star role. Called Tarantino 'authentic and original' throughout his career.