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- A three-pronged masterpiece— magnificent writing (on par with or superior to the great works of say Bergman or Before Sunset), tour de force direction behind the camera (the dance contest sequence, the freeze frame on Amanda Plummer with soundtrack drop), and a structural non-linear sonic boom
- Such confidence from Tarantino- this thing could have gone so wrong— Wigs on our three leads, 40 minutes longer than Reservoir Dogs (153 minutes)
- The freeze frame on Amanda Plummer opening is a jaw-dropper—I’ve overlooked it- one of cinema’s great freeze frames— holy hell. And then we go to the music drop of “The Misirlou” that bridges to the opening titles—an achievement to say the least
- Writing rich in the dialogue yes, and the skeletal arrangement of the story, but also of just ideas- the idea of royale with cheese, and robbing restaurants
- Trademark beautiful trunk shot—a few here actually
- Between the big moments (like the opening freeze frame, the long take opening on Willis and then the back of the head of Ving Rhames, and the dance sequence with Travolta and Uma)—we get great little moments like the elevator small talk between Travolta and Samuel L—the awkward silence of the first “date” between Travolta and Uma in the car booth
- I do not remember anything from Reservoir Dogs so this may be the beginning of QT’s foot fetishism here- we get the hilarious foot massage debate and then are introduced to Uma through her feet (and lips I guess with that close up of her on the microphone)
- A nice pairing to the Buscemi/Keitel hallway shot from Reservoir Dogs is one early here with Samuel L and Travolta
- The narrative interlocks— it’s complex– it’s not just three stories split apart—the Uma segment actually starts with that long take of Bruce Willis with Al Green’s music
- Rarely does Tarantino just sit back and point the camera at these fabulous actors putting forth one of cinema’s great screenplays— there’s almost always work behind the camera. The drug deal sequence between Travolta and Eric Stoltz’s character in his bedroom is shot with a great Wellesian low angles
- A perfect shot of the neon light on the windshield as they arrive at Jack Rabbit Slim’s (a marvelous set piece in itself) — this is just still frame museum art quality
- The camera absolutely floats around Jack Rabbit Slim’s with Travolta—it’s a great shot and married to the narrative and he’s lost in the dizzling place (and high)
- The dance contest scene is cinematic bliss— maybe it doesn’t touch the opening of The Searchers and a dozen other scenes (Goodfellas Copacabana is another) but it’s in that next tier—it deserves a Psycho shower-scene breakdown. We get symmetrical wide shot, the camera glides in on both individually and then again together– and the fade to black at the end is crucial
- In the very next scene we actually get another great shot of Uma dancing to “Girl You’ll Be a Woman Soon” as it’s done in one take and she dives back and forth behind a column in the house
- A bit of nice homage casting with Walken as a POW (Deer Hunter)- exceptional short story writing and performance—Keitel as “The Wolf” is incredible, too—amazing performances behind the principals (who are all giving career-best work)
- The De Palma (from Vertigo) 360 degree shot here is Willis in a phone booth—Tarantino’s favorite director from the movie brats of the American 70’s new wave is De Palma—his Wyler/Welles/De Palma (used really well in The Untouchables) shot here is when Rhames is chasing Willis and Willis is behind a brick wall in the foreground
- Willis choosing the sword as weapon always makes me smile
- The coffee shop discussion in the third act with Samuel L talking about miracles and philosophy is My Dinner with Andre or Seventh Sea-level stuff and there’s a narrative tie—as we know from the story’s structure Samuel L lives and Travolta dies
- Another Mexican standoff like Reservoir Dogs
- A masterpiece
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16 Comments
Randy WhiteDecember 20, 2019 at 8:27 pm - Reply
Hey Drake can you explain to me why this was nominated for The Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Drama when it was more of a dark comedy?
DrakeDecember 20, 2019 at 9:26 pm - Reply
@Randy– haha I’m not sure. I don’t love genre definitions/arguments anyways (what’s a horror movie, what’s a comedy, etc) and who knows what the globes are thinking. I’m pleasantly surprised when they or the academy get it right.
JohnOctober 18, 2023 at 12:49 pm - Reply
The moment where Jules shoots Brett the screen flashes an off tinged yellow for a split second and a split second later it happens again when the frame switches to Vincent. There’s many other unnoticed moments like that.
JanithJuly 21, 2020 at 8:08 pm - Reply
Who is your pick for best supporting actor in 1994 Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction,Martin Landau in Ed Wood or Bruce Willis in Pulp fiction?
DrakeJuly 21, 2020 at 8:27 pm - Reply
@Janith- Samuel L
JanithJuly 22, 2020 at 3:41 am - Reply
Who is your pick for best supporting actress in 1994 Julia Ormond in Legends of the Fall,Dianne Wiest in Bullets over Broadway or Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction?
DrakeJuly 22, 2020 at 10:55 am - Reply
@Janith- if you’re asking me- Uma. On the year by year archives I do this essentially. On the 1994 page I have Faye Wong as the only actress over Uma for 1994 at all.
best performance female: This category is loaded as well. I’m going to give the edge to Faye Wong in chunking express ever so slightly over Uma Thurman in pulp fiction.
JanithJuly 22, 2020 at 11:42 am - Reply
Isn’t Faye Wong the lead actress in Chungking Express?Did the academy got it wrong by awarding Dianne West with the best supporting actress oscar over Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction?
DrakeJuly 22, 2020 at 12:02 pm - Reply
@Janith- I don’t do lead and supporting categories
D.WGriffithNovember 20, 2020 at 12:32 am - Reply
do you think this film is the best use of nonlinear storytelling. Besides intolerance. My question is do you think fiction would still be a masterpiece if it were told in straight narrative. I actually think its fun to think about certain things and wonder how the film would be without them. How would 2001 work without the music or goodfellas without the voice over. Or how about mad max fury road shot entirely on film?
GrahamSeptember 12, 2021 at 6:24 am - Reply
“it deserves a Psycho shower-scene breakdown”
Here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9zLMFR81qUGrahamOctober 25, 2021 at 12:32 am - Reply
I was in Boston this weekend and happened to see both the airport walkways from The Departed with all the Xs as well as a Head of the Charles rowing boat named BI9 Kahuna. The world shapes cinema, and cinema shapes the world.
DrakeApril 3, 2022 at 1:21 am - Reply
@Zane- thank you for the help here
MalithDecember 4, 2022 at 8:14 am - Reply
Sure he used to be good. But I feel like John Travolta has been one of the worst main stream actors in the 21st Century. Doing tons of garbage, hardly any box office successes or even roles in franchises, renowned directors never cast him in their films. It’s sad to see
DrakeDecember 5, 2022 at 8:42 pm - Reply
@Malith – certainly been a career of peaks and valleys for Travolta. I have 10 archiveable films for him- and they’re all during a brief span from either 1976-1981 or 1994-1998. That’s 10 archiveable films in 11 years. And 0 in the remaining like 36 years.
James TrappDecember 5, 2022 at 10:31 pm - Reply
@Malith – I’m not sure Travolta was ever a great actor. He was however a great movie star. Please don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of many of his films and performances. I love him in Pulp Fiction and Blow Out especially. I don’t think its a coincidence that his two best films are with Tarantino and De Palma. Both of these director make movies where the characters in them talk and act like movie characters more than real people. This is especially the case with Tarantino movies. I wish Travolta and Tarantino collaborated more than once given how great Pulp Fiction was. There was actually a movie called the Vega Brothers that Tarantino considered making but ultimately abandoned.
