#53: PULP FICTION (1994)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

8.5

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, several times, the first time in university, probably around 2005

BEST SEQUENCE

There's no right or wrong answer here; ask me on a different day and I might give you a different response, and I really couldn't fault anyone for choosing any part of this movie. However, on this viewing, I'm going to go with the Jack Rabbit Slim's sequence, and Jules and Vincent's meeting with Brett is close runner-up

BEST LINE

Again, no wrong answer, and on a different day, different choice. This time, though, it's "Aw, man, I shot Marvin in the face." Travolta's delivery is absolutely hysterical, I laughed out loud even though I knew it was coming

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

92%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"Injecting its compendium of crime tales with the patois of everyday conversation, Pulp Fiction is a cinematic shot of adrenaline that cements writer-director Quentin Tarantino as an audacious purveyor of killer kino."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption."

DIRECTOR

Quentin Tarantino

MAIN CAST

John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken

THOUGHTS

• Pulp Fiction has been around for such a long time that it may be easy to forget what an impact it had. Hugely influential, the recipient of seven Oscar nominations (winning Best Original Screenplay), it was an absolute trendsetter for mid-90s cinema. A few times in these reviews I've been underwhelmed by the influential films, movies like Planet of the Apes or The Day the Earth Stood Still, finding them to be greatly surpassed by what came after, but that is not the case for Pulp Fiction. Still tremendously entertaining and quotable as all get out, it's pretty damn rewatchable
• Pulp Fiction is the only Tarantino movie on the AFI list (which means that only Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown got snubbed, since the list was finalized in 2001). Furthermore, Tarantino is the only director I can think of whose entire filmography I've seen - some only once, and some a long time ago, and some only once a long time ago (for example, I saw Death Proof, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight all in the theatre, and I haven't seen them again since). And I have to say, I've had some good times with Pulp Fiction, and I enjoyed it again on this rewatch, and it certainly is a very good representation of Tarantino's oeuvre, but of his filmography I think it barely cracks the top 5, and that might even change if I were to rewatch some of the others. I think I would put Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds and Jackie Brown all above Pulp Fiction, and chances are I would put Reservoir Dogs above it as well
• In fact, I almost did another poll to see if there were any other Tarantino movies that I should watch and review, but I just did that for M. Night Shyamalan and I didn't feel like stretching this out too much more. So you'll have to take the above point as a loose idea of how I feel about some of his other movies
• As a point of comparison, I hate to slam you one more time, M. Night, but having recently struggled with Shyamalan's terrible stilted dialogue really made me appreciate Tarantino's skill as a screenwriter on this viewing. Tarantino's characters don't talk like real people, their lines are clever and idiosyncratic and unnatural, but man do they pull you in. For a movie with a fair amount of death and violence, it's noteworthy that some of the most enjoyable and memorable scenes are the ones that just depict two characters talking bullshit to each other ("They call it a Royale with cheese") or intimidating other people with wordplay ("What ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?!")
• He really, really does throw around the N-Word a lot, though, and it is legitimately jarring in a way that pulls you out of the movie and makes you think about the justification for it. I'm certainly not the first to criticize this, and Tarantino has defended himself, as have some of his actors (including frequent collaborator Samuel L. Jackson, from this very movie, and Jamie Foxx from Django Unchained), but I do consider it a difficult thing to grapple with these days (and other filmmakers have also criticized this aspect of his films, including Spike Lee)
• And to be honest, I think we're pretty much coming to the end here! In a way I feel like I didn't do a whole lot of talking about the movie itself, but I also think that's a risk of the vignette-style, non-chronological movie. There are many memorable sequences, and something to love in nearly every one of them, but then things pretty much boil down to cool things that happened and great lines that were spoken, and that's largely what my notes consisted of. The acting is great across the board (Travolta, Jackson and Thurman were all nominated for Oscars, and it was seen as a huge career comeback for Travolta and star-making roles for Jackson and Thurman), the dialogue crackles, and the soundtrack is maybe one of the best ever. However, as I feel like I've barely skimmed the surface of moments and lines that are worth mentioning, please, I implore you, add your favourites to the comments 

Up next: Another movie that was something of an unexpected Oscar darling, it's Rocky from 1972

#54: BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)

THRILL SCALE 1-10

4

HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?

Yes, once, fairly recently

BEST SEQUENCE

Final shootout

BEST LINE

Butch: "Kid, there's something I think I oughta tell ya. I never shot anybody before

Sundance: "One hell of a time to tell me"

- spoken at a time when Sundance would really prefer it if Butch could shoot a few guys alongside him

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE

89%

ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS

"With its iconic pairing of Paul Newman and Robert Redford, jaunty screenplay and Burt Bacharach score, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has gone down as among the defining moments in late-'60s American cinema."

IMDB SYNOPSIS

"In 1890s Wyoming, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid lead a band of outlaws. When a train robbery goes wrong, they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heels.."

DIRECTOR

George Roy Hill

MAIN CAST

Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Strother Martin

THOUGHTS

• The script is charming even if it's not always laugh-out-loud funny, and Newman and Redford have great chemistry and charisma coming out of their ears, and the scenery and cinematography are pretty fantastic, but it's really not all that thrilling
• Getting back to the script, it was one of the first written by William Goldman, and it won him his first Academy Award (his second award would be for the previously discussed All the President's Men). Some have said that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid set the template for the buddy action comedies that we all know and love, and I can definitely see its impact on future movies, but I don't know, it leans a little heavier on the comedy than the action for me. A lot of wisecracks, and a lot of them land fairly well, but they can also distract from the thrills and the action. And in fact, not only did I find it not terribly thrilling, I even found it a little boring (and I remember feeling the same way the first time I watched it not too long ago)
• Also distracting, Burt Bacharach's music. "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" was a huge hit at the time, sung by B. J. Thomas and written by Bacharach, and it won the Oscar for Best Original Song, and I can't stand it. In the movie it plays while Paul Newman performs some stunts on a bicycle, and I just think the whole thing is annoying. There's also a late-movie bank robbing montage that's scored with a vocal jazz group that I found pretty jarring
• Like I said, I did love the scenery and cinematography, though, a common opinion I've had with Westerns, and I also liked the way that they filmed the posse of bad guys chasing Butch and Sundance. Always way off in the distance, never seeing their faces close up, just anonymously threatening entities
• Sometimes I watch a movie that I like and I worry that I'm just being influenced by other peoples' opinions, but then I watch a movie like this, pretty universally loved and admired, and it just doesn't do it for me. Worth mentioning, though, I'm in good company. Both Siskel and Ebert were pretty unimpressed with this movie, quite early in each of their careers, and before they even started their professional partnership
• Finally, George Roy Hill teamed up again with Newman and Redford a few years later for The Sting, another movie I saw once long ago, but in contrast with my memory of watching Butch Cassidy previously, I remember really liking The Sting, and I kinda just wanted to watch that again. So I did. Without further ado...

MINI REVIEW: THE STING (1973)

I think The Sting is superior to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in basically every way, and while they're fairly different genres, I even think The Sting is way more thrilling. Butch Cassidy has a much higher body count, but The Sting has just enough murders to show us the stakes, and there's a constant threat of violence. More importantly, though, without even needing to see bodies fall and guns fire, the real thrill of The Sting comes from the plot - watching the con play out, following the twists and turns, and seeing a real bastard of a guy (intimidatingly played by Robert Shaw) get his due comeuppance. Redford and Newman are just as great, just as charismatic, and I cared more about these characters than I ever did about Butch and Sundance. And lastly, I'll take Scott Joplin's sweet ragtime over Burt Bacharach's treacly noodling any day.

Up next: It's a big one, and Quentin Tarantino's only movie on the official AFI list: 1994's Pulp Fiction