PULP FICTION
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1994 Ben Hoffman
The film begins and ends with Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) and her guy, Pumpkin (Tim Roth), a couple of petty thieves who, after mulling over the risks of holding up various and sundry types of retail business and banks hit upon the bright idea of robbing the very restaurant in which they are having breakfast. Think of all the wallets. Thus begins the film which encompasses and interlaces three stories of small-time crooks in a send up of movies about that gangsters. There are more laughs than killings but with plenty of each.
Marsellus Wallace, (Ving Rhames), the boss, has instructed Vincent Vega (John Travolta) to watch over his wife, Mia (Uma Thurman), while he is away on business. The last goon to have baby-sat Mia ended up dead so Vincent is less than thrilled with his assignment. Before that is over, Vincent goes through a deadly series of frantic events which for us, the audience, are hilarious.
Elsewhere, there is Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis), an upcoming prizefighter being instructed to take a fall in his next fight. Willis, it should be noted, is becoming more and more believable as an actor. In Pulp Fiction, he outdoes himself. In this segment he is helped by Captain Koons (Christopher Walken) who, with a straight face, relates to Butch (as a child) the very weird story of how the captain came into possession of a pocket watch which he is turning over to Coolidge. Fabienne (Maria De Medeiros) is Butch's girlfriend.
There is still another story that threads its way through the film. This one involves Vincent and Jules (Samuel L Jackson). While Travolta is perfect as the crook who seems to get into all kinds of trouble without looking for them, it is Jackson who runs away with the film. Last seen in FRESH, here he really takes over as the Bible-quoting criminal who suddenly sees the Hand of God and wants out.
Harvey Keitel excels as Wolf in a short but very funny bit. Eric Stoltz is the drug dealer and Rosanna Arquette is his wife.
While each of the stories is of the silly kind and what happens now crisscrosses with what happened earlier, it all adds up to a most enjoyable movie.
Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino.
3 Bytes 4 Bytes = Absolutely must see. 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money.
Ben Hoffman
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