Pulp Fiction

The 1994 Quentin Tarantino classic is a wonder of style and cinematic pizazz!

But first, let's remember a few of the other Tarantino wonders. Reservoir Dogs was pure brilliance. With Chris Penn, Michael Madsen, and Tim Roth leading the crew of bullet-ridden misfits, how could the film go wrong? With the typical fluid time/space traveling story, QT takes us on a strange journey through a heist gone bad. But the real drama unfolds when the bleeding baddies begin to suspect that someone is a mole! For me, the high point of the film is Madsen whimsically dancing to the tune "Stuck in the Middle with You"... as he tries to figure out who to shoot!

On to the more recent Kill Bill duo....wow, what sword-yielding drama! As our heroine tracks down those who betrayed her and left her for dead, we follow the most bizarre, kung-fu-ish story of violence and mayhem. Only QT could pull this off... and leave us feeling awe-stricken at the ghoulish battle scenes. I will never forget Uma taking on the hundred or so baddies in the restaurant foyer! When she declares to the survivors, "Leave your body parts...they belong to me", we can only gasp at the originality of the scene... if, of course, we are not barfing from all the blood!

QT also participates in the south-of-the-border shoot-em-upper, Desperado. The bar scene, with Antonio Banderas blasting away with two .45's, will never be topped! And who can forget the greasy-faced hero in the arms of the lovely Salma Hayek?

Alas, this post is about Pulp Fiction, so I must not meander through the QT opus of genius! Pulp is simply as good as an offbeat thriller can get. The chemistry between the bible-thumping Samuel L Jackson and charmingly indifferent, yet strangely philosophical John Travolta, sets the stage for a number of memorable, gritty moments. Start with the music. The opening intensive notes set the stage for the gripping events to follow. Then there's Uma and John doing the twist in one of moviedom's all-time fantastic moments. On to the showdowns: When SLJ and JT shoot the kid dead in the apartment, only to be fired upon by a hidden gunman, only to find they have miraculously not been hit....which sets off SlJ's biblical vision issues....pow! What can we say? Then there's the restaurant scene, where "honey-bunny" and her boyfriend bungle the heist, only to be lectured to by a very patient SLJ! Or what about the strange scene in the gun shop, where the big boss is abused by baddies...and Bruce Willis, aka the boxer who refuses to take a fall, uses a sword to bale out his enemy. Oh, and how can we forget the car scene, when JT accidently shoots a guy it the face! And have we ever experience a cooler "cleaner" than Harvey Keitel? Strange specialty: cleaning up gun scenes for the mob bosses!

Oh my, too much to compliment! Faced with this kind of film genius, I feel unable to express my thoughts clearly. I ask you, Valerie, to help me here. Maybe you can be more precise in explaining (if you agree) why this film is a standout, worthy of our adoration.