TARANTINO
Continued from 11A
And this time they're really
getting it
By winning the Palme d'Or at
the Cannes Film Festival this
year. Pulp Fiction has served to
help solidity Tartantmo's place m
the world ot liim
Drawing together an all-star
cast that includes John Travolta
Samuel L Jackson. Uma
Thurman and Bruce Willis.
Hollywood's hottest young direc
tor is back in the house, w th a
vision that once again pitches
me audience from one extreme
to the other, .ike a tilt-a-whiri
Irom hell
Some said that it couldn't be
done, that the bullets Tarantino
'i'ed at the audience would
eventually come back at him in
the form of a tepid sophomore
effort It has happened to many
young writer/directors who find
out all to soon that the fast lane
is full of charred wrecks and the
atrical roadkill.
But Tarantino likes to drive
last, and his latest vehicle is
loaded like a drunk thug with a
cheap Saturday night special
Bom from the trashy heaps of
cheap 1950s detective true
story' drivel. Pulp Fiction has an
episodic heart that beats to the
tune of three storylines, which
intertwine and twist with gore
and intrigue
Making the most fuss in this
film is John Travolta (Vincent
Vega), who finally returns to a
role that he can sink his teeth
into, teeth that have been suffer
ing from some serious atrophy
as of late
But hit' he does And teamed
up with Samuel L Jackson, they
make a helluva killing machine,
schoolin' lackeys who are dumb
enough to cross Marsellus
Wallace (Vtng Rhames), the
mob boss the two gun for
In between hired hits, Vincent
gets signed up to play babysit
ter to a real hot number,
Marsellus's cokehead wife Mia
(Uma Thurman) Mia has a rep
like a black widow though Vince
is cool though, and the two
COuHttSv w«:iro
Samuel Jackson (left), Uma Thurman, John Travolta and Bruca Willis
are the ma|or players In Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.
share a sexual tension that gets
warm without overheating What
Vince doesn't Know is that his tit
tle harmless date is about to
take a serious bend straight to
hell
I won't spill the beans, but the
end result gave me a new pho
bia tor hypodermic needles
Then there's the tale o! Butch
the boxer
Butch (Bruce Willis) is a man
on the way out A boxer with
only a tew tights left and an otter
from Marcellos to throw one for
big bucks But Butch won't go
down for the count and faces
some king-hell retribution lor
double-crossing the mob
But Butch is splitting town for
a new Itle Almost
Unfortunatley lor Butch, his
girlfriend forgot to pack his
father's watch on the eve of their
departure, and unwilling to part
with an heirloom that his father
had carried with him during Nam
(in a very unique place, I might
add), Butch hurls himself back
m!o the tray to retrieve the gem
(ran his staked-out and soon-to
be war/one ot an apartment
Suffice it to say. going hack
gets Butch involved with
MarceHus as well as with a pair
of sado-masochistic hillbillies
that offer up one of the film's
most memorable scenes
Bullets fty
f. xtras die
And whenever the bullets
aren't flying, the verbal Zingers
are Tarantino has a virtually
unparalleled talent tor creating
sharp dialogue to go along with
his larger-than-life, spme-crack
ing anti-heros
No doubt Pulp Fiction will
come under the same criticism
that Tarantino's previous work
has. that the violence is the tout
fuel that feeds the beast
Violence is a (actor, but not
THE factor
Tarantino just does it with
more style
FICTION
Continued from 11A
Travolta) and Jutes
(Samuel Jackson) are dri
ving with this kid m the
back seat. Vincent is talk
ing to the kid as Jutes dri
ves Vincent turns to tace
the kid. gun in hand Jutes
drives over a bump the
gun goes oh and you can
imagine the rest Bits of
bram are In Jutes' hair and
the car is soaked with
blood t saw Pulp Fiction
at a screening, but l have
heard that at this point, the
audience was laughing
That ts disturbing
Tarantino is quoted as
saymg. ”1 always stop
short of calling my work
comedy because as tunny
as it is, there are things
you're not supposed to be
laughing at but when
I'm writing a. I'm hearing
laughs, when l‘m directing
it, I'm hearing laughs I
edit rt for the laughs
'll I watch it with an
audience that doesn't
laugh. I think they're
bored,* Tarantino said
This is domented
There is a scene where
Butch (Bruce Willis) and
the mob king he crossed
(Vmg Rhemes) are taken
hostage m a pawn shop
What happens to the mob
stor, is unspeakable But
Butch rescues him, and m
return. Marsetlus tofgives
Butch of his crime This
horrible situation creeled a
bond between the two. but
there are other, less vio
lent and less disgusting
ways of doing this
Everyone l know loves
this movie l can see its
qualities and I can appre
ciate the creativity it took
lo make the film But what
i cant do is see past an
the violence and deem
this movie 'great *
PULP
Continued from 11A
base bad guys You can actually relate to
them, and you are sad to see them die
That's Tarantino
The dialogue is brilliant That's Tarantino
OK, so there's a lot of violence in this film
Graphic violence Unfortunately, that's also
Tarantino But this film varies from his other
movies (namely. Reservoir Dogs and True
Romance) in that the violence isn't in the
spotlight and, m some cases, it even adds to
the subtle humor
I would go so tar as to call this film
Quentm Tarantino s best The cast (John
TravoUa, Samuel l Jackson, Uma Thurman
and Tim Roth, to name a tew) give wondortul
performances, with Tarantino's screenplay
twisting the entire cast through events some
times crazy, sometimes bizarre, and some
tunes unnaturally normal
It looks good, it sounds yood, and it's
entertaining Who wants more from a movie7
You'll probably note that I haven't written
anything about the plot That's because
there are several closely interwoven plots
You'll |ust have to see the him to understand
And l recommend seeing the tilm
Oh. by the way. the worst performance
was that of the character Jimmie That's
Tarantino
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