Pulp Fiction (1994)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 thriller movie directed by Quentin Tarantino, with a running time of 2h 34m. It stars John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman.
Two hit men debate fast food and miracles on the way to a job. A boxer takes a payoff to throw a fight, then reconsiders. A gangster's wife goes out for the evening with the wrong escort. Quentin Tarantino braids these Los Angeles crime stories out of order, so endings land before their beginnings and characters reappear in scenes set earlier. John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, and Bruce Willis trade dialogue that snaps like the pulp magazines the title salutes. A pair of diner stickups brackets the whole thing.
Quick answers
What is Pulp Fiction about?
Two hit men debate fast food and miracles on the way to a job. A boxer takes a payoff to throw a fight, then reconsiders. A gangster's wife goes out for the evening with the wrong escort. Quentin Tarantino braids these Los Angeles crime stories out of order, so endings land before their beginnings and characters reappear in scenes set earlier. John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, and Bruce Willis trade dialogue that snaps like the pulp magazines the title salutes. A pair of diner stickups brackets the whole thing.
When was Pulp Fiction released?
Pulp Fiction was released on 10 September 1994.
How long is Pulp Fiction?
Pulp Fiction runs 2h 34m.
Who made Pulp Fiction?
Pulp Fiction was directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Where can I watch Pulp Fiction?
Pulp Fiction is available on MGM+, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ (Via Amazon Prime), YouTube TV, Hoopla and Kanopy.
Where to watch Pulp Fiction
Stream: MGM+, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ (Via Amazon Prime), YouTube TV
Rent: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home, Spectrum On Demand
Buy: Amazon, Fandango at Home
Official site
Cast
- John Travolta as Vincent Vega
- Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield
- Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace
- Bruce Willis as Butch Coolidge
- Ving Rhames as Marsellus Wallace
- Harvey Keitel as The Wolf
- Eric Stoltz as Lance
- Tim Roth as Pumpkin
- Amanda Plummer as Honey Bunny
- Maria de Medeiros as Fabienne
- Quentin Tarantino as Jimmie Dimmick
- Christopher Walken as Captain Koons
Reviews
Still perfect. Every time I go back to it. The dialogue, the structure, the performances are just great.
martin rated it 9/10
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A few thoughts on Pulp Fiction
For the same hardboiled crime told in slabs of black comedy, read Frank Miller's Sin City, all rain-slick violence and clipped voice-over. Max Payne channels the noir into a game of graphic-novel panels and slow-motion gunfights, while The Wolf Among Us leans on the crackling, threat-laced banter Quentin Tarantino loves.
Crime movies that scramble the timeline on purpose
Tarantino tells Pulp Fiction's three LA crime stories out of order, so a death lands before its setup and a stray subplot resolves scenes later. Memento runs its investigation backward scene by scene, The Killing fractures a heist into overlapping timeframes, Amores Perros braids three lives around one crash, and Kill Bill and Sin City chop their own crime plots into scrambled chapters.
Hitmen who crack jokes right before the violence
Pulp Fiction's hit men trade riffs about foot massages and fast food on the way to a job, treating murder as just another workday. Accident Man and The 51st State keep that same wisecracking hitman tone, Dragged Across Concrete stretches the banter into long, tense stakeouts, and Natural Born Killers and Avengement push the dark comedy of casual violence even further.
Crime sagas about an empire swallowing the person inside it
Pulp Fiction's gangsters answer to bosses and codes bigger than themselves, even during a diner stickup. The Godfather novel and its Part II and Part III sequels trace that same slow consumption of a person by family business, while Scarface shows the mirror image: a man who claws his way to the top of that same kind of empire only to become its worst version.
Noir detective stories you play instead of watch
Pulp Fiction moves through Los Angeles crime with the loose, hangout confidence of a graphic novel brought to life. Max Payne and its sequel put you inside that same shadowy pulp voiceover as a player character, The Wolf Among Us drops noir interrogation scenes into a fairy tale precinct, and Batman: Arkham Knight and Detroit: Become Human turn detective work itself into the game's central mechanic.