can anyone explain the full "plot" of pulp fiction? (will contain lots of spoilers)
07-02-03, 07:52 PM
#1
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can anyone explain the full "plot" of pulp fiction? (will contain lots of spoilers)
tonight durring dinner, after seeing t3, we somehow got into a conversation on discussing our favorite scenes from pulp fiction, everything from marvins death, the the adrealin shot, to the what speech ect, but when this question came up "whats the actuall plot, or main theme of the movie". We all drew a blank.
If there is a site that simply goes over the main points or the plot as a whole, or if someone wants to go over it in a single post, thats fine.
If there is a site that simply goes over the main points or the plot as a whole, or if someone wants to go over it in a single post, thats fine.
07-02-03, 08:10 PM
#2
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The plot:
Two hit man take out some guys and get there boss his goods One man leaves the buisness while the other stays on and later dies at the hands of the bosses enemy who screwed him over and didn't go down in a fight he was suppose to. There is a plot, but it was over looked by the different style they pieced it together. if it was in real time, the film would not have been all that great.
Two hit man take out some guys and get there boss his goods One man leaves the buisness while the other stays on and later dies at the hands of the bosses enemy who screwed him over and didn't go down in a fight he was suppose to. There is a plot, but it was over looked by the different style they pieced it together. if it was in real time, the film would not have been all that great.
07-02-03, 08:31 PM
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the main theme is redemption: Bruce Willis is redeemed by saving Marsellus, Sam Jackson leaves only to have his partner, who thought he was crazy, die the next day. He also allows the two diner robbers to leave unharmed. Uma Thurman and Travolta are redeemed from her ODing on heroin.
Everyone gets into serious problems, then they manage to escape and they are changed because of it.
Everyone gets into serious problems, then they manage to escape and they are changed because of it.
07-02-03, 08:41 PM
#4
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I have pieced it together in my mind so hopefully this works out.
Vincent Vega returns from Holland and meets up with his partner Jules Winfield. They go to the apartment of business associates of Marsellus Wallace, their boss. The guys in the apartment are over their heads, and "Flock of Seagulls" gets shot.
Vincent recovers a suitcase with undescribed beauty for Marsellus. Jules then decides to have a little fun with them. Brad, the leader of this "gang", tries to desperately plead for his life, but in the end due to his ineptitude is killed. "Jerry Seinfeld" bursts out of the bathroom and tries to kill them. He fires off a couple rounds, misses and is killed. Vincent and Jules take the black member of the gang, Marvin, with them back to Marsellus.
Jules questions what happened with "Seinfeld" and thinks its devine intervention. Vincent asks Marvin's opinion, and accidentally shoots him in the head. Jules and Vincent need to dump the bloody car, but they are in the San Fernando Valley and Wallace has no friends in the valley.
Jules decides to stop at his friend Jimmie's house. Jimmie, although a good friend of Jules is justifiably irate with the dead black man in their car. He tells them they need to get rid of all the bloody stuff, because his wife will be home in an hour. Jules calls Wallace to request the "Calvary" to assist them in cleanup. Much to the surprise of Jules, Marsellus calls the "Wolf."
The "Wolf" arrives at the scene very quickly, despite some problems with Vincent, he manages to get everyone to cleanup. Jimmie gives them a change of clothes, and Wolf washes them off. Wolf pays Jimmie a lot for letting them use his house. Wolf drives the tainted car to a junkyard owned by a friend, with Jules and Vincent following close behind in his car.
At the junkyard, Wolf meets up with his girlfriend, Racquel, the heiress to the junkyard. Wolf and Raquel bid ado to the two hitmen as they live out in the styx (Inglewood).
Jules and Vincent go to a diner, where Jules contemplates his role as a hitman. "Honneybunny" and "Pumpkin", two English people, discuss at length holding up banks, when Pumpkin decides that they should rob the restaurant. Pumpkin then proceeds to take all the customers' wallets including Jules'. Jules does not let Pumpkin have the briefcase, and just when Pumpkin is about to blow his head off, Vincent comes out of the bathroom and pulls a gun on him. Honneybunny pulls a gun on Vincent, everyone stands with their guns pointed at each other. They continue to do so until Pumpkin and Honeybunny decide to leave, wallets in hand.The two men walk out of the diner solemnly, and head over to see Wallace.
They give a short briefing to Wallace, he tells them it was handled as best as possible. The two leave. Boxer, Bruce Coolidge goes over to Wallace. Wallace tells him to throw an upcoming fight and he will get paid. Butch reluctantly accepts. Butch gives the evil eye to Vincent, foreshadowing future events.
Vincent goes to his drug dealer, buys some high quality heroin, shoots the crap with his dealer, Lance. Lance asks if Vincent wants to go out with the girl hanging out in his house. Vincent makes a comment, thinking that Lances' wife is the girl. Upset, Lance asks him to leave.
Vincent arrives at Mia, Marsellus' wife's, house. She tells him to hold shortly and she will come down. The two go to a 50's theme dinner are served by a Buddy Holly lookalike. Mia goes to the bathroom and snorts cocaine. When she gets back the two enter a dance contest and win.
When they get back to Mia's house, Vincent finds Mia has gone into a coma. She snorted some of his heroin he had in his coat. Vincent calls up Lance, and tells him something bad has happened. Lance wants no part in it and tells him not to come over. It's too late, and Vincent is already there.
In order to revive Mia, Vincent must administer a shot adrenaline straight to her heart. Everyone waits in anticipation as he does, when he finally does, she leaps up and is pulled back into the land of the living. The two are silent on their ride back to Wallace's house.
Butch Coolidge has a flashback to when he was a kid. Captain Koons a friend of his father's presents him a watch. He tells him it is from Butch's family dating back to his great grandfather. Koons then reveals he kept it in ass in a Vietnamese P.O.W. camp after Butch's dad died.
Butch is then jolted back to reality at the fight of life. We don't see what happens, but the radio in the cab ride for Butch says that a boxer was killed in the ring. Things didn't go as planned for Butch and he tells the driver to make a beeline to his safehouse, his french girlfriends' apartment.
Butch and his girlfriend talk awhile about odd things such as a pot belly and Butch gives his girlfriend oral sex. The next day when he wakes up, he realizes that his girlfriend did not get his family watch from his apartment. With Wallace on the look-out for him, it is dangerous to go back to his apartment, but he decides to anyhow out of respect for his father.
When he gets to the apartment he finds his watch along with an assassin. Vincent leaves a surpressed uzi on the kitchen counter and upon seeing Butch is shot dead with it by the owner of the apartment. Butch considers himself lucky and runs to his car. On his way back to his girlfriend he runs into Marsellus, literally.
A gunfight ensues and Butch is chased down a grimy alley by Wallace on the warpath. The two accidently walk into a hillybilly rapist's pawn shop and become unwitting participants in deviant sex, or at least Wallace does.
Butch breaks free of his restraints and punches a leatherman, simply known as "The Gimp." He considers leaving Wallace to be sodomized by a hillbilly cop Zed and the store's proprietor, but goes back into the store and grabs a samurai sword. He kills the storeowner and frees Wallace. Wallace shoots Zed with a shotgun and declares that he will seek retribution for the rest of Zed's life (however short that may be).
For saving his life, Wallace tells Butch he is free to live, but has 24 hours to vacate Los Angeles and never return. The two vow to never speak of what has happend. With his girlfriend's hatchback crushed, Butch steals Zed's chopper. He then picks up his girlfriend and they cruise off into the sunset.
FADE TO BLACK
ROLL CREDITS
*phew*
Vincent Vega returns from Holland and meets up with his partner Jules Winfield. They go to the apartment of business associates of Marsellus Wallace, their boss. The guys in the apartment are over their heads, and "Flock of Seagulls" gets shot.
Vincent recovers a suitcase with undescribed beauty for Marsellus. Jules then decides to have a little fun with them. Brad, the leader of this "gang", tries to desperately plead for his life, but in the end due to his ineptitude is killed. "Jerry Seinfeld" bursts out of the bathroom and tries to kill them. He fires off a couple rounds, misses and is killed. Vincent and Jules take the black member of the gang, Marvin, with them back to Marsellus.
Jules questions what happened with "Seinfeld" and thinks its devine intervention. Vincent asks Marvin's opinion, and accidentally shoots him in the head. Jules and Vincent need to dump the bloody car, but they are in the San Fernando Valley and Wallace has no friends in the valley.
Jules decides to stop at his friend Jimmie's house. Jimmie, although a good friend of Jules is justifiably irate with the dead black man in their car. He tells them they need to get rid of all the bloody stuff, because his wife will be home in an hour. Jules calls Wallace to request the "Calvary" to assist them in cleanup. Much to the surprise of Jules, Marsellus calls the "Wolf."
The "Wolf" arrives at the scene very quickly, despite some problems with Vincent, he manages to get everyone to cleanup. Jimmie gives them a change of clothes, and Wolf washes them off. Wolf pays Jimmie a lot for letting them use his house. Wolf drives the tainted car to a junkyard owned by a friend, with Jules and Vincent following close behind in his car.
At the junkyard, Wolf meets up with his girlfriend, Racquel, the heiress to the junkyard. Wolf and Raquel bid ado to the two hitmen as they live out in the styx (Inglewood).
Jules and Vincent go to a diner, where Jules contemplates his role as a hitman. "Honneybunny" and "Pumpkin", two English people, discuss at length holding up banks, when Pumpkin decides that they should rob the restaurant. Pumpkin then proceeds to take all the customers' wallets including Jules'. Jules does not let Pumpkin have the briefcase, and just when Pumpkin is about to blow his head off, Vincent comes out of the bathroom and pulls a gun on him. Honneybunny pulls a gun on Vincent, everyone stands with their guns pointed at each other. They continue to do so until Pumpkin and Honeybunny decide to leave, wallets in hand.The two men walk out of the diner solemnly, and head over to see Wallace.
They give a short briefing to Wallace, he tells them it was handled as best as possible. The two leave. Boxer, Bruce Coolidge goes over to Wallace. Wallace tells him to throw an upcoming fight and he will get paid. Butch reluctantly accepts. Butch gives the evil eye to Vincent, foreshadowing future events.
Vincent goes to his drug dealer, buys some high quality heroin, shoots the crap with his dealer, Lance. Lance asks if Vincent wants to go out with the girl hanging out in his house. Vincent makes a comment, thinking that Lances' wife is the girl. Upset, Lance asks him to leave.
Vincent arrives at Mia, Marsellus' wife's, house. She tells him to hold shortly and she will come down. The two go to a 50's theme dinner are served by a Buddy Holly lookalike. Mia goes to the bathroom and snorts cocaine. When she gets back the two enter a dance contest and win.
When they get back to Mia's house, Vincent finds Mia has gone into a coma. She snorted some of his heroin he had in his coat. Vincent calls up Lance, and tells him something bad has happened. Lance wants no part in it and tells him not to come over. It's too late, and Vincent is already there.
In order to revive Mia, Vincent must administer a shot adrenaline straight to her heart. Everyone waits in anticipation as he does, when he finally does, she leaps up and is pulled back into the land of the living. The two are silent on their ride back to Wallace's house.
Butch Coolidge has a flashback to when he was a kid. Captain Koons a friend of his father's presents him a watch. He tells him it is from Butch's family dating back to his great grandfather. Koons then reveals he kept it in ass in a Vietnamese P.O.W. camp after Butch's dad died.
Butch is then jolted back to reality at the fight of life. We don't see what happens, but the radio in the cab ride for Butch says that a boxer was killed in the ring. Things didn't go as planned for Butch and he tells the driver to make a beeline to his safehouse, his french girlfriends' apartment.
Butch and his girlfriend talk awhile about odd things such as a pot belly and Butch gives his girlfriend oral sex. The next day when he wakes up, he realizes that his girlfriend did not get his family watch from his apartment. With Wallace on the look-out for him, it is dangerous to go back to his apartment, but he decides to anyhow out of respect for his father.
When he gets to the apartment he finds his watch along with an assassin. Vincent leaves a surpressed uzi on the kitchen counter and upon seeing Butch is shot dead with it by the owner of the apartment. Butch considers himself lucky and runs to his car. On his way back to his girlfriend he runs into Marsellus, literally.
A gunfight ensues and Butch is chased down a grimy alley by Wallace on the warpath. The two accidently walk into a hillybilly rapist's pawn shop and become unwitting participants in deviant sex, or at least Wallace does.
Butch breaks free of his restraints and punches a leatherman, simply known as "The Gimp." He considers leaving Wallace to be sodomized by a hillbilly cop Zed and the store's proprietor, but goes back into the store and grabs a samurai sword. He kills the storeowner and frees Wallace. Wallace shoots Zed with a shotgun and declares that he will seek retribution for the rest of Zed's life (however short that may be).
For saving his life, Wallace tells Butch he is free to live, but has 24 hours to vacate Los Angeles and never return. The two vow to never speak of what has happend. With his girlfriend's hatchback crushed, Butch steals Zed's chopper. He then picks up his girlfriend and they cruise off into the sunset.
FADE TO BLACK
ROLL CREDITS
*phew*
Last edited by Brain Stew; 07-03-03 at 02:06 PM.
.
07-02-03, 10:59 PM
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Thanks Brain Stew, that's kind of what I wanted, and thanks for putting it in order as well. Since all of us at dinner were all caught up in our scene's that we all didn't really get the plot, plus it wasn't in the exact order.
07-03-03, 12:09 PM
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Some of you are confusing plot and theme. The above does read more like a script, but it is pretty much a plot, too. There are bits that are placed wrong, but I'm not up on it enough to accurately help out offhand. One I know, the restaurant scene is split up into 2 scenes: first the beginning from the robbers point of view while they discuss their robberies (shown first thing in the movie), then the end of the scene from Jules' point of view protecting his boss' case (shown much later in the movie).
Anyway...
There is no serious plot, read the definition given onscreen at the beginning. It is just lots of pulp fiction (paperbacks with sex, drugs, violence and little plot or character dev) dramatized into one movie. Hence the title. The best part of this movie is the timing. 2 major and a couple minor threads are woven together with great timing of scenes.
On theme:
It isn't so much redemption as a theme as it is the required "happy ending" for Butch's thread. With a couple unhappy endings too, but mainly you've got to have some happiness or there is no point to reading a pulp book. If it was supposed to be deeper they would've spent more time on Vincent's death or what happened to the girl after her OD. I wouldn't call surviving an OD redemption, I'd call it dumb luck, probably to be reversed next OD.
Anyway...
There is no serious plot, read the definition given onscreen at the beginning. It is just lots of pulp fiction (paperbacks with sex, drugs, violence and little plot or character dev) dramatized into one movie. Hence the title. The best part of this movie is the timing. 2 major and a couple minor threads are woven together with great timing of scenes.
On theme:
It isn't so much redemption as a theme as it is the required "happy ending" for Butch's thread. With a couple unhappy endings too, but mainly you've got to have some happiness or there is no point to reading a pulp book. If it was supposed to be deeper they would've spent more time on Vincent's death or what happened to the girl after her OD. I wouldn't call surviving an OD redemption, I'd call it dumb luck, probably to be reversed next OD.
07-03-03, 02:04 PM
#10
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Originally posted by Spiky
There are bits that are placed wrong, but I'm not up on it enough to accurately help out offhand. One I know, the restaurant scene is split up into 2 scenes: first the beginning from the robbers point of view while they discuss their robberies (shown first thing in the movie), then the end of the scene from Jules' point of view protecting his boss' case (shown much later in the movie).
There are bits that are placed wrong, but I'm not up on it enough to accurately help out offhand. One I know, the restaurant scene is split up into 2 scenes: first the beginning from the robbers point of view while they discuss their robberies (shown first thing in the movie), then the end of the scene from Jules' point of view protecting his boss' case (shown much later in the movie).
Originally posted by Dr. DVD
FYI: Marvin was not as much a member of the gang as he was a plant by Marsellus. Remember Vincent referring to "our guy?", he meant Marvin.
FYI: Marvin was not as much a member of the gang as he was a plant by Marsellus. Remember Vincent referring to "our guy?", he meant Marvin.
07-03-03, 03:44 PM
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I don't think there is one plot. There are four (hunybunny, getting the briefcase, butch, and the date) separate stories which are tied together through the character, if not presence, of Marcellus Wallace.
These stories intertwine through the device of "flexible time."
I think you need to talk about each story's plot. It's not like trying to reassemble, say, Godfather 1 and 2 to create a linear story. I don't think this was assembled with the same narrative process in mind.
Here's a plot if you need one: Marcellus Wallace engages the services of two hit men/enforcers to retrieve a briefcase. Complications ensue, leading to one of the hitmen seeking redemption and the other being killed.
Anyway, these are some quick thoughts.
J
These stories intertwine through the device of "flexible time."
I think you need to talk about each story's plot. It's not like trying to reassemble, say, Godfather 1 and 2 to create a linear story. I don't think this was assembled with the same narrative process in mind.
Here's a plot if you need one: Marcellus Wallace engages the services of two hit men/enforcers to retrieve a briefcase. Complications ensue, leading to one of the hitmen seeking redemption and the other being killed.
Anyway, these are some quick thoughts.
J
