Dom Robinson reviews
Pulp Fiction
Classic Collection Box Set
Distributed by
CDA Entertainment
Producer:
Screenplay:
Music :
Cast :
Vincent Vega: John Travolta
Jules Winfield: Samuel L Jackson
Mia Wallace: Uma Thurman
Winston Wolf: Harvey Keitel
Pumpkin: Tim Roth
Honey Bunny: Amanda Plummer
Fabienne: Maria de Medieros
Marsellus Wallace: Ving Rhames
Lance: Eric Stoltz
Jody: Rosanna Arquette
Captain Koons: Christopher Walken
Butch Coolidge: Bruce Willis
Trudi: Bronagh Gallagher
Zed: Peter Greene
The Gimp: Stephen Hibbert
Marvin: Phil LaMarr
Jimmie: Quentin Tarantino
Brett: Frank Whaley
Maynard: Duane Whitaker
Waitress: Laura Lovelace
Buddy Holly: Steve Buscemi
Pulp Fiction.
After Quentin Tarantino's startling directorial debut,
Reservoir Dogs,
it was a frustrating three-year wait for his follow-up, but one that was
well-rewarded, and a film that I saw twice at the cinema, and just had to rent
it out on video the day it was released, even though it would be a bastardised
pan-and-scan, cropping at least half the action.
For those of you unfamiliar with the story, it's actually several storylines
linked together, played out, like Tarantino's previous film, in an order that's
far from consecutive, but in a way that works very well indeed.
John Travolta saw his career take off after a long dry spell, as
hitman Vincent Vega, brother of Vic Vega in
Reservoir Dogs,
and he's partnered with bible-quoting Jules Winfield (Samuel L Jackson in a role that
also brought him to the fore and for many movies since), who are contracted by
the ubiquitous Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) to recover a briefcase,
the contents of which are unknown and shine a gold colour upon whoever looks
into it. For the record, the contents were never officially revealed by Tarantino,
thus making it seem all the more cool.
Vincent is also obliged to take out Marsellus' wife Mia (Uma Thurman)
on a date, which doesn't quite go as planned like the above briefcase recovery,
but to reveal the details would spoil the fun for those who have yet to watch
it.
Director Quentino Tarantino
and producer Lawrence Bender.
Elsewhere, there's a young couple, known only as Pumpkin (Tim Roth)
and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer), who plan to hold up a diner but choose
exactly the wrong moment at which to do it, and a boxer called Butch
(Bruce Willis, pioneering the bald look he would have to use to good effect
in later films) who's paid to throw a fight by the aforementioned Mr Wallace,
except he doesn't and throw's a hook that does his opponent no good at all,
leaving him in a world of trouble.
The rest of the cast features great talent from the likes of
Harvey Keitel, Stoltz, Rosanna Arquette, Christopher Walken,
Frank Whaley, and cameos for Steve Buscemi and director
Quentin Tarantino, but, again, to give more info would spoil things.
If you've seen the film before, you'll know what to expect, and if you haven't
and enjoy well-written thrillers, make this your next choice.
This film also set a precedent in that it features characters just going about
their business, talking about completely-unrelated things like what a hamburger
is called in another country, and making that seem cool. Many scenes, including
that one, also went on to be spoofed from here to eternity in several films
and programmes, such as The Simpsons. Tarantino also made an art of
just keeping the camera static, at times, to film a scene whereas many other
directors would just cut from shot to shot too much.
Vincent and Jules hang out
with the Wolfman (Harvey Keitel).
Crystal clear picture and sound quality is the order of the day, apart from
Big Kahuna cheeseburgers, with an anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen image that has
zero defects and is perfectly sharp. Anyone who saw the film in pan-and-scan
will know of the dreadful panning effect attributed to the surprise bullet
in an early scene as the panning shot across the room, destroying the moment.
Sound comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 flavours, the latter of which
will always have the edge, and brilliantly reproduces the the dialogue, the
thumping tunes, and the gunfire that'll pop your ears.
Also on disc one is a trailer for the Jackie Brown Collector's Edition
DVD, which seems to have a jittery quality to it that also affects some
of the extras on disc 2 in the same way, an Enhanced Trivia Track that lists text information throughout
the film where it counts, in place of subtitles and in addition to the 26
chapter that split up the film, a separate list of Soundtrack Chapters
that take you to the individual songs within.
This boxset.
Disc two has a wealth of extras, and those parts which are affected the same
way as the Jackie Brown trailer are listed with a "*", as it does give you a
headache if watching for an extended length of time :
- Pulp Fiction: The Facts (30 mins):
A collection of interview clips and comments, largely in 4:3, from most of the key cast members
and some crew, which also brings Tarantino's other films into the mix. Worth
a look for info on more than just the film you've paid for.
- Deleted Scenes * (24 mins, 4:3 letterbox):
Five short scenes, each introduced by Tarantino, and all in non-anamorphic
widescreen and surround sound, so no anamorphic treatment or DTS here, alas.
I'd like to have seen these put back into the film with a branching option
to give you the choice.
- Behind the Scenes Montages * (11 mins):
Work-in-progress footage following the filming in "Jack Rabbit Slim's" and
Butch runs Marsellus over.
- Production Design Featurette (6 mins):
Talk about the creation of the symbols and logos from small things like
fake products used in the film such as Red Apple cigarettes to larger items
like the entire "Jack Rabbit Slim's" location.
- Siskel & Ebert "At the Movies" - "The Tarantino Generation" * (16 mins) :
Two of the most well-known reviewers discuss Tarantino and his films in a
special edition of their show.
- Independent Spirit Awards * (11½ mins):
Tarantino, Lawrence Bender and Samuel L Jackson are interviews by
Michael Moore at the awards show.
- Cannes Film Festival - Palm d'Or Acceptance Speech (5 mins):
by Tarantino, joined on-stage by Lawrence Bender, John Travolta,
Samuel L Jackson, Maria de Medieros and Bruce Willis.
- The Charlie Rose Show (55½ mins):
I've never heard of him before, but it's a full interview with Tarantino,
following the Cannes win. An addition like this, of a one-off TV special, makes
up for the previous featurettes being so short.
- Theatrical Trailers * (11 mins): Five in all, from the US, UK, France, Germany
and Japan.
- TV Spots * (5 mins):
Thirteen brief trailers for TV, each with a different theme.
- Still Galleries:
A host of silent step-thru screens broken down into categories:
Pulp Fiction posters, Behind the scenes photos, Special photo shoots,
Production stills, Academy Award campaign and trade ads, Location scouting
and set construction, Production design and logos, and Props and Memorabilia.
- Reviews and Articles:
Plenty of text-based content that does exactly what it says on the tin.
This special boxset also contains a few extra non-DVD supplements which are as
follows:
- CD soundtrack:
Not quite what you'd expect, since it's not the full soundtrack, the latest
release being the 20-track Special Edition available from Amazon (see right).
The CD included here only features six tracks, Bustin Surfboards (The
Tornados), If Love is a Red Dress (Maria McKee), You Never Can Tell
(Chuck Berry), Flowers on the Wall (The Statler Brothers), Jungle
Boogie (Kool and the Gang) and Son of a Preacher Man (Dusty
Springfield).
The disc lists the Chuck Berry track as "You Can Never Tell" and was a bugger
to get out of the packaging without breaking it since it was pressed down hard.
- The Senitype:
An image from the movie with 35mm film frame, mine being a close-up of John
Travolta dancing at "Jack Rabbit Slim's", and No.068289.
- Poster:
The box promises a one sheet movie poster, size 27"x40", but, natch, you
have to send off for it. The poster is free, but the postage cost is
£3.99. Work that one out.
- Booklet:
A 16-page commemorative booklet with photos and information about the film.
So, definitely one of the DVD boxsets of the year, but it is disappointing
that, firstly, the film is still censored for the moment where Vincent Vega
shoots up. The image was reframed for pan-and-scan video to show the other
side of the screen where the needle pierces his skin, and the widescreen version
cropped that further. It's the only phyiscal cut from the film, but you'd think that
eight years on the BBFC would've let that go.
Also, I expected the full CD soundtrack - even if it was the 1994 release -
and *didn't* expect to have to send off for the poster.
There are English subtitles for the hard of hearing, and excellent menus,
both animated and scored, with clips from the film appearing between the sub-menus.
FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
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OVERALL
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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2002.
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The following is a list of all the Quentin Tarantino movies online to date
(region 2, except where specified) :
2004 Kill Bill Vol.2
2004 Kill Bill Vol.1
2004 Kill Bill Vol.1 (R1 DVD)
2004 Reservoir Dogs: Special Edition
2002 Jackie Brown: Collector's Edition (R1 DVD)
2002 Pulp Fiction: Classic Collection Box Set
2000 Reservoir Dogs
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
