Reely Bernie Faves: Pulp Fiction (1994)

In my lifetime as a Gen Xer, there are movies before Pulp Fiction, and there are movies after Pulp Fiction. I’ve always considered 1994 the year my passion for movie analysis began, and it’s all because of Pulp Fiction.

There is no doubt Quentin Tarantino belongs to the Greatest American Film Directors Club, and Scorsese, Coppola, and Spielberg should be greeters at the door (Big Kahuna Burgers served inside). Tarantino’s knack for non-sequential storytelling and intertwining narrative is impeccable and legitimately his. Cherry-topping that, his punchy dialogue fires as rapidly as the bullets that protrude through well-scripted characters you both love to love and love to loathe. Basically, you know when you are watching a Tarantino movie, and you know when other directors try to be Tarantino.

In 1994, Tarantino broke so much cinematic ground with Pulp Fiction that we forget how much of today’s spitfire scripts and ultra-violent, hipster movements in film wouldn’t have occurred without Samuel L. Jackson’s Ezekiel 25:17 monologue, John Travolta’s twist and scowl, Bruce Willis’s Hattori Hanzo sword, Uma Thurman’s adrenaline shot, and that ever so surprising, “accidental” bullet through Marvin’s face in the backseat of the Chevy Nova for The Wolf (Harvey Keitel) to help clean up.

Pulp Fiction’s envelopment of asynchrony is probably the most astonishing revelation in my movie viewing history.

How and why is John Travolta’s Vincent Vega still alive? Didn’t Bruce Willis just silence him on a toilet seat? With the events fluidly transitioning from beginning to end to middle, there is a subconscious yearning for characters who are no longer there. We are captivated by them because Quentin Tarantino makes them so colorful.

“Casting is 90%,” Tarantino always says.

Travolta’s career was resuscitated. Uma was super cool. Bruce took care of Zed. And, Samuel L. Jackson? Well, read his wallet. How about the hilariously deadpan cameo by Christopher Walken?

Add some crude humor, clever plot twists, and an eclectic soundtrack, and you’re in for an epigrammatic movie experience. Just let Dick Dale & His Del-Tones take you on a surf ride without an ocean while Bruce Willis counts “Flowers on a Wall” before running into Marsellus Wallace on the street.

Some say that’s Marsellus Wallace’s soul in the briefcase. Whatever it is, Pulp Fiction is Quentin Tarantino’s gem, and he’s got one more try at topping it. Along with 1999, 1994 is my favorite year for blowing the movies wide open, and Pulp Fiction pulled the trigger.

Reely Bernie Faves:

1. Amadeus (1984)

2. Magnolia (1999)

3. Poltergeist (1982)

4. Pulp Fiction (1994)

5. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

6. The Godfather Part II (1974)

7. Weekend at Bernie’s (1989)

8. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

9. Goodfellas (1990)

10. Nosferatu (1922)

11. Pollock (2000)

12. Kicking and Screaming (1995)

13. Jaws (1975)

14. Fargo (1996)

15. Citizen Kane (1941)

16. The Blair Witch Project (1999)

17. The Endless Summer (1966)

18. Back to the Future (1985)

19. Angel Heart (1987)

20. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)

21. The Goonies (1985)

22. Trainspotting (1996)

23. King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)

24. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

25. Bambi (1942)

26. The Paradise Lost Trilogy (1996-2011)

27. Psycho (1960)

28. Parenthood (1989)

29. Swingers (1996)

30. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

31. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007)

32. Smoke (1995)

33. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981)

34. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

35. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

36. City of God (2002)

37. 1917 (2019)

38. Black Swan (2010)

39. School of Rock (2003)

40. Mulholland Drive (2001)

41. Groundhog Day (1993)

42. If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

43. The Greatest Showman (2017)

44. National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983)

45. The Florida Project (2017)

46. Cinema Paradiso (1988)

47. So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)

48. Shadowlands (1993)

49. Steve Jobs (2015)

50. ¡Three Amigos! (1986)