Pulp Fiction

Review Date: May 21, 1999

Rating:

Okay, who hasn't seen this movie? Well, I guess there are a few people. Arguments could be made that this is a Quentin Tarantino movie, not a Bruce Willis movie. Arguments have been made that John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson make the movie, not Bruce. Arguments could even be made that in the section of the movie that stars Bruce, the real highlight is Christopher Walken's watch speech.

All good arguments. But...

This is vintage Bruce. Here we have a tough guy named Butch, a boxer who is pretty sure he can handle anything, but owes as much to luck as to his own moxie. He's chump change, a small player in a big underworld, who pisses off a mob boss by not taking a dive when he's supposed to. Instead he literally kills the other boxer, and ends up on the run. He has to go back to his apartment when he finds out that his girlfriend has forgotten to pack a watch that holds great... sentimental value for Bruce. (I can't even tell you why. If you don't know, watch the movie. It's explained in the Christoper Walken speech I mentioned, a speech that, like Dennis Hopper's speech in another Tarantino-penned flick, True Romance, cannot be adequately explained out of context.)

So Bruce goes back to get the watch, and while in his apartment, stops to eat a pop tart. OK. There are mob guys out to get him, but he stops in the first place they'll look to eat some breakfast. Anyway, while the pop tart is cooking, he notices a big gun on the counter. Travolta's character took a crap break, and Bruce wastes him when he comes out of the bathroom.

Then the big boss walks past while Bruce is stopped at a traffice light. Bruce hits him with the car, they're both bleeding and groggy, chase ensues with Marcellus Wallace (played by the very good Ving Rhames) taking pot shots at Butch, who ducks into a pawn shop and jumps him.

Here's where the good part starts. The pawn shop owner is a Deliverance-style hillbilly with, as Dr. Evil would put it, "a penchant for buggery." He ties up Butch and Marcellus and calls his partner Zed. While Marcellus is being anally raped by Zed, Bruce works himself free. (Man, the look in his eyes is perfect. It's the look of a man made frantic by the fear of imminent penetration). Now we see a Bruce character who understands the rules of the playground. No matter how much he and Marcellus hated each other a few minutes ago, Bruce can't leave the guy behind.

Bruce is the embodiment of a quality that isn't quite covered by the traditional concept of bravery. More appropriate words are "guts," "balls," or "moxie." Bruce wants to get out of that pawn shop, but something in him won't let him leave his worst enemy behind. So against his own best interest and all common sense, after a great weapon-choosing scene, Bruce returns to the pawn shop basement and earns his freedom from mob persecution by saving the boss who wants to kill him.