Pulp Fiction (1994)

Quentin Tarantino’s crackling crime classic still retains its swagger as one of the great American films of the 1990s.

One of the key films of the 1990s, Quentin Tarantino’s postmodern, portmanteau crime thriller established the writer-director’s reputation as a Hollywood untouchable, while also rejuvenating the careers of a host of stars including John Travolta. Its unprecedented success changed the face of ‘independent’ cinema in America, helping establish distributor Miramax as a major player and ushering in a wave of exciting filmmakers, many of whom still hold sway in Hollywood.

Presented as three interconnected stories which unfold in a nonlinear melange, Tarantino’s sophisticatedly structured saga prefigured the rise of multi-stranded ‘hyperlink’ cinema in the 2000s. And its smorgasbord of pop culture references also introduced a new generation of fans to the likes of Dick Dale, MacGuffins and Ezekiel 25:17. Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1994, Pulp Fiction holds up as one of the most riotously entertaining nineties pictures, strewn with endlessly quotable dialogue and an array of career-defining performances from its ensemble cast, with Samuel L Jackson stealing the show as Biblical badass Jules Winnfield.

1994 USA
Directed by
Quentin Tarantino
Produced by
Lawrence Bender
Written by
Quentin Tarantino
Featuring
John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman
Running time
149 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Pulp Fiction

Critics

Tunico Amâncio
Brazil
Miriam Balanescu
UK
Guido Bonsaver
Italy/UK
Gian Piero Brunetta
Italy
Nae Caranfil
Romania
Anchalee Chaiworaporn
Thailand
Vigen Galstyan
Armenia
Courtney Howard
USA
András Bálint Kovács
Hungary
Jean-Marc Leveratto
France
Victoria Luxford
UK
Emanuela Martini
Italy
Craig McLean
UK
Paul O'Callaghan
UK/Germany
Julie Pearce
UK
Marcin Pieńkowski
Poland
Git Scheynius
Sweden
Youssef Shazli
Egypt
Igor Stanojević
Serbia
Marko Stojiljković
Serbia/Croatia/Slovenia
Jacob Stolworthy
UK
Kaspar Viilup
Estonia
Isaac Zablocki
USA

Directors

Ifa Isfansyah
Indonesia
Marcos Mereles
UK
Shahram Mokri
Iran
Radu Muntean
Romania
Frank Oz
USA
Panah Panahi
Iran
Subrata Sen
India
Carlos Vermut
Spain

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