Pulp Fiction is a American crime film released on October 14, 1994. The film was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary. Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman, it tells several stories of crime in Los Angeles, California.
The title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid 20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue. Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction in 1992 and 1993, incorporating scenes that Avary originally wrote for True Romance (1993).
Considerable screen time is devoted to monologues and casual conversations with eclectic dialogue revealing each character’s perspectives on several subjects, and the film features an ironic combination of humor and strong violence. TriStar Pictures reportedly turned down the script as “too demented”. Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein was enthralled, however, and the film became the first that Miramax fully financed.
Pulp Fiction won the Palme d’Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, and was a major critical and commercial success. It was nominated for seven awards at the 67th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won Best Original Screenplay; it earned Travolta, Jackson, and Thurman Academy Award nominations and boosted their careers.
Pulp Fiction is widely regarded as Tarantino‘s masterpiece, with particular praise for its screenwriting. The cast was also widely praised, with Travolta, Thurman, and Jackson earning particular acclaim. In 2013, Pulp Fiction was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Music from the Motion Picture Pulp Fiction is the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino‘s 1994 film Pulp Fiction, released on September 27, 1994, by MCA Records. No traditional film score was commissioned for Pulp Fiction. The film contains a mix of American rock and roll, surf music, pop and soul.
The soundtrack is equally untraditional, consisting of nine songs from the film, four tracks of dialogue snippets followed by a song, and three tracks of dialogue alone. Seven songs featured in the film were not included in the original 41-minute soundtrack. The album reached No. 21 on the Billboard 200, while Urge Overkill‘s cover of the Neil Diamond song Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon peaked at No. 59 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Tarantino used an eclectic assortment of songs by various artists. Notable songs include Dick Dale‘s now iconic rendition of Misirlou, which is played during the opening credits. Tarantino chose surf music for the basic score of the film because, “it just seems like rock ‘n’ roll Ennio Morricone music, rock ‘n’ roll spaghetti Western music.”
In addition to the surf-rock rendition of Misirlou, other notable songs include Jungle Boogie by Kool & the Gang, Dusty Springfield‘s version of Son of a Preacher Man, Flowers on the Wall by the Statler Brothers and Bustin’ Surfboards by The Tornadoes, from 1962, which had been one of the first instrumental surf songs to hit the United States music charts after notables such as Walk Don’t Run by the Ventures.
A two disc collector’s edition of the album was issued in 2002 the first disc contained the songs, including four additional tracks; and the second disc was a spoken word interview with Tarantino. Woody Thorne‘s 1961 song Teenagers in Love and Link Wray‘s 1965 single Rumble are two of the three songs missing from the collector’s edition soundtrack.
The last song is unique to the film: it is Ricky Nelson‘s Waitin’ in School as performed by actor Gary Shorelle, which plays as Vincent and Mia enter Jackrabbit Slim‘s.
Tracklist:
- Pumpkin and Honey Bunny, Misirlou (Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Dick Dale & His Del-Tones)
- Royale with Cheese (Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta)
- Jungle Boogie (Kool & the Gang)
- Let’s Stay Together (Al Green)
- Bustin’ Surfboards (The Tornadoes)
- Lonesome Town (Ricky Nelson)
- Son of a Preacher Man (Dusty Springfield)
- Zed’s Dead, Baby/Bullwinkle Part II (Maria de Medeiros, Bruce Willis, The Centurians)
- Jack Rabbit Slims Twist Contest, You Never Can Tell (Jerome Patrick Hoban, Uma Thurman, Chuck Berry)
- Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon (Urge Overkill)
- If Love Is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags) (Maria McKee)
- Bring Out the Gimp/Comanche (Peter Greene, Duane Whitaker, The Revels)
- Flowers on the Wall (The Statler Brothers)
- Personality Goes a Long Way (Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta)
- Surf Rider (The Lively Ones)
- Ezekiel 25:17 (Samuel L. Jackson)
Collector’s edition
A collector’s edition version of the soundtrack was released in 2002. It features remastered versions of the original sixteen tracks, along with five bonus tracks, including an interview with director Quentin Tarantino. There are single and two-disc releases of this version, with the track listings being identical; the two-disc version has the Tarantino interview on the second disc. The additional tracks are:
- Since I First Met You (The Robins)
- Rumble (Link Wray and His Ray Men)
- Strawberry Letter 23 (The Brothers Johnson)
- Out of Limits (The Marketts)
- Stranger Than Fiction: Tarantino Talks! (interview with Quentin Tarantino)
Songs not on the soundtrack releases
Waitin’ in School (performed by Gary Shorelle) (not commercially available)
Ace of Spades (performed by Link Wray and His Ray Men)
Teenagers in Love (performed by Woody Thorne)
