Pulp Fiction: The Redemption of a Gangster

Pulp Fiction is an amazingly popular film. It ranks in the top ten on Internet Movie Database's member ratings and it's actually number one on Your Internet Movie Database ranking. It has become something of a touchstone film for a generation of moviegoers, it rescued Travolta-briefly-from obscurity and turned Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson into household names.

I want to touch upon two of those facts in this article. Travolta had risen to stardom in the 70s on the basis of the TV show Welcome Back, Kotter. Soon thereafter, his movie stardom was cemented with Saturday Night Fever and Grease. By the late 80s, however, he had pretty much fallen off the A-list and seemed destined to return to TV. And then Tarantino came along.

A lot was made of Travolta's performance. He even scored an Oscar nomination and, for a few years at least, seemed to have his pick of roles. Over ten years later, however, he appears to be back where he was, back where he belongs I think. Aside from Grease, I've never been impressed with Travolta. I wasn't particularly impressed with him in Pulp Fiction. I mean, I can name a dozen actors who could have played that part better.

The attention surrounding Travolta probably wasn't surprising. Hollywood loves a good comeback story. But what is genuinely odd about it is that movie so obviously belongs to Jackson. His is the more developed character, his is the more electrifying performance. But most importantly, Pulp Fiction is ABOUT his character.

Okay, Travolta has more screen time because of his date with Uma Thurman. And Jackson is missing in action throughout the whole middle of the film. But I would argue that his absence in the Bruce Willis section is exactly what makes Pulp Fiction about his character. What do we remember most about Jackson's performance? His Biblical recitation. We remember this because we're supposed to do and we're supposed to because it's freaking important!