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A Masterclass in Pulp Fiction Dialogue
Part Two
It's the most talked about example of Pulp Fiction dialogue in a movie that has become a byword for daring and sheer flair in the use of language. It's 15 years old and it hasn't dated a bit.
What's the French for cheeseburger?
We're inside a car with two low-down guys in black hood suits. The speed of the car is as leisurely as their talk. So who are they? Why aren't they driving fast? Why aren't they talking like tough guys? Why are they talking at all?And what are they talking about? Cheeseburgers. The French name for cheeseburgers? Here's one of the most famous scenes in screenwriting history:
Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta
in Pulp Fiction. Screenwriter/Director:
Quentin Tarantino. A Band Apart. Jersey Films. Miramax.
CREDIT SEQUENCE:
"PULP FICTION"
INT. '74 CHEVY (MOVING) – MORNING
An old gas guzzling, dirty, white 1974 Chevy Nova BARRELS
down a homeless-ridden street in Hollywood. In the front
seat are two young fellas – one white, one black – both
wearing cheap black suits with thin black ties under long
green dusters. Their names are VINCENT VEGA (white) and JULES
WINNFIELD (black). Jules is behind the wheel.
JULES
– Okay now, tell me about the hash
bars?
VINCENT
What so you want to know?
JULES
Well, hash is legal there, right?
VINCENT
Yeah, it's legal, but is ain't a
hundred percent legal. I mean you
can't walk into a restaurant, roll a
joint, and start puffin' away. You're
only supposed to smoke in your home
or certain designated places.
JULES
Those are hash bars?
VINCENT
Yeah, it breaks down like this: it's
legal to buy it, it's legal to own
it and, if you're the proprietor of
a hash bar, it's legal to sell it.
It's legal to carry it, which doesn't
really matter 'cause – get a load of
this – if the cops stop you, it's
illegal for this to search you.
Searching you is a right that the
cops in Amsterdam don't have.
JULES
That did it, man – I'm fuckin' goin',
that's all there is to it.
VINCENT
You'll dig it the most. But you know
what the funniest thing about Europe
is?
JULES
What?
VINCENT
It's the little differences. A lotta
the same shit we got here, they got
there, but there they're a little
different.
JULES
Examples?
VINCENT
Well, in Amsterdam, you can buy beer
in a movie theatre. And I don't mean
in a paper cup either. They give you
a glass of beer, like in a bar. In
Paris, you can buy beer at
MacDonald's. Also, you know what
they call a Quarter Pounder with
Cheese in Paris?
JULES
They don't call it a Quarter Pounder
with Cheese?
VINCENT
No, they got the metric system there,
they wouldn't know what the fuck a
Quarter Pounder is.
JULES
What'd they call it?
VINCENT
Royale with Cheese.
JULES
(repeating)
Royale with Cheese. What'd they call
a Big Mac?
VINCENT
Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call
it Le Big Mac.
JULES
Le Big Mac. What do they call a
Whopper?
VINCENT
I dunno, I didn't go into a Burger
King. But you know what they put on
french fries in Holland instead of
ketchup?
JULES
What?
VINCENT
Mayonnaise.
JULES
Goddamn!
VINCENT
I seen 'em do it. And I don't mean a
little bit on the side of the plate,
they fuckin' drown 'em in it.
JULES
Uuccch!
CUT TO:
INT. CHEVY (TRUNK) – MORNING
The trunk of the Chevy OPENS UP, Jules and Vincent reach
inside, taking out two .45 Automatics, loading and cocking
them.
JULES
We should have shotguns for this
kind of deal.
VINCENT
How many up there?
JULES
Three or four.
VINCENT
Counting our guy?
JULES
I'm not sure.
VINCENT
So there could be five guys up there?
JULES
It's possible.
VINCENT
We should have fuckin' shotguns.
They CLOSE the trunk.
Dialogue, the experts tell us, functions to impart information, reveal character and move the story forward - as economically as possible. Pulp Fiction dialogue does all this, but it achieves a lot more.
Tarantino makes it crucially serve his dramatic purposes. The seemingly pointless discussions of mundanties like cheese hamburgers and foot massages incongruously put into the mouths of a couple of hoods is not only fresh and funny, it gets us intrigued. And they're just sitting riding in a car, so the focus is wholly on what they saying and how they're saying it. No cut aways to the surrounding environment.
What Tarantino is giving the audience is dialogue, and what he's giving the actors is the opportunity to nuance their performances around the words.
It's as if the writer/director is saying: 'Listen to this.' He's not giving us anything to distract us from the words and the actors. He does this throughout Pulp Fiction. Dialogue as an expression of character, revelation of plot and exposition that doesn't clunk.
So in Jules and Vincent's first scene (the first scene of the movie because the diner scene at the beginning is played before the credits and acts as a prologue, as the diner scene at the end acts as an epilogue), we start to get to know them. The character of each is subtly revealed. Exposition is revealed without our being aware of it and Vincent's time in Amsterdam will resonate with significances throughout the movie. And already, the whole genre of crime movies has been undermined. But there's more to this piece of Pulp Fiction dialogue.This contains another of Tarantino's foreshadowing techniques.We're laughing about cheeseburgers here. But next time the hoods talk about 'Royal' with Cheese, it's at a moment of extreme high tension for the audience.
The casual quietness and the 'normality' and sheer mundanity of discussing French cheeseburgers inside the hotel room as the kids are shitting in their pants, intensifies the whole impact of the scene. It actually does more to add to the tension than anything else. Tension is created by such conversations in Pulp Fiction. Dialogue here doesn't slow the pace in an empty way. Without the earlier scene where the dialogue about 'cheeseburgers' was a cause for hilarity, would the tension be quite so tight?
Pulp Fiction Dialogue for Irony
Next scene - and still no 'action'. More words. And a masterly executed use of dialogue. In one long, unbroken shot, Jules and Vincent move leisurely down a hotel corridor, bickering about whether a foot massage is the same as having sex with the boss's wife. Two amoral hoods conducting a debate about morality. Jules says 'We better get into character' - another sweet moment for the audience - and when they arrive at the apartment door of their intended victims, they stop and worry about the time. They decide it's too early and walk away, and pick up the debate about the foot massage. This time, the camera stays at the door and their dialogue is filmed in long shot, the characters standing still.
They enter the apartment building.
INT. RECEPTION AREA (APARTMENT BUILDING) – MORNING
Vincent and Jules walk through the reception area and wait
for the elevator.
JULES
You remember Antwan Rockamora? Half-
black, half-Samoan, usta call him
Tony Rocky Horror.
VINCENT
Yeah maybe, fat right?
JULES
I wouldn't go so far as to call the
brother fat. He's got a weight
problem. What's the nigger gonna
do, he's Samoan.
VINCENT
I think I know who you mean, what
about him?
JULES
Well, Marsellus fucked his ass up
good. And word around the campfire,
it was on account of Marsellus
Wallace's wife.
The elevator arrives, the men step inside.
INT. ELEVATOR – MORNING
VINCENT
What'd he do, fuck her?
JULES
No no no no no no no, nothin' that
bad.
VINCENT
Well what then?
JULES
He gave her a foot massage.
VINCENT
A foot massage?
Jules nods his head: "Yes."
VINCENT
That's all?
Jules nods his head: "Yes."
VINCENT
What did Marsellus do?
JULES
Sent a couple of guys over to his
place. They took him out on the
patio of his apartment, threw his
ass over the balcony. Nigger fell
four stories. They had this garden
at the bottom, enclosed in glass,
like one of them greenhouses – nigger
fell through that. Since then, he's
kinda developed a speech impediment.
The elevator doors open, Jules and Vincent exit.
VINCENT
That's a damn shame.
INT. APARTMENT BUILDING HALLWAY – MORNING
STEADICAM in front of Jules and Vincent as they make a beeline
down the hall.
VINCENT
Still I hafta say, play with matches,
ya get burned.
JULES
Whaddya mean?
VINCENT
You don't be givin' Marsellus
Wallace's new bride a foot massage.
JULES
You don't think he overreacted?
VINCENT
Antwan probably didn't expect
Marsellus to react like he did, but
he had to expect a reaction.
JULES
It was a foot massage, a foot massage
is nothing, I give my mother a foot
massage.
VINCENT
It's laying hands on Marsellus
Wallace's new wife in a familiar
way. Is it as bad as eatin' her out
– no, but you're in the same fuckin'
ballpark.
Jules stops Vincent.
JULES
Whoa... whoa... whoa... stop right
there. Eatin' a bitch out, and givin'
a bitch a foot massage ain't even
the same fuckin' thing.
VINCENT
Not the same thing, the same ballpark.
JULES
It ain't no ballpark either. Look
maybe your method of massage differs
from mine, but touchin' his lady's
feet, and stickin' your tongue in
her holyiest of holyies, ain't the
same ballpark, ain't the same league,
ain't even the same fuckin' sport.
Foot massages don't mean shit.
VINCENT
Have you ever given a foot massage?
JULES
Don't be tellin' me about foot
massages – I'm the foot fuckin'
master.
VINCENT
Given a lot of 'em?
JULES
Shit yeah. I got my technique down
man, I don't tickle or nothin'.
VINCENT
Have you ever given a guy a foot
massage?
Jules looks at him a long moment – he's been set up.
JULES
Fuck you.
He starts walking down the hall. Vincent, smiling, walks a
little bit behind.
VINCENT
How many?
JULES
Fuck you.
VINCENT
Would you give me a foot massage –
I'm kinda tired.
JULES
Man, you best back off, I'm gittin'
pissed – this is the door.
The two men stand in front of the door numbered "49." They
whisper.
JULES
What time is it?
VINCENT
(checking his watch)
Seven-twenty-two in the morning.
JULES
It ain't quite time, let's hang back.
They move a little away from the door, facing each other,
still whispering.
JULES
Look, just because I wouldn't give
no man a foot massage, don't make it
right for Marsellus to throw Antwan
off a building into a glass-
motherfuckin-house, fuckin' up the
way the nigger talks. That ain't
right, man. Motherfucker do that to
me, he better paralyze my ass, 'cause
I'd kill'a motherfucker.
VINCENT
I'm not sayin' he was right, but
you're sayin' a foot massage don't
mean nothing, and I'm sayin' it does.
I've given a million ladies a million
foot massages and they all meant
somethin'. We act like they don't,
but they do. That's what's so fuckin'
cool about 'em. This sensual thing's
goin' on that nobody's talkin about,
but you know it and she knows it,
fuckin' Marsellus knew it, and Antwan
shoulda known fuckin' better. That's
his fuckin' wife, man. He ain't gonna
have a sense of humor about that
shit.
JULES
That's an interesting point, but
let's get into character.
VINCENT
What's her name again?
JULES
Mia. Why you so interested in big
man's wife?
VINCENT
Well, Marsellus is leavin' for Florida
and when he's gone, he wants me to
take care of Mia.
JULES
Take care of her?
Making a gun out of his finger and placing it to his head.
VINCENT
Not that! Take her out. Show her a
good time. Don't let her get lonely.
JULES
You're gonna be takin' Mia Wallace
out on a date?
VINCENT
It ain't a date. It's like when you
and your buddy's wife go to a movie
or somethin'. It's just... you know...
good company.
Jules just looks at him.
VINCENT
It's not a date.
Jules just looks at him.
Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta
in Pulp Fiction. Screenwriter/Director:
Quentin Tarantino. A Band Apart. Jersey Films. Miramax.
Tarantino triumphed over the Do's and Don't's of Dialogue in several wholly inventive and astonishing ways.What makes Pulp Fiction dialogue so defiantly against the rules is how his script demonstrates the absurdity of having a one-size-fits-all rule at all.
As with all the elements of screenwriting, it's what you are using dialogue for, and how best to shape it for the particular dramatic purpose for that scene or that moment. But also for the what you're trying to do with the whole story. Tarantino didn't just go overboard with dialogue for no reason. This is no mindless exercise in stylistics. Pulp Fiction dialogue is a crucial component of the movie's tone. And the tone of the movie in every element of the screenwriting is pitch-perfect.
Click here forTarantino's Inglourious Basterds now shooting
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