Pulp Fiction Pulp Fiction Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino; it is based on a story by Tarantino and Roger Avary. Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman, it tells several stories of criminal Los Angeles. The film's 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). Its plot occurs out of chronological order.
Pulp Fiction of the briefcase's contents alters one's understanding of the movie. Despite Tarantino's statements, many solutions to what one scholar calls this "unexplained postmodern puzzle" have been proposed. A strong similarity has often been observed with the 1955 film noir "Kiss Me Deadly". That movie, whose protagonist Tarantino has cited as a source for Butch, features a glowing briefcase housing an atomic explosive. In their review of Alex Cox's 1984 film "Repo Man" in the "Daily Telegraph", Nick Cowen and Hari Patience suggest that "Pulp Fiction" may also owe "a debt of inspiration" to the glowing car trunk in that film.