Does ANYBODY know or has Q been keeping this a secret since 94?

The main ganster's soul.


If you notice in all the shots of him, the back of his neck has a bandage on it. The soul is believed to leave the back of the neck. Hence, the bandage being there.

That is why Samuel Jackson's character says "it's not his to give".

Well, there are suggestions in cinematic circles that the briefcase doesn't contain the mobster's soul but, instead, the diamonds from "Reservoir Dogs." I've no idea, either way.

The genius of the briefcase is that it serves as a cinematic catalyst for the storyline -- in essence, it drives the plot and moves the characters. Alfred Hitchcock called this device a "McGuffin." The prop itself need not factor prominently -- all it has to do is set the characters in motion.

That we never learn the briefcase's contents is yet another cinematic homage to Robert Aldrich's film "Kiss Me Deadly," according to a fairly ubiquitous Web account.

At any rate, it was one of a handful of clever devices employed by Tarantino. One day, I might even like the film.

Personally I can't stand the violence in his films. I was stunned that people in the theatre laughed when the guy in the back seat of the car got his head blown off. Everyone started laughing. To me, it wasn't even close to being funny.

Then the sex dungeon scene was disturbing from beginning to end.

The movie was mildy entertaining and had semi-intersting dialogue, but violence was just too much for me.

And the "dead nigger dropoff" line was genuinely funny, but I could've done without hearing that.



[Edited 12/10/05 21:59pm]

Sam Jackson said that Tarantino never told them what was supposed to be in the suitcase. He said you can make it whatever you want it to be. I love Tarantino movies. Especially Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill Movies.

AsianBomb777 said:

you lack a sense of humour

AsianBomb777 said:

Ahhhh good one! Ok, I can roll with that one.

ThreadBare said:

Speculation abounds as to the nature of the mysterious glowing contents of the case:
Could it be Elvis's gold suit, seen worn by Val Kilmer (as Elvis) in True Romance (1993)?
The most persistent theory (most usually attributed to a friend of a friend who saw it posted on a message board by someone whose brother had read a report of a radio interview with Tarantino himself) is that it is Marcellus Wallace's soul. The story goes that when the Devil takes a person's soul, it is removed through the back of the head (this isn't part of any known religion, but this is what the message board posters say). When we see the back of Marcellus's head he has a Band-Aid covering the precise spot indicated by tradition for soul removal. Perhaps Marcellus sold his soul to the devil which would also explain why the combination to open the briefcase is 666.
Quentin Tarantino has said that the band-aid on the back of Marsellus Wallace's neck had nothing to do with an allusion to the Devil stealing Marsellus's soul... but that the actor Ving Rhames had a scar on the back of his neck he wanted to cover up.
Or could it be simply a 20-watt light bulb?
According to Roger Avary, who co-wrote the script with Quentin Tarantino, the original plan was to have the briefcase contain diamonds. This seemed neither exciting nor original, so Avary and Tarantino decided to have the briefcase's contents never appear on screen; this way each filmgoer could mentally "fill in the blank" with whatever struck his or her imagination as best fitting the description "so beautiful". The orange light bulb (projecting shimmering light onto the actors' faces) was a last-minute decision and added a completely unintended fantastic element.
In a radio interview with Howard Stern in late 2003, Quentin Tarantino was asked by a caller the contents of the briefcase, and he answered, "It's whatever the viewer wants it to be."

from imdb.com trivia page for Pulp Fiction.

Something that belongs 2 Marsellus Wallace but no one knows what it is.
To this day Quentin Tarantino has never went public 2 say what it is either.

It's funny, because Rhames keloids a lot. Keloiding is a condition that a lot of darker complected Blacks get due to the large amount of melanin they produce and so it would make sense that Rhames didnt want it to be shown. Then again, he doesn't have that problem now, so you never know what story is correct. Good shit though that no one really knows.

Afrolistic said:

I was about to write a long, detailed post regarding the various theories surrounding the contents of the briefcase in this film and their merits. But then I remembered that the whole movie was made-up and I posted this instead.

tommysoul said:

fo' real.

AsianBomb777 said:

I haven't seen it since '95 and back then I wasn't too disturbed by it, but these days I might well be. Growing more mature makes you more sensitive to these things. Check out this thread if you feel like it: http://www.prince.org/msg/100/168696
[Edited 12/11/05 13:23pm]

Most guys wouldn't be upset about it.

So according to this thread people getting their heads blown off is funny? Gee, I have so much to learn

I've seen it a number of times. I like the movie. I've never laughed @ that moment. Something said afterward may be funny but just watching dude get blown away is not amusing at all

I laughed at that scene. Probably because I know the dude who got his head shot off and we clowned him for it.

I just saw it and I dont think it was his soul because they showed Ving's face so that busts that earlier guy's theory.

AsianBomb777 said:

AsianBomb777 said:

i perfer the the -aliens from outterspace- in the trunk of the malibu in "repo man".

CalhounSq said:

but it was an accident.