Quentin Tarantino had already made himself known to the moviegoing public with his directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs, when he snapped up the Palme d’Or for his sophomore feature, Tarantino’s reference-laden direction and unconventionally structured Oscar-winning script, but the acting in the movie is top-notch, too.
Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman launched their careers thanks to the success of this movie and the popularity of their performances in it, while John Travolta’s fading career was given a comeback when he played Vincent Vega. So, here is every major performance in Pulp Fiction, ranked.
Maria De Medeiros As Fabienne
As a complete piece, Pulp Fiction has very few flaws. It holds up as a mishmash of cinematic influences and a postmodern twist on the familiar tropes of crime stories, and its characters are mostly icons who have been memorably brought to life by the actors playing them.
Having said that, Butch’s whiny girlfriend Fabienne, played by Maria de Medeiros, is annoying in every single scene. Part of that is how she’s written, but de Medeiros leans into it a little too much.
Bruce Willis As Butch Coolidge
Bruce Willis is not the finest actor in Hollywood. He’s great at playing some Raging Bull-level acting to convey the violent rage of a conflicted boxer — not to mention all the betrayal and double-crossing.
Still, the fact that it’s Willis never takes you out of the movie, and he’s a part of the film’s most outrageous storyline, so there’s no subtlety required.
Tim Roth As Pumpkin
Having put on an in-and-out American accent for his role as Mr. Orange in Reservoir Dogs, Tim Roth was allowed to speak in his native British accent as Pumpkin in Pulp Fiction.
Lines like, “The days of me forgetting are over; the days of me ing have just begun,” aren’t easy to pull off, as their stylized nature draws attention to the fact that it’s dialogue being recited by an actor, not words spoken by a real person. But Roth nails them all, embodying the role of an archetypal genre character.
Ving Rhames As Marsellus Wallace
Ving Rhames is as cool as ice in the role of crime boss Marsellus Wallace. His brief scenes don’t give him much of a chance to show a range of emotions, but Rhames soaks up the screen in the scenes that he does appear in. His smooth, collected line delivery makes every one-liner and monologue feel magnetic.
Even in dire situations, Marsellus remains calm and collected, like when he says, “I’m pretty f*ckin’ far from okay,” after being sexually assaulted. But when he plays it cool like this, Rhames subtly plays into the real pain that Marsellus is hiding under a tough exterior.
Amanda Plummer As Honey Bunny
In the opening scene, Amanda Plummer plays Honey Bunny as a hard-as-nails badass, but when she returns in the final scene, she reveals real vulnerability as her and Pumpkin’s diner job goes awry.
While Pumpkin remains cool throughout the whole robbery, Honey Bunny displays a wide array of emotions. When Jules pulls his gun on Pumpkin, she’s scared and angry, and he has to calm her down. Plummer plays this scene brilliantly.
Harvey Keitel As Winston Wolf
In a reference to his “fixer” character in the movie Point of No Return, Quentin Tarantino wrote the role of crime scene cleaner Winston “the Wolf” Wolf in Pulp Fiction specifically for Harvey Keitel.
Keitel had previously starred in Tarantino’s debut film, Reservoir Dogs, but the Wolf was more of a ing role than Mr. White in that film. Still, Keitel stole every scene he was in and created a timeless icon with his character.
John Travolta As Vincent Vega
John Travolta’s career was on the downslide when Quentin Tarantino cast him to play mob hitman Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. As a big fan of Brian De Palma’s Blow Out, Tarantino went against the grain in believing that Travolta is a genuinely terrific actor when he has the right material.
From his blasé delivery of the line “I shot Marvin in the face!” to his conversation with himself in the bathroom mirror as he tries to talk himself out of seducing Mia, Travolta knocked all of Vincent’s scenes out of the park.
Christopher Walken As Captain Koons
Christopher Walken has a single scene in Pulp Fiction, but he only needed that one scene to leave a lasting impression on fans. At the beginning of “The Gold Watch” storyline, Walken’s character Captain Koons tells a young Butch Coolidge about his father’s heroic actions in Vietnam.
Koons tells Butch the story of an heirloom that his dad carried in his anal cavity, before giving it to him and setting the stage for the worst and best day of Butch’s adult life. Walken’s delivery of the monologue is utterly compelling.
Uma Thurman As Mia Wallace
Pulp Fiction marked the beginning of ended on very unfortunate during the production of Kill Bill) with the perfect role for her smooth, chilled-out acting style.
Thurman’s articulate delivery of one of Generation X’s defining icons. She also plays the overdose scene brilliantly. Portraying a drug overdose is tough because it’s hardly a universally relatable experience, but Thurman nailed it.
Samuel L. Jackson As Jules Winnfield
Samuel L. Jackson’s whole career has gone on to be defined by his Pulp Fiction character, Jules Winnfield. His Oscar-nominated performance is ed for his Ezekiel 25:17 recital to his furious response to Vincent accidentally killing Marvin.
When he enters Brett’s apartment, Jules mentions getting “into character,” and Jackson really plays Jules as two separate characters: the intimidating hitman and the spiritual, Earth-wandering soul who believes in divine intervention.
