Categories & segments

Pulp Fiction The Rewatchables
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Pulp Fiction

Top Ten List

Best Picture losers: introduced as ten, twelve titles named without ranks

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:56:13Read transcript
  • A New York Magazine best-picture-losers list is introduced as ten, but twelve titles are named: Citizen Kane, Sunset Boulevard, Dr. Strangelove, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Conversation, Nashville, Taxi Driver, The Elephant Man, In the Bedroom, There Will Be Blood, Roma and Pulp Fiction. No ranks are stated.
No Way Out The Rewatchables
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No Way Out

What’s Aged the Best?

The twist; photograph countdown; chemistry; political rivalry; score; getaway; collaborators; Scott

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:59Read transcript
  • A powerful man maintaining a mistress in a Virginia townhouse is praised as an effective movie premise, with joking disagreement about calling it aged best.
  • Opening on an intense interrogation before jumping six months backward works here, despite objections that television has overused the device.
  • The landlord’s revelation as Tom’s handler supplies a second twist.
  • The gradually resolving photograph serves as an effective countdown.
  • Costner and Young’s chemistry remains exceptionally strong.
  • The destructive rivalry between Congress and the executive branch still resonates.
  • Fred Dalton Thompson remains convincing as a military-industrial figure.
  • The ominous Washington synthesizer score works well.
  • Paying extra for an otherwise unavailable boat enables the Chesapeake getaway.
  • Costner’s loyalty to collaborators carries supporting performers into later films.
  • Scott’s patronizing demands for moral courage and calm remain entertaining.
  • The old-college-friends connection between Tom and Scott is memorable.
  • The henchmen’s awkward pursuit is funny enough to count as both a strength and a weakness.
No Way Out The Rewatchables
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No Way Out

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Best twist of the 1980s–1990s; Russian spies are missed; Susan’s death timing; Patton as Joker

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:02Read transcript
  • Young is a singular screen presence whose unrealized career possibilities exceed a routine short run of stardom.
  • Killing Susan forty-five minutes in is an effective surprise, although contemporary reviews often spoiled it.
  • Tom might have saved Susan by leaving through the front door and forcing a confrontation with Brice.
  • This is proposed as the best twist of the 1980s and 1990s, ahead of The Sixth Sense, with later identity-reversal thrillers owing it a debt.
  • Old-fashioned Russian spies are missed as clear, readily understood movie antagonists.
  • Will Patton is imagined as an excellent Joker.
No Way Out The Rewatchables
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No Way Out

Half-Assed Internet Research

Source adaptations; budget and gross; Leachman account; nude-scene and stunt anecdotes; locations

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:32:05Read transcript
  • A quoted Leachman autobiography passage recounts a one-night encounter with Hackman while both were filming in San Francisco.
  • The story derives from Kenneth Fearing’s 1946 novel The Big Clock, previously adapted in 1948 and as Police Python 357 in 1976.
  • The stated budget is $15 million and the gross $35.5 million; cable and HBO expanded its audience.
  • Young’s account describes helping an uncomfortable Costner through their nude scene.
  • The limousine sequence is described as partly improvised.
  • Costner reportedly rolled over a moving car’s hood during a chase and was reprimanded.
  • Susan’s house is identified at Queen and Union Streets in Alexandria.
No Way Out The Rewatchables
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No Way Out

Most Rewatchable Scene

Bryce betrays Scott in the office; the final twenty minutes

In the discussion (14)
Approx. transcript time · 00:43:32Read transcript
  • The opening Washington party efficiently introduces Tom, Susan and Scott through flirtation and social maneuvering.
  • Tom’s Stoli order supplies a small clue, while Susan’s conspicuously long cigarette adds to their flirtation.
  • The limousine ride begins with Susan asking the driver to show them the monuments.
  • Susan commandeers Nina’s apartment and bed, offering her friend the limousine, fur coat and food.
  • Tom and Susan flirt while preparing for their second party.
  • The Manila strip-club sequence, including Wild Thing and a phone torn from the wall, is singled out enthusiastically.
  • Brice’s confrontation with Susan turns into her fatal fall.
  • Brice brings Scott the news that he has killed Susan, and Scott immediately constructs a plan.
  • Tom’s reaction to learning Susan is dead plays both as grief and, on rewatch, panic about his own exposure.
  • During the visit to Nina, Tom silently implores her not to reveal their connection, then prepares to use a vase against Scott.
  • The Washington car and running chase features impressive physical work from Costner.
  • The final pursuit, stairwell fight and confrontation in Brice’s office culminate in Brice betraying Scott.
  • The final revelation reframes Tom’s relationship with Susan as part of his assignment.
  • The office confrontation is the favored specific scene; another choice is the final twenty minutes, encompassing the Pentagon hunt and revelation.
No Way Out The Rewatchables
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No Way Out

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Scott’s relationships; Susan and Tom’s conversations; Susan’s work and car

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:22Read transcript
  • Brice knows Susan has another lover but does not recognize Tom in the darkness outside her apartment.
  • Scott’s relationships with Tom and Brice invite speculation; Brice knowingly exploits Scott’s infatuation.
  • What Susan and Tom discuss when they are not having sex remains unclear.
  • Whether Brice bought Susan’s car and what she does for work remain speculative.
No Way Out The Rewatchables
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No Way Out

Picking Nits

Conspicuous behavior; death mechanics; Polaroid continuity; framing plan; extraction; news coverage

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:52Read transcript
  • Tom gains little by lingering outside Susan’s apartment where Brice might see him.
  • Susan’s instant death from the short fall onto a coffee table seems doubtful.
  • Tom’s arm position in the Polaroid differs from the moment the picture is taken.
  • Scott invents the Yuri framing plan implausibly quickly.
  • Nina’s refusal to expose Tom is questioned, then defended as loyalty to Susan, perhaps supported by omitted scenes.
  • The Russians’ failure to extract Tom once Susan dies leaves his compromised position unexplained.
  • Tom leaves incriminating bodily evidence through careless sexual conduct.
  • Tom eating something from the windshield is considered strange; whether it is a bug or a berry is disputed.
  • Local news reporting a Pentagon spy hunt seems implausible, although the concentration of reporters offers a defense.
  • Brice’s silent, accommodating wife leaves his domestic life underdeveloped.
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