What was in Marsellus Wallace's briefcase?? [Archive]

InLikeFlynn

11-01-2003, 03:18 PM

In Pulp Fiction, when Vincent Vega found and then opened Marsellus Wallace's briefcase found in Brad's apartment, what was inside of it that made him glow with happiness?

If this was a spolier for you,........ I don't really care!!

Larry Mudd

11-01-2003, 03:40 PM

That bit was an homage to the "Great Whatsit" in Kiss Me Deadly (http://www.filmmonthly.com/Noir/Articles/KissMeDeadly/KissMeDeadly.html).

Cervaise

11-01-2003, 03:56 PM

"My God. It's full of stars."

BrainGlutton

11-01-2003, 04:02 PM

It doesn't matter, does it? Could be cash, drugs, gold, diamonds, military computer chips -- Tarantino left it unspecified on purpose, to add to the sense of mystery. The briefcase was just a McGuffin, a numinous object that drives the plot -- like the briefcase in Ronin.

Quack

11-01-2003, 05:22 PM

A red herring.

Diceman

11-01-2003, 05:29 PM

It was the Oscar that Tarantino hoped to win :D

Bob Scene

11-01-2003, 05:42 PM

It was the alien from Repo Man.

Chefguy

11-01-2003, 05:49 PM

The fountain of yute.

Burrido

11-01-2003, 05:55 PM

Dont have the link, Think i read it on fark or IMDB, but was rumored to be Marseullus Wallace's soul. Being that a soul was the most beautiful thing in the world. Tarantino later disputed this in an interview. Sorry no cite, cant remember.

WonTon Sean

11-01-2003, 07:16 PM

It's a golden ticket to get into Willy Wonka's factory.

DrFidelius

11-01-2003, 07:23 PM

A brand new digital Macguffin.

I Love Me, Vol. I

11-01-2003, 07:30 PM

I remember McGuffin... that was a great show.... that guy could fix himself up a whadjamacallit in no time flat and escape from the bad guy every time!

minega

11-01-2003, 07:32 PM

Tarantino still refuses to answer this question as far as i know ( just like he refuses to say why he called his debut film 'Resevoir dogs'.) and he'll probably never tell. I have seen entire websites devoted to the question, but i dont think Quentin is ever going to tell and spoil the mystery...

Cervaise

11-01-2003, 07:46 PM

Because an actual answer, no matter what it is, would be far less interesting than a question without one.

widdershins

11-01-2003, 08:17 PM

Pop culture junkie that Tarantino is, it has to be the instruction manual for the "supersuit" from the TV series The Greatest American Hero.

Askia

11-01-2003, 08:44 PM

widdershins: LOL.

How 'bout... Juju's petals? Proof of the Loch Ness Monster? The formulae for squaring a circle? Austin Powers' Penis Pump? Security camera footage of the grassy knoll in Dallas? Marilyn Monroe's sixth toe?

jeanster

11-01-2003, 08:47 PM

Originally posted by WonTon Sean
It's a golden ticket to get into Willy Wonka's factory.

:D

Good one!

RickJay

11-01-2003, 09:03 PM

Originally posted by minega
Tarantino still refuses to answer this question as far as i know ( just like he refuses to say why he called his debut film 'Resevoir dogs'.) and he'll probably never tell.
Um, actually, Tarantino has answered BOTH those questions, has he not? It's fairly well known that "Reservoir Dogs" is just a play on his misunderstanding of the title "Au Revior Les Enfants."

As to the briefcase, Tarantino himself has said, on more than on occasion, that he never actually came up with any particular contents for the briefcase. There is no backstory and no secret. It's just something that glows, and that's as far as he went with it.

NoClueBoy

11-01-2003, 09:14 PM

It's the Medusa from Is There In Truth No Beauty?

MikeG

11-01-2003, 09:33 PM

OK, lets take a different tack: what was it in the actual prop that glowed yellow? was it a light? What type of fixture was it? Hwo was it attached? Battery or AC? If AC, where did the cord go- through a hole in the suitcase?

Blackeyes

11-01-2003, 10:04 PM

Zuzu's petals.

jimpatro

11-01-2003, 10:30 PM

InLikeFynn...You'll never know.

And I don't care!

Blackeyes

11-01-2003, 10:41 PM

Princess Leia's breast tape.

JThunder

11-01-2003, 11:08 PM

Gwyneth Paltrow's severed head.

KGS

11-01-2003, 11:09 PM

Gold lights.

astro

11-01-2003, 11:39 PM

It was Rumple! (http://atomfilms.shockwave.com/af/content/atom_1510)

Blackeyes

11-01-2003, 11:50 PM

The alternate ending to Casablanca.

Gadfly

11-02-2003, 12:40 AM

The head of a famous writer's wife.

Mariemarie

11-02-2003, 01:07 AM

It's the Colonel's secret recipe!

HPL

11-02-2003, 01:14 AM

Apparently it was just a battery and a couple lights hooked up inside the breifcase to make that light.

Though it could be the Necronomican.

Kyomara

11-02-2003, 01:14 AM

my cock (http://www.theonion.com/onion3712/healing_light.html)

Rainbowthief

11-02-2003, 02:41 AM

I read somewhere that Tarantino spoke at some convention a few months ago and during the Q&A session afterward, several people in the audience told QT what they thought was in the briefcase. He just smiled and told everyone "Yes, that's EXACTLY what it is!" or "Whatever you think it was, that's perfect".

Johnny Q

11-02-2003, 04:58 AM

It's probably the Golden Apple of Eris, or at least parts of it. As you know, this artifact shows those who see it their heart's desire, and since there is only one and several viewers, chaos and discord ensue.

singular1

11-02-2003, 06:05 AM

Originally posted by Rainbowthief
I read somewhere that Tarantino spoke at some convention a few months ago and during the Q&A session afterward, several people in the audience told QT what they thought was in the briefcase. He just smiled and told everyone "Yes, that's EXACTLY what it is!" or "Whatever you think it was, that's perfect".

He was interviewed on Howard Stern last week, and got this question from a caller. His answer? "whatever you want it be."

JohnBckWLD

11-02-2003, 10:10 AM

I always assumed it was Uma's Toenail polish...probably a metallic gold color

NajaNivea

11-02-2003, 10:27 AM

HPL wins the cookie. I read a Tarantino interview where he stated "two batteries and a lightbulb". He followed up with the thought that he had no actual object in mind, just the greatest thing anyone could personally imagine.

~mixie

NajaNivea

11-02-2003, 10:29 AM

Although I like the idea of it being Marcellus Wallace's soul--you know, the bandaid on the back of the neck and all that.

TheRealJohnPeat

11-02-2003, 10:36 AM

Yeah - I thought the bandaid on the back of the neck had to be there for a reason :)

I think it was Tim Roth who gave the "some batteries and a lightbulb" answer tho :)

JP

Wumpus

11-02-2003, 12:45 PM

The stuff that dreams are made of.

RealityChuck

11-02-2003, 02:21 PM

Originally posted by TheRealJohnPeat
Yeah - I thought the bandaid on the back of the neck had to be there for a reason :) To identify Macellus Washburn.

Look, in the early part of the film, you only see the back of his head. Then, suddenly, Bruce Willis sees Washburn crossing the street. That's the first time we see his face, and it's essential to to plot that the audience understand who that man crosssing the street is, otherwise the scene loses all its impact.

So you put a band-aid on the back of Marcellus's neck. The man crossing the street is instantly identified.

This is so obvious that I keep wondering why people still continue to ask why.

RickJay

11-02-2003, 02:28 PM

Badtz Maru

11-02-2003, 02:45 PM

I like to think it's the diamonds from Reservoir Dogs. I know that's not an official answer, but it fits.

A wizard song for thee

11-02-2003, 02:55 PM

I'm not entirely sure, because I've never seen it in its pure form, but I believe that was Artsy Contrivance...

musicguy

11-02-2003, 03:05 PM

Columbian Gold, perhaps

Blackeyes

11-02-2003, 05:33 PM

Originally posted by RealityChuck
To identify Macellus Washburn.

Look, in the early part of the film, you only see the back of his head. Then, suddenly, Bruce Willis sees Washburn crossing the street. That's the first time we see his face, and it's essential to to plot that the audience understand who that man crosssing the street is, otherwise the scene loses all its impact.

So you put a band-aid on the back of Marcellus's neck. The man crossing the street is instantly identified.

This is so obvious that I keep wondering why people still continue to ask why.

You see him earlier than that. In the beginning of Bruce's story he's there with Vincent and Mia, fuming after the fight that Bruce had killed the guy and is now making a run for it with all the money.

professorbiscuit

11-02-2003, 05:40 PM

I was always under the impression it was a device for hunting tigers in Scotland.

Leechboy

11-02-2003, 06:10 PM

a 1920's style deathray

Loopus

11-02-2003, 06:29 PM

Snopes (http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/pulp.htm) on the subject:

And from Rober Ebert's Questions for the Movie Answer Man comes the following statement by Pulp Fiction co-author Roger Avery:

Originally the briefcase contained diamonds. But that just seemed too boring and predictable. So it was decided that the contents of the briefcase were never to be seen. This way each audience member would fill in the blank with their own ultimate contents. All you were supposed to know was that it was "so beautiful." No prop master can come up with something better than each individual's imagination. At least that was the original idea. Then somebody had the bright idea (which I think was a mistake) of putting an orange lightbulb in there. Suddenly what could have been anything became anything supernatural. Didn't need to push the effect. People would have debated it for years anyway, and it would have been much more subtle. I can't believe I'm actually talking about being subtle.

Anonymous Coward

11-03-2003, 09:49 AM

Pie. Lots and lots of pie.

lissener

11-03-2003, 11:04 AM

Hah! I was right! My theory has always been that it contained the viewer's "greatest desires."

F. U. Shakespeare

11-03-2003, 01:26 PM

I always assumed it was the thing that Billie Joe McAllister was throwing off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

voxnihili

11-03-2003, 08:24 PM

kind of a hijack, but people often say 'marcellus' soul because it says that the devil removes souls through the back of the neck' and the whole band-aid on the neck thing. is there anywhere in the bible or folklore that says the soul is removed through the back of the neck?

Scumpup

11-03-2003, 08:29 PM

Ham.

Larry Mudd

11-03-2003, 08:41 PM

No, and there's no symbolic reason for the band-aid to be there, either.

Ving Rhames has a prominent keloid scar back there, is all.

DreadCthulhu

11-04-2003, 12:47 AM

Ah, its a 1920's style "Death Ray."

Rainbowthief

11-04-2003, 02:24 AM

Originally posted by RealityChuck
To identify Macellus Washburn.

Look, in the early part of the film, you only see the back of his head. Then, suddenly, Bruce Willis sees Washburn crossing the street. That's the first time we see his face, and it's essential to to plot that the audience understand who that man crosssing the street is, otherwise the scene loses all its impact.

So you put a band-aid on the back of Marcellus's neck. The man crossing the street is instantly identified.

This is so obvious that I keep wondering why people still continue to ask why.
Larry Mudd already beat me to it, but he's right. Tarantino has stated in numerous interviews that Rhames had a scar on his neck that Tarantino feared would be too distracting in the scene, so he had Rhames wear a band-aid over it.

Winston Bongo

11-04-2003, 09:55 AM

It's a sports almanac from the year 2015.

Blackeyes

11-08-2003, 02:25 PM

It's Plutonium H25.

Biffy the Elephant Shrew

11-08-2003, 07:33 PM

It's the third word that ends in "gry."

...and the missing dollar.

Horseflesh

11-09-2003, 01:38 AM

It was an overpriced bug zapper, nothing more.

Or it may have been the same stuff that was in the Ark of the Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark -- the wrath of God. Or maybe it was the Wrath of Kahn, I always get them mixed up.