Look at his interactions with the Wolf.
To me, it’s the same thing, but he just happens to be in a less tenable position. with him.
I think he considers himself on even ground with Jules.
Vince does say to Lance that his car was keyed “the other day”. If I read the timeline right, Vince’s drug buy takes place the day after his staredown in the bar with Butch. To me, “the other day” implies something that took place longer ago than just yesterday. That’s just me though. Also, as a herion user, Vince’s recollection of the the timing of particular events may not be completely clear either. Having Butch be the keyer just seems to me like one of those little details that QT may have intended…even if he didn’t make it clear.
I thought Vince Vega was a not-too-bright prick who could turn on the charm when necessary but enjoyed being condescending toward people whom he considered “losers”, like a boxer who is getting paid to take a fall in a fight. I think the dog analogy is about right, because Vincent feels a need to establish dominance over other men, especially when they’re not useful to him in some way.
Am I the only one who saw Travolta playing a 40 year old Vinnie Barbarino?
Butch seemed the main character with the most character: he went back for Marsellus at great risk to himself, when leaving him to be raped by the pawnbroker & the security guard would have solved the largest of his current of his problems.
This is another of those little PF in-facts I’ve run across somewhere (I don’t recall where though) and don’t know whether to give it a lot of weight.
If you consider that the star Vega, in the constellation Lyra the Harp, is the brightest of that group and is thus the Alpha star in that constellation, then Vincent Vega is in the first scene in chronological order in the movie.
And since Zed is the British “Z” and thus the last letter of the alphabet, then Zed and his chopper are in the final chronological scene.
If we follow the time clues as presented in the film, does anything happen earlier than Jules and Vincent arriving at the place where they’re going to go upstairs and retrieve the briefcase? Doesn’t the time of day get specified in that scene (those scenes) as being early morning?
Later, the events at Jimmy’s are referenced to some time later that morning.
But wait! Doesn’t the Chris Walken scene come way before any of the events in the main sequence? Like when Butch is a little kid?
What comes after Butch and Fabienne ride off on Zed’s bike? Isn’t there some scene where we see them riding past the restaurant where Pumpkin and Honey Bunny are about to do their stickup? And isn’t Vincent still alive in the Mexican standoff scene in the restaurant? And doesn’t the entire date with Mia come after that?
So, what is the real “last scene” in the movie?
It all makes sense if you watch it side-by-side with The Wizard of Oz.
Anyhoo, Vincent doesn’t really get shot “on the crapper”. He’s coming out of the bathroom, the sound of flushing behind him, and shares a wordless “uh-oh” moment with Butch. Butch only opens up in reflex when his Pop-Tarts are done.
Why is Fabienne so diligently brushing her teeth? Think about it.
Totally – and that’s part of the main subtext of the movie.
Back when Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump were the two main contenders for the Acadamy Awards, a lot of people made noises about Gump being a “moral” movie, while Pulp Fiction was totally amoral. A ridiculous and practically illiterate assertion.
Every single storyline involved characters at a moral crossroads – and Butch and Jules are the only ones who make the right decision. Jules literally becomes an evangelist, presumably redeeming Hunny-bunny and Pum’kin before going off to “walk the earth,” and Butch risks his life to save his mortal enemy before riding off into the sunset on Grace. Everyone else gets a nice hot cup of Instant Karma.
“Amoral,” my ass. It’s just not glurgey.
I always figured there was a bit of a doubting-Thomas message in the movie, too. Aren’t Marvin’s last words “oh, man, I don’t even have an opinion.”
Okay, it was on tonight. I made a point to watch the entire beginning sequence with a sharp eye out for details regarding the car keying. But it was just so damn good that I watched 90% of it. The other 10% of the time I popped in my DVD and verified the timeline.
Here’s chronologically what happens. All days and times in bold are explicitly shown to the audience, whether by a character stating it, by a shot of a clock or watch, or by text being shown on the screen. All others are inferred.
Prehistory: Gold watch story.
Day 1
7:00am: Vincent and Jules in the car talking about the Royale With Cheese. Of note is that Jules is driving, so where is Vincent’s car? I doubt Jules picked Vincent up at home, so one of the most logical choices is that they met at Marcellus’s titty bar.
7:22am: Vincent and Jules arrive at the mark’s apartment, but are “early” so spend about 3 minutes discussing foot massages.
7:55am: Vincent shoots Marvin in the face. They entered the room at about 7:25am and spent about 10-15 minutes in there, plus figure in about 10-15 minutes to get as far on the road as they were when Jules “hit a bump or something.”
8:35am: Mr. Wolf checks his watch, and says he’ll be there in 10 minutes. This means it took them about 40 minutes to contact Jimmy, drive to his house, hear his coffee diatribe, bloody his towels, and call Marcellus Wallace.
8:50am: After Mr. Wolf arrives and exchanges pleasantries, he notes that they have 40 minutes until Bonnie gets home at 9:30am, which “should be plenty of time if they move fast.”
9:25am: No way they got out of there any sooner, and no way they push it all the way to 9:30.
10:00am: They have a bit of a drive to get to the junkyard, and despite Mr. Wolf driving a blood drenched car at mach 3, a half hour is conservative if you include the fact that Winston has already dealt with the car at the junkyard. So now Jules & Vincent decide to get breakfast. Figure enough time to get to the diner, eat, take a dump, manhandle the armed robbers, and then go to the titty bar, where I’m assuming Vincent left his car, would take us to about 11:00am.
10:50am: Butch is getting the “take a dive” speech from Marcellus.
10:55am: Vincent & Jules arrive at the titty bar
11:00am: This scene was discussed upthread, but I think Vincent’s antagonism of Butch is quite straightforward. The bartender lets them in, and offers them a drink while they wait for Wallace to finish with Butch. The bartender then says “I hear you’re taking out Mia tomorrow.” Vincent gets defensive. The bartender asks if he’s ever met Mia, and when Vincent says “no”, the bartender and Jules both start openly laughing at him. Jules goes to the can as Vincent starts visibly fuming, and at this point Butch walks up to the bar, entering Vincent’s field of vision. The exchange here is clearly just about Vincent being pissed in general and looking to take it out on whatever hapless schmoe is standing next to him. Butch is about to get into it when Marcellus calls Vincent him away.
As I said above, I could easily imagine Vincent’s car being there from early that morning; the only snag is how would Butch know it was his? Nobody else is at the bar except Wallace and the bartender, who will likely be parked in a different employee lot. So when Butch leaves, pissed off and stymied in his attempt to defend his honor, I don’t see it as a stretch at all for him to key the only other car in the lot. Which would be Vincent’s. I don’t see Butch as the most moral guy, later showing an aggressive lack of remorse for killing his opponent that borders on disdain. Also, smashing the tv while screaming “stupid whore” at Fabienne when he realizes she’s forgot his watch. Really, keying a car seems pretty in-character to me.
Of note is that Jules apparently tenders his resignation to Marcellus off-screen sometime between here and fight night. My guess is about 5 minutes after Marcellus is finished talking to Vincent.
Day 2
No times are given in any scenes in day 2, so here’s just a chronological list:
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Vincent buys heroin from Lance, and complains about his car getting keyed “the other day.” Since Vincent appears freshly groomed, and already wearing his date clothes, it’s probably around 7:00pm. It is not at all a stretch for a stoner like Vincent to refer to 30 hours ago as “the other day.” Hell, the sun has already set twice (and risen once) since his car was keyed.
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Vincent and Mia go on their date, win the dancing trophy, then go back to Mia’s. After an apparent marathon bathroom monologue, Vincent then brings Mia over to Lance’s for the adrenaline shot before finally returning her home.
Day 5
Now we get to the great divide; when does Butch’s fight take place? A bare minimum of two days – and more likely three – have passed, for various reasons.
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Instead of throwing the fight, Butch pummels the guy to death and books out of there to hop in a cab. (Which he seemed to have pre-arranged to wait for him there.)
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Vincent and the bartender show up backstage at the arena, where both Marcellus and Mia Wallace are waiting for them. Mia looks fine, so it can’t be the day after her OD; it’s got to have been at least an extra day.
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Butch takes the cab to his shithole apartmemt where he spoons with Fabienne, ending with agreeing to give her “oral pleasure” if she’ll “kiss it.” (And she wouldn’t let him shower first…ugh.)
Day 6
9:00am Butch wakes up, showers, and teases Fabienne about being retarded as she frantically brushes her teeth. (hehheh) She’s told him it’s nine o’clock, and he notes that they have 2 hours to get to the train. He then trashes the room after realizing he has to go get his gold watch. Figure 20 minutes and he’s out the door.
9:25am: Butch first calls his buddy from a pay phone. He mentions that he’ll be on the train to Knoxville, and it’s pretty clear that his buddy lives near Knoxville and Butch will be collecting his bets on arrival. He also mentions that “once word got out that the fix was in”, the line went through the roof, and those adjusted lines are what his buddy booked. This is relevant in that such a thing doesn’t happen immediately; I say two or three days would have been a decent time for this to happen. (The line doesn’t change because of a fix; it takes time for the whales to learn of the fix and then book their bets, and then more time for the bookies to react to it by changing the line. Only then can his buddy place Butch’s bets, so at least 3 days, IMO.)
9:50am: Butch gets home, finds his gold watch, kills Vincent, and heads out boppin to tunes in Fabienne’s shitbox.
10:20am: Butch runs over Marcellus, runs from the gunfight, gets caught by (Earl?), frees Marcellus, and steals Zed’s bike. Considering that he’s hauling ass from the moment he “loses his LA priviledges,” all this should take about a half hour, including getting back to pick up Fabienne.
10:50am: Butch hurries Fabienne to go quickly so they can make the 11:00am train.
Zed’s dead, baby. Zed’s dead.
Oh, just for clarity, fight night cannot possibly be any earlier than day 3, because:
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Marcellus discussed the upcoming fight with Butch on day 1, meaning it cannot be earlier than day 1.
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Vincent is killed between 9:00am and 11:00am the day after the fight, meaning the fight cannot be on day 1, since Vincent is seen alive and well late into the night of day 2 reviving Mia.
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Mia is shown to be at the fight and looking well, meaning it cannot be on day 2. (She can’t be at the fight and on a date with Vincent on the same night.)
So even if it’s not day 5, it’s no earlier than day 3.
Excellent work, Ellis Dee, and you make a good case for Butch having the opportunity to do the keying of Vincent’s car. It’s also good reasoning that the keying would have been done after the face-off at the bar rather than before the “throw the fight” bit with Marsellus. Butch not knowing Vincent before then seems to fit with the details from your timeline.
I’m now much less inclined to dismiss the keying as “just some guy” when we have some evidence (upthread) that perhaps a more explicit scene showing Butch and Vincent’s car in the same place at the same time, just didn’t make final cutting.
I have to wonder if many other movies hold up as well as PF to this level of scrutiny and timing. If so, I’d like to know which ones provide as many clues and “time checks” to work such a thing out.
Once more, nice work.
Great timeline!
Actually, Jules resigns while Vincent and Butch are having the fight - you see him softly talking to Marcellus in the background.
I also think the scenes in the bar (Marcellus and Butch) happen later in day 1 - like early afternoon, around noon. An hour seems like a very short time to drive in LA, grab a bite to eat, and have a conversion while talking down a couple of punks robbing a restaurant. Not that it matters as the stuff in the bar is the last thing to occur that day.
One last thing: Professional fights usually occur on Friday or Saturday. I’ve always had the impression that the fight was on a Saturday night and the watch/Zed scenes occurred on Sunday. Anybody else?
I take it you are not a fan of a “Royale with cheese.”
Very good timeline, I just have to add two things (neither of which contradict the times presented or any of the basic facts of the story):
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After the fight when Butch has disappeared and all the thugs are gathering with Marcelles, Vincent whispers to Mia asking if she is okay, to which she replies (if memory serves) “Yes, I never thanked you for dinner the other night.” Implying it’s been at least a couple of days.
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Butch and Fabienne are staying at a hotel, not an apartment. She talks about ordering room service.
Fabienne seems like a cool chick. She is totally willing to kiss Butch’s penis even though he is stinking like a dog.
As long as we’re asking “what was that all about?”
What was the deal with Kathy Griffin’s appearance in the movie? Griffin is a friend of Tarantino’s so he apparently decided to give her a very brief cameo in his movie. She’s the woman that Marcellus almost hits with his car after spotting Butch.
But here’s the weird thing. If you read the credits, Griffin isn’t listed in the cast as “woman in the street” or something like that. She is credited as “herself”. So I guess we’re supposed to assume that the actress Kathy Griffin was almost run over by gangster Marcellus Wallace.
And what’s the point of that? What difference does it make to the story if Kathy Griffin was playing herself rather than playing some anonymous character? Or does it make no difference in the story but was just Tarantino’s way of singling out a friend in the credits?
Unless you follow Ellis’s reasoning in which case “the other night” just means the day before.
I don’t get it Ellis. . .you put the whole time line together, presumably to show that Butch/Vincent actually met “the other day”. You rightfully conclude that it was just the previous day, and then just write it off. We have a name for people who ignore facts to fit their preconceived theories: the Bush administration.
- Keying a car is a total bitch move. Vincent & Lance pretty say as much.
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Butch ain’t no bitch. See, for example, what LarryMudd wrote up previously.
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There’s absolutely no indication that Butch did it but it seems like a couple of you have made it a pet theory which is puzzling. But since there is unsubstantial evidence to dispute it, it just kind of lays there.
Really, the only piece of evidence that ISN’T complete conjecture is that Vincent said “the other day” and we know he ran into Butch “yesterday”. And that piece of evidence, you just write off as Vince being confused.
Color me 
If you put your mind to it, you can probably come up with equally plausible scenarios in which Jules, Marcellus, the Bartender, Honey Bunny, Mr. Pink, or Jack Rabbit Slim keys it.
Eh, why did they have Julia “SNL’s 2nd worst actress after Melanie Huff” Sweeney as the junkyard operator?
People do weird shit, man!
-Joe, found alternate title for Pulp Fiction!
Doesn’t Vincent spend an awful lot of time in the bathroom, for a heroin user?
But I was wondering why they had Kathy Griffin in the movie. I was wondering why they had Kathy Griffin playing herself in the movie.
Although when I put it that way the answer would be “who better for the part of Kathy Griffin?” But you know what I mean.