# Kill Bill: help me spot the references (maybe spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2003, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941 "2003-10-12T01:45:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![scablet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@scablet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scablet)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/41 "2003-10-14T01:50:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pricciar \* > \*\* > But, the house that is across the street from Vernita Green’s place. Was that the same house that they took Marvin to when they shot him in the back of the car? > \*\* In **Pulp Fiction** , I believe Jules tells Vincent that they are going to “an old partner out in Burbank”‘s place; Vernita Green’s house is in Pasadena. However, Burbank and Pasadena are close and similar enough that theory wouldn’t surprise me… maybe it was a character error on Jules’ behalf, and Jimmy was really located in Pasadena? Then again it could just be some Tarantino obsession with Valley track homes. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/42 "2003-10-14T02:47:13Z")
This is not something I’d know myself, but when I saw The Bride get woken up by a mosquito bite, after (presumably) sleeping peacefully through 4 years’ worth of rapes, I thought for sure it had to be a reference or allusion to some other movie. Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/43 "2003-10-14T12:30:34Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* \*\*Not _everyone_ – just the one person who’s sitting across the aisle from her. Personally, I think the implication is they decided to have Hanzo return to L.A. with her. [QUOTE] Actually, you’re wrong, because the two people behind her also had swords. One between the window and seat, just like Uma, and one in the isle, just like the guy next to her. Four people in the shot, four swords. And the two other visible passangers just looked like ordinary people (a young lady and a businessman)…not your typical samurai. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/44 "2003-10-14T14:26:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Number Six \* > **The secret-society-named-after-snakes thing has been done so much that it’s become a cliche… It’s been used in… _Captain America_ comics…** Marvel Two-in-One did it first! 😉 –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@McDeath\_the\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McDeath_the_Mad)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/45 "2003-10-14T14:54:43Z")
I kind of thoght the swords were seat decorations (the handles all seemed the same) on the plane, and the name of the airline was a reference to a samurai movie. Just a guess… MtM ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/46 "2003-10-14T14:55:23Z")
**Ivar** : > [@](#): > > Michael Bowen plays “Buck” in Kill Bill, he was also in [i[Jackie Brown,\* but more significantly, he is the half-brother of Keith and Robert Carradine, and I’m assuming the son of David Carradine, who plays “Bill”. David, Keith and Robert are **all** brothers, and all the sons of famous actor [John Carradine](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001017/). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/47 "2003-10-14T19:55:47Z")
> [@](#): > > **El Elvis Rojo** : Actually, you’re wrong, because the two people behind her also had swords. Unless we’re looking at two different shots, I don’t think so. On the way in to Tokyo, we see only a closeup of the bride looking out the window. On the way out, we only see the two swords. Here’s a frame grab of [the beginning of that shot.](http://free.inkfrog.com/pix/larrymudd/swords.jpg) From there there’s a dolly in to the Bride. There are no swords visible in the seats behind her. If they were there, the one behind the young woman’s seat would be obscured by the Bride’s seat for the duration of the shot, and a hypothetical sword on the aisle seat across from the businessman would be out of frame the entire time. I’ve only seen it once in the theatre, but I didn’t notice if they used an alternate shot for that scene. To me, the scene seems quite calculated to reveal that sword in the foreground, before moving in to show the Bride’s scribbling. I don’t think that the swords are a decorative feature of that particular airline-- the Bride walks through Arrivals in Tokyo carrying only her sword. She travels light, and no mucking about with luggage. I’m pretty confident that was _her_ sword with her. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/48 "2003-10-14T20:51:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fiver \* > \*\*This is not something I’d know myself, but when I saw The Bride get woken up by a mosquito bite, after (presumably) sleeping peacefully through 4 years’ worth of rapes, I thought for sure it had to be a reference or allusion to some other movie. > > Anyone? \*\* This may be slightly off topic, but what I wanted to know was how she knew when she woke up exactly how long she had been out. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/49 "2003-10-14T21:02:14Z")
She knows by looking at the lines in her hands. From the script: > [@](#): > > She quickly looks at the palm of her and and counts the lines. > > MACRO CU The LINES IN HER PALM look like a road map. She stops counting, shocked; > > THE BRIDE: (to herself) Five years. > > She counts again. > > THE BRIDE: (a statement) Five years. Wierd & whimsical, but there it is. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/50 "2003-10-14T21:09:05Z")
She looks at her hands carefully and is somehow able to tell. Maybe they elaborate on how she knows from this in the next movie. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/51 "2003-10-14T21:16:22Z")
Dang, simulpost. Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/52 "2003-10-14T21:57:03Z")
That “Your Feature Presentation” clip that you see just after the Miramax logo really took me back. In the 70’s I ran the projectors at a local theater and spliced that little piece of film onto the head of the first reel of every movie we ran. So, another 70’s reference, probably the most obscure yet. ---
**Author:** ![Quack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e99b99/32.png) [@Quack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quack)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/53 "2003-10-14T23:39:42Z")
Here’s a flamboyantly pointless nitpick: Sorry **scablet** , but Jimmie lives in Toluca Lake, characterized by Jules as “by Burbank studios”, not in Burbank itself. I have no idea whether Toluca Lake is closer to Pasadena or if Toluca Lake is in Pasadena (maybe a neighborhood), so it might lend some credibility to that neat theory of it being Jimmie’s house across from Verdita’s. I’m so sorry… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2003, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/54 "2003-10-14T23:57:25Z")
[You ever listen to K-BILLY’s _Supersounds of the 70’s_?](http://koti.mbnet.fi/badbee/wavs/kbillys.wav) ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/55 "2003-10-15T11:44:49Z")
Toluca Lake is a neighborhood very close to Hollywood. I don’t know where that puts it in relation to Pasadena, though. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/56 "2003-10-15T12:27:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > \*\*Unless we’re looking at two different shots, I don’t think so. > \*\* You may be right. I mean, I can’t argue with a photo, now can I? For some reason, I just remember the people sitting behind her having swords in their seats as well…eh, maybe just wishful thinking. But if they didn’t, then what was the point of that other sword in the foreground? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/57 "2003-10-15T15:19:18Z")
Is it possible that both swords belong to the Bride? Is it clear from the shot that the second sword belongs to a second person? I’m wondering if the Bride now has O-Ren’s sword as well as her own? Does anyone have any grabs or stills of O-Ren’s sword that could be compared to the second sword in the airplane scene? ---
**Author:** ![tomyoung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@tomyoung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomyoung)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/58 "2003-10-15T16:32:58Z")
FWIW, I’m pretty sure O-Ren’s sword had no hilt. It looks like those swords do. I also assumed they were whimsical handles on the seats. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/59 "2003-10-15T20:55:16Z")
How is it possible to have a frame grab from a video or DVD of a movie that just opened in theaters last week? I see it has “Property of Miramax” super-imposed over it, but I would like to know more about how it gets here. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941/60 "2003-10-15T21:35:39Z")
I have a copy of a workprint through a sort of six-degrees-of-separation situation. There are a few differences between it and the finished movie – the sound mix is a bit different, and I think they went back and looped a bit of dialogue. Different subtitles. I can’t/won’t make copies, not that anyone would be so tactless as to ask. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kill-bill-help-me-spot-the-references-maybe-spoilers/206941.md?page=4)