Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1994 and won the Palme d'Or — Tarantino's brash, profane, nonlinear screenplay instantly announcing a major directorial talent. Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino on an $8 million budget, the film wove together multiple storylines of Los Angeles crime, from professional hitmen Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield (John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson) to washed-up boxer Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) to gangster Marsellus Wallace's wife Mia (Uma Thurman). The dialogue was sharp, the violence sudden and shocking, and the structure — jumping between scenes and eras — was audacious in ways mainstream cinema hadn't seen.

When it opened to the US public in October 1994, Pulp Fiction defied expectations. It grossed over $200 million worldwide on its $8 million budget, became the film indie directors quoted endlessly, and won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. John Travolta's career was revived; Samuel L. Jackson became a star; Uma Thurman gained an Oscar nomination. The film didn't feel like anything else in 1994 — it was violent, funny, dark, and utterly confident — and it created a template for independent cinema that influenced filmmakers for decades.