The legendary «Pulp Fiction» briefcase: what was in it?
What was in that briefcase from «Pulp Fiction»? The legend persists. An inquisitive TheRPF user claims to have the answer.
Vincent Vega (John Travolta) puts in the code.
«666».
He jostles it a bit. The case opens. His face lights up with a golden glow stemming from the interior of the briefcase.
His partner Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) asks him: «We happy?»
No answer.
«Vincent! We happy?»
Vincent snaps out of it.
«Yeah, we happy.»
He shuts the briefcase. The glow disappears. The viewer never gets to see what caused it.
The myth: it contains a soul
It's one of Hollywood's greatest mysteries: what was in the briefcase so desperately sought by Vincent and Jules in the seminal 1994 crime thriller «Pulp Fiction»? Never mind that director Quentin Tarantino actually revealed the secret in a MySpace interview.
All jokes aside: Tarantino's silence never stopped attentive viewers from putting forward their own theories. And some of them are rather persistent. Like this fan for example: apparently, a friend of a friend of a friend had had a two-hour conversation with Tarantino himself. During this, the director supposedly revealed that the briefcase contains nothing else than the soul of Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames), Vincent and Jules' boss.
Sounds plausible, Tarantino did scatter several clues supporting this throughout the film.
Clue no. 1: the first time we see Wallace, it's a close-up of the back of his head. It's covered by a huge band-aid.
Clue no. 2: the code for the briefcase is «666», the number of the beast.
Clue no. 3: whoever looks into the case is dumbfounded by the sheer beauty of its contents.
The most beautiful thing a person possesses is their soul. According to Quentin Tarantino, the Bible says that the devil extracts a person's soul from the back of their head. So: Marsellus Wallace sold his soul to the devil and wants to buy it back.
This theory is supported by the fact that in the above scene, Vincent and Jules are miraculously not killed when a young man shoots at them. Six times. Jules questions «divine intervention». This fits: after all, Vincent and Jules were about to save a soul.
Another option: the briefcase contains whatever you want
So what's actually in the briefcase? Definitely not the diamonds from «Reservoir Dogs», an earlier Tarantino flick – another Hollywood urban legend.
Samuel L. Jackson gave another clue in a «Playboy» interview. More specifically, in an April 1995 issue, pages 122 and 123. That month's cover story was «The Girls of Hawaiian Tropic».
On set, John Travolta asked Quentin what exactly was in the briefcase. Quentin said: «Whatever you want to be in it.»
Roger Avery, co-author of «Pulp Fiction», mentioned something similar in Roger Ebert's book «Questions for the Movie Answer Man».
According to him, the briefcase originally contained diamonds – not necessarily those from «Reservoir Dogs». Boring, according to Quentin Tarantino. And predictable. So the director decided that he'd simply never reveal the contents. This allows the audience to choose the contents of the briefcase themselves.
Roger Ebert, one of America's premiere film critics, commented on Avery's statement:
Then someone had the brilliant idea – ironically, of course – of putting an orange light bulb in there. Suddenly, what could have been anything became something supernatural. I think that was a mistake. People would have discussed its contents for years either way. That would've been much more subtle.
An orange light bulb? That's what TheRPF user Darth_Knight1 used to recreate the briefcase.
Recreation: how the Pulp Fiction briefcase could have looked from the inside
Darth_Knight1 bought a black Franzen briefcase on eBay. He also got a light bulb, which he sprayed orange, a 12-volt battery and a refrigerator light switch. This way, the briefcase only glows when it's opened.
As of today, no one knows how the «Pulp Fiction» crew really built the prop. But there's a good chance it looked something like this:
With the light on:
It seems clear: there was neither a soul nor any diamonds in the «Pulp Fiction» briefcase. It was actually an orange light bulb.
We happy?
We happy.
I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.»