Vincent Vega
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Vincent Vega is a character in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, portrayed by John Travolta in an Academy Award-nominated performance. He is the only character involved in all story lines in the movie. He is the brother of Vic Vega, a character in Reservoir Dogs. [1]
Vincent is an assassin working for mob boss Marsellus Wallace. He is usually partnered with Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) when he is ordered to kill someone.
Vincent is an "Elvis man": He wears a bola tie with his suit, he has long hair pulled back into a ponytail, and he orders his Douglas Sirk Steak "bloody as hell." Despite being a hitman, Vincent shows some signs of humanity, such as scrupulous loyalty and a general concern for the few people he cares about. He is also a heroin user.
[edit] In the film
(Note: the following summary is told in the chronological order in which they occur in the film, rather than in the non-linear style portrayed in the film.)
At the beginning of the film, Vincent has returned home from a long vacation in Amsterdam. He waxes philosophy with his partner Jules about the implications of ordering food at McDonald's in Paris. The two then kill a group of college students who had tried to steal a mysterious briefcase from Wallace, but are nearly killed themselves when one of the students fires on them, narrowly missing. On the way back, Vincent gets into an argument with Jules, who is convinced that they had been saved by a miracle; in the heat of the moment, Vincent accidentally shoots and kills Marvin (Phil LaMarr), who they had been instructed to leave alive, covering their car with blood and gore.
They take refuge with Jules' friend Jimmy (Tarantino), and call Winston Wolf (Harvey Keitel), Wallace's personal fixer. They dispose of the evidence, and later resolve their differences over a cup of coffee in a diner. Just then, however, a young couple (Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer) try to rob the café, and demand the briefcase from Jules, who refuses and holds one of the robbers at gunpoint. Vincent comes to Jules' defense, but Jules tells him to stand down. Vincent then listens, spellbound, as Jules explains to the robber that he was going to forsake his life of crime.
Wallace asks Vincent to keep an eye on his wife, Mia (Uma Thurman), and take her out to dinner while he is away. The two form an instant attraction as they compete in (and win) the "Jackrabbit Slim's Twist Contest" at the '50s diner they go to, but Vincent tells himself to ignore his feelings. While he is in the bathroom, Mia finds a pouch of heroin in his coat and snorts it, mistaking it for cocaine, and lapses into an overdose. Panicked, Vincent takes her to his dealer, Lance (Eric Stoltz), who revives her with a shot of adrenaline to the heart. Vincent takes her home, and blows her a kiss goodnight.
Vincent is killed by Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis), a boxer who had double-crossed Wallace, when Butch goes to his old apartment in search of his father's watch. While in the apartment, Butch notices a MAC-10 on the kitchen counter. As Butch picks up the gun he hears the toilet flush in the bathroom. Vincent walks out of the bathroom only to find himself staring down the barrel of his boss' gun, who had left it when he had gone to buy coffee. Seconds elapse before an off-brand of Poptarts jump out of the toaster and Butch pulls the trigger, killing him.
[edit] Trivia
- The shot of Vincent plunging the syringe into Mia's chest was filmed by having John Travolta pull the needle out, then running the film backwards.
- Mia calls Vincent "cowboy" - a reference to Urban Cowboy, one of Travolta's earlier films.
- Travolta has said that some of the dance moves between himself and Uma Thurman in the Jack Rabbit Slim's scene were based on Adam West's Batusi from the 1960s Batman television series.
