National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2013
“By turns utterly derivative and audaciously original, Quentin Tarantino's mordantly wicked Möbius strip of a movie influenced a generation of filmmakers and stands as a milestone in the evolution of independent cinema in the United States, making it one of the few films on the National Film Registry as notable for its lasting impact on the film industry as its considerable artistic merits.”
Independent Spirit Awards — 3 wins, 4 nominationsLos Angeles Film Critics Association — 3 winsNational Board of Review — 3 winsBritish Academy Film Awards — 2 wins, 8 nominationsAll 23 wins · 45 nominations on record
Independent Spirit Awards: Best Director
Independent Spirit Awards: Best Male Lead
Independent Spirit Awards: Best Screenplay
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Actor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Director
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Film
National Board of Review: Best Director
National Board of Review: National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
National Board of Review: Best Film
British Academy Film Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role
British Academy Film Awards: Best Original Screenplay
Academy Awards: Best Writing, Original Screenplay
Golden Globe Awards: Best Screenplay
David di Donatello: Best Foreign Actor
Cannes Film Festival: Palme d'Or
New York Film Critics Circle: Best Director
National Society of Film Critics Award: Best Screenplay
National Society of Film Critics Award: Best Director
National Society of Film Critics Award: Best Film
MTV Movie Award: Best Dance Sequence
MTV Movie Award: Best Movie
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award: Best Film
London Film Critics Circle Award: Actor of the Year
Scholarship
Named in the title of 25 peer-reviewed works
Examples
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Pulp Fiction arrived in 1994 through Miramax, a comparatively lean production that Quentin Tarantino turned into a defining event of independent cinema's crossover into the mainstream. Its nonlinear structure, dialogue-driven scenes, and needle-drop soundtrack reshaped how a generation of filmmakers approached genre material. The film's Palme d'Or win and awards attention cemented its place as a touchstone of nineties American cinema, and its ensemble cast, stitched together across interlocking stories, became one of the most quoted and studied in modern film history.
Captain Koons is the name given to Christopher Walken's monologue as the soldier who returns a hidden watch to young Butch, a scene prized for its sustained, unbroken delivery and its odd, plainspoken solemnity. Collectors seek this figure because the sequence stands apart from the rest of the film's rhythm, a single voice carrying history and memory forward. A 35mm cell tied to this moment preserves a fragment of that speech's presence on film, a physical trace of one of the picture's most recited passages.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour release print of Pulp Fiction (1994).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single-track optical stripe.
Edge print
Edge print reads, mirrored as captured: '5335 4010•' on one edge and frame numbers '10', '13', '5' visible on the opposite edge.
Base & colour
Base shows a warm yellowish-clear tint typical of processed colour print stock; dye image appears intact with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light horizontal scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a release print of Pulp Fiction (1994).
Era check
The single variable-area optical track, Kodak 5335 print stock designation, and safety base are all consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000062996
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
