Summary
- Quentin Tarantino has explained that the contents of Marsellus Wallace’s briefcase in Pulp Fiction are meant to be a MacGuffin, leaving it up to the viewers’ imagination.
- The novel adaptation of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood confirms that Cliff Booth did indeed kill his wife, offering graphic details of the event.
- While the fate of Mr. Blue in Reservoir Dogs was left undisclosed in the original movie, the video game based on the film reveals that he escaped the jewelry store robbery but was later found and shot by the police.
Although Quentin Tarantino tells complete stories in his movies, he has also left a couple of mysteries that won’t be solved in sequels – luckily, Tarantino has already solved a couple in interviews and extended media. Tarantino’s career as a filmmaker officially began in 1992 with the crime movie Reservoir Dogs, which gave the audience a good idea of what his narrative and visual style are about. Tarantino’s big break arrived two years later with Pulp Fiction, often considered his masterpiece, and since then, Tarantino has explored a variety of genres in his movies.
Tarantino has paid a visit to the world of martial arts with his Kill Bill duology, Western with Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight, and even alternate versions of historical events, as he did with Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Some of Tarantino’s movies have left a couple of unanswered questions that might never be solved as he’s known for not making sequels, but some of those mysteries have already been solved, whether in extended media or by Tarantino in different interviews – and here are those mysteries.
6 The Contents Of Pulp Fiction’s Briefcase
Pulp Fiction’s biggest mystery is what exactly was inside Marsellus Wallace’s briefcase. The first segment in Pulp Fiction saw hitmen Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta) arriving at the apartment of one of Marsellus’ business partners, Brett, to retrieve a briefcase. When Vincent opened it to check that it had what they were looking for, he was mesmerized by whatever was inside, which radiated a bright orange light. In the final segment of Pulp Fiction, the briefcase was opened again when Jules showed the contents to Pumpkin (Tim Roth), who was also instantly fascinated by them.
The contents of the briefcase were never shown in Pulp Fiction, making way for a variety of theories on what’s inside, but Tarantino has already given an explanation. Tarantino has said there’s no explanation behind the contents of the briefcase because it was written to be a MacGuffin (a plot device) (Tarantino A to Zed: The Films of Quentin Tarantino, via Snopes). Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avery has shared that, originally, the briefcase contained diamonds, but as that was “too boring and predictable”, they decided that the contents would never be shown so viewers could fill in the blank “with their own ultimate contents” (via Questions for the Movie Answer Man).
Of course, this hasn’t been a satisfying explanation for some viewers, who continue coming up with theories on what was inside the briefcase in Pulp Fiction. Some theories suggest the briefcase contains the diamonds from the Reservoir Dogs heist, Marsellus’ soul, or even that it contains God.
5 What Truly Happened To Cliff Booth’s Wife Before Once Upon a Time In Hollywood
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood introduced actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stuntman and best friend Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). The latter had been facing rejection in the film industry as he was rumored to have killed his wife, and Tarantino made sure to leave the audience wondering if he truly did it. In a flashback scene, Booth was in a boat with his wife, Billie (Rebecca Gayheart), who was complaining about the boat, the weather, and Cliff, calling him a loser. Billie tried to start an argument with Cliff, who was sitting in front of her with a beer in one hand and a harpoon gun on his lap, pointing directly at her.
The scene ended as Billie continued to argue and Cliff simply stared at her, and it’s never mentioned if he truly killed her or not – however, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novel answered this question. Also written by Tarantino, the novel confirms that Cliff Booth killed his wife, and offers some graphic details (after all, it’s a Tarantino story). Cliff shot Billie “a little below the belly button, tearing her in half, both pieces hitting the deck of the boat with a splash”. Cliff regretted it from the moment he fired, and rushed to Billie’s side, trying to hold her body together until help arrived.
The novel also explains that Cliff didn’t shoot her just because, as he had despised her for a long time, and her complaints and insults when they were on the boat were the last straw for him. The novel adds that, once Cliff shot his wife, it was like “years of ill will and resentment evaporated in an instant”, but it didn’t explain how he got away with it.
4 Mr. Blue’s Fate In Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs saw a group of thieves, all with code names based on different colors, whose heist of a jewelry store goes terribly wrong. The movie spends most of its time with Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) and Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), with Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) and Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) also being important parts of the story, but two characters were only seen in the first minutes of Reservoir Dogs: Mr. Brown (Tarantino) and Mr. Blue (Edward Bunker). Mr. Brown was shot in the head by a cop but survived long enough to drive the getaway car with White and an injured Orange, eventually dying in the car, but Mr. Blue wasn’t seen again.
Later on in Reservoir Dogs, the group’s boss, Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney), arrived at the warehouse with news that Mr. Blue was killed by cops, but it was unclear exactly what happened to him after the robbery. In 2006, a videogame based on Reservoir Dogs was released, and it followed the same plot as the movie, expanding it by showing some events that didn’t make it to the movie. One of those was the fate of Mr. Blue, who escaped from the jewelry store and hid in a movie theater, where he was found and shot by the police.
3 Hans Landa’s Life After Being Marked At The End of Inglourious Basterds
Inglourious Basterds presented an alternate version of World War II, where a group named the Basterds captured Nazis, scalped them, and those they allowed to live got a swastika carved into their foreheads. Although the main purpose of the Basterds and Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent) was to kill Hitler and as many nazis as possible, they also wanted to take SS officer Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) down. Basterds’ leader Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and member Utivich (B.J. Novak) finally got their revenge on Landa at the end of Inglourious Basterds, where they carved a swastika on Landa’s forehead, which Aldo believed to be his “masterpiece”.
It’s understood that Aldo and Utivich let Landa go after carving his forehead, but nothing beyond that is explored or mentioned in Inglourious Basterds. Speaking to the Happy Sad Confused podcast in 2020, Tarantino shared what he images happened to Hans Landa after the ending of Inglourious Basterds, starting with Landa being recognized as a hero in history books for his involvement in ending World War II, as “he and Aldo Raine brought down Hitler”. Years later, Landa settled on Nantucket Island, where he started a new career as an amateur master detective, and he had to wear low bangs to cover the swastika on his forehead.
2 Rick Dalton’s Career After Once Upon A Time In Hollywood
Cliff Booth wasn’t the only one struggling with his career in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, as Rick Dalton’s acting career was also in decline. After facing Charles Manson’s followers, who attempted to kill Rick and Cliff, Rick Dalton was last seen at the end of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood talking to Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch), who invited him over for a drink. The Once Upon a Time in Hollywood novel revealed that, after the movie’s ending, Rick earned newfound fame as a regular on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and before the novel was published, Tarantino shared in an interview with The Wrap that Rick found more success in film after the events of the movie, and also got bigger guest roles in TV series.
Other details about Rick Dalton’s career post-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood are his turn into a straight-to-video action star in the 1980s (via The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith), and in 1988, he retired from acting and moved to Hawaii with his wife, Francesca Capucci (Lorenza Izzo), even meeting Tarantino at the 1996 Hawaii International Film Festival (via ReelBlend). Rick Dalton passed away in May 2023, at the age of 90.
1 Did The Bride Kill Elle Driver In Kill Bill: Volume 2?
Kill Bill: Volume 2 continued The Bride’s (Uma Thurman) revenge mission against Bill and the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad, and one of her targets was Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah). After an intense fight at Budd’s (Madsen) trailer, The Bride won after plucking out Elle’s remaining eye. The Bride left Elle screaming in pain in the trailer, but as the black mamba Elle used to kill Budd was still there, her fate was left ambiguous.
The mystery grew after the end credits of Kill Bill: Volume 2 drew a question mark over Daryl Hanna’s name, but Tarantino has already answered this big question. Speaking on the Joe Rogan podcast in 2021 (via The Playlist), Quentin Tarantino said that “Elle Driver is still out there” while talking about Kill Bill 3, thus confirming that she survived.
Sources: Tarantino A to Zed: The Films of Quentin Tarantino, Questions for the Movie Answer Man, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: A Novel, Reservoir Dogs videogame, Happy Sad Confused, The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith, Reelblend, The Wrap, The Playlist.
