While IMDB trivia pages are typically an unassaible font of information, a rare discrepancy has just been found in the site’s list of Pulp Fiction’s many curiosities. The trivia page for Quentin Tarantino’s bloody, seminal sophomore feature clocks the film’s utterances of “fuck” at 265, while this new video from JoBlo has mined two more (with the video evidence to back it up), upping the “fuck” count to 267. Contrast all of this with StorySaysCreations edit from last year, which only found 258 while counting every swear word in the movie.
It used to be a fun game, this hunt for every swear in Hollywood’s most profane films, but the striking disparity in the results says something about the effectiveness of Tarantino’s use of cursing. He’s one of those rare artists that can mine the musicality of a good swear, interweaving them into speeches and exclamations that resonate as much for their cadence as they do their content. It’s easy to miss the “fuck” embedded in Jules’ description of himself as “the foot fuckin’ master,” if only because the exchange before it flows with such naturalism that the punchline exudes its own kind of catharsis.
Truly, the hunt for swears in Pulp Fiction is reaching Room 237 levels of obsession. As definitive as the above video’s count seems to be, let’s all rest assured that the future will be filled with even more videos, each excavating a heretofore-hidden “fuck” from the film’s nooks and crannies.