Birthday Take: Roger Avary in "Pulp Fiction" (1994)

Left to right: John Travolta and Samuel Jackson in Pulp Fiction

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Is "Pulp Fiction" Overrated?

John Travolta

On this day in history, director Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction hit American theaters nationwide and in the process, altering how many conceived of cinema. It played fast and loose and gave a profane-laced, pop culture behemoth that earned the 30-year-old director the Palme d'Or and a Best Original Screenplay award with co-writer Roger Avary. For many, it was a renaissance of film innovation equivalent to Citizen Kane or The Godfather, changing the way that independent film would be judged and consumed. With all of the praise coming out to commemorate this anniversary, there's one hypothetical that never gets explored: what if Pulp Fiction was overrated?