Why the Gun Went Off
‘The gun went off, I don’t know why’ is all Vincent can tell the Wolf. His theory at the time was that Jules ‘probably went over a bump or something’. But Jules emphatically denies this and Vincent doesn’t press the point. Or maybe Vincent, still irate about Marvin’s silence concerning Bathroom Guy, deliberately shot him. And it does seem a bit odd that Vincent had his gun out. Given though how taken up Vincent appears by his miracle-or-not debate with Jules, it would be even odder for him to choose this moment to pursue his grudge. Still to be considered is that it was an accidental discharge not however caused by something such as a bump in the road. But for all his deficiencies as a gangster Vincent is notably unflustered around guns. It seems unlikely he pressed the trigger inadvertently. And while the gun could have been defective it worked well enough when it came to dispatching Bathroom Guy.
None of these possibilities clamour to be seen as probable and none move the story forward in an interesting way. The incredible/miraculous surprise of Bathroom Guy missing Jules and Vincent leads to the tour de force scenes of the gangsters disagreeing over whether or not God stopped the bullets (an argument of extra import when it’s realised the briefcase has been acquired through a deal with the devil). It’s particularly a let down then that the equally unexpected shooting of Marvin seems to only allow such a muddle of humdrum explanations.
But enter the briefcase, contents one time machine. Then there is a second timeline, in which Marvin meets his end but retains his head. This is the timeline where Bonnie returns home to find gangster business in full swing, with consequences so dire Marsellus feels the need to resort to his rectangle of tricks. Marvin’s (first) death is the cause of the situation and so Marsellus sends the world back to a little before that. This though is to transition from one reality to another. And the film provides two instances of how traumatic such transitions can be – Mia’s adrenalin-powered revival and Butch waking from a dream of childhood.
This looks like a hint that time travel is not entirely seamless, that it may be accompanied by, if not convulsions, at least glitches in the matrix, to view the phenomenon in terms of that other colossus of 90s cinema. Just as, for that matter, one might see the gangsters ‘dodging’ Bathroom Guy’s bullets as a prefiguring of the agents’, and eventually Neo’s, skills in this department. And, too, one thinks of the duffle bag which Neo takes into the military facility. Briefcase-like its contents are a mystery before being revealed as a bomb. And what, In this instance, are the briefcase’s contents but a bomb, given that no sooner does Marsellus move the dial on the time machine than Marvin’s head explodes?
Marsellus tries to hoover away any Bonnie repercussions by employing his time machine but through the very use of that gadget is instantly put back in the same quandary. To my mind that seems a part of, and to add to, the film’s dark humour. It makes far more sense than some random factor such as the gun being faulty or the car going over a bump. Or than, as the MacGuffinites might, seeing Marvin’s death as just a plot device and therefore irrelevant what caused it.
29 August, 2025
