Pulp Fiction question - What was in the Briefcase?

[rjbcar27]

Does anyone know?

[Loonman]

1. Supposedly

Supposedly the diamonds from the heist in Res. Dogs.

[GOPisEvil]

2. I heard a wacky theory...I forget who started it.

Basically, Marcellus had a gold statue of his Mia's genitalia made, and that was in the briefcase - hence the gold glow. Maybe it was Samuel L. Jackson that said that for grins or something...

I know the truth has never been revealed.

[kodi]

11. close, but it was a gold statue of clinton's penis

i read about it on WDN

[GOPisEvil]

12. Ah, the right-wing holy grail!

:D

[private_ryan]

3. whatever you want it to be according to Quentin Tarantino, nothing set

heard it on Howard Stern show.

[Nailzberg]

14. That's what I'd beleive.

The glowing contents were inspired by Kiss Me Deadly. He liked how the contents were mysterious. He liked the idea of the glow.
I don't think QT felt the audience needed to know the contents for the story to work.

[AverageJoe]

4. Someone once told me that

it was Marcellus's soul. I know that sounds silly, but I kinda like it.

[Frangible]

17. Yep, I think Tarentino said it (nt)

[RandomKoolzip]

5. Marcellus Wallace's soul.

That's what I assumed when I first saw it for the fourth time.

[Avalux]

7. The soul theory seems to be the most popular

further explained by the bandaid on the back of Marcellus's neck (how it was stolen). He was buying it back.

[mark0rama]

15. And the briefcase's lock combo of 666

As in, they were buying Marcellus' soul back from the devil.

There is much speculation on this in Roger Ebert's book "Questions for the Movie Answer Man" (1997).

Apparently early on, it was written that the case contained diamonds, but QT decided it should be whatever the viewer imagines, and yeah, he did appropriate the glow from "Kiss Me Deadly."

[LTR]

6. A light bulb

That's what was really in there.

As for what Tarantino meant it to be, well, he wants the moviegoers to use their imagination.

So what was in there is left to your imagination.

[Nailzberg]

8. A glowing MacGuffin

eom

[onebigbadwulf]

9. It was his soul

most definitely.

The brief case code was 666. The band-aid on the guy's neck. And everyone's awe that resulted from just looking at it.


It was his soul with out a doubt.

[TrogL]

10. The Holy Grail

think about it

[GregW]

13. The bandaid on his neck ...

From IMDB:

"The band-aid on Marcellus Wallace's neck was there because actor Ving Rhames had a scar there that the makeup people felt wound be too distracting during that scene."

[mark0rama]

16. I like how a band-aid is somehow less distracting than a scar!

But then, I also like how Harrison Ford's characters frequently get an origin of his chin scar written into his films. (Last Crusade, Working Girl)

[CanuckAmok]

18. Well it certainly wasn't any more script ideas...

n/t