On first release it seemed the most important cinematic debut since “Citizen Kane” and perhaps still is, but like Welles, Tarantino has had less impact with every film (I have still to be convinced of “Inglorious Basterds” despite it’s Oscar nomination), which is a great shame considering how perfect this film was. Borrowing from John Huston’s “The Asphalt Jungle”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Killing”, Jules Dassin’s “Rififi”  and Ringo Lamm’s forgettable “City On Fire” about heist’s that go wrong, the difference here is that we don’t see the heist. I remember it just looking so good, it was like a breath of fresh air, the dialogue, the soundtrack, the violence, oh yes, the violence. The film pretty much came and went (apart from amazing reviews everywhere), then “True Romance” and “Pulp Fiction” appeared and the Daily Mail got on it’s soapbox and “Ban This Video Nasty” screamed the headlines, so much so that it was stopped from release on video for over a year, then it was finally released uncut. What strikes me now is how long it did take to be released on video, in an age now when we can own a film on DVD within three months, this didn’t appear for over two years. You had to track down copies that were pretty awful. But the film itself still stands at a great time when I was experiencing so many films for the first time and this seemed that the 90s was going to be as memorable as the 70s. I was wrong.

Premiere – Sundance 21/01/1992 , US Release 23/10/1992,  UK Release 15/01/1993

DF Viewing 27/02/1993, Preston Docklands Cinema