Quentin Tarantino idolizers will tell you what's in briefcase of Pulp Fiction

Matt: Okay. I hope I’m not out of line or anything, but you seem to be the answer guy, and I just gotta know this. Ready? Here goes.... In the movie Pulp Fiction, what was in the briefcase? Please help me, Matt. — Desperate in Point Loma

Please, my obsequious one, we have plenty of answers for you. Are you perhaps web-wise? Linked to the great sinkhole of cybercrap available online? If so, crawl on over to this address and see what your fellow musers have to say: But if you live a real life, not a virtual one, I’ll give you a summary. This site for Quentin Tarantino idolizers (none of them over 2.0, I’ll bet) lists their deep, deep thoughts about what’s in that infernal glowing briefcase: many votes for the jewels from Reservoir Dogs, with profound explanations, most having to do with the fact that Quentin is a genius; God/Holy Grail/evil/temptation/saving grace, because Quentin is a spiritual genius; the real, original script for Natural Born Killers or the script for his next film, because Quentin is a scriptwriting genius; nothing, it’s only that genius Quentin messing with our unworthy minds.

If you believe everything you read on the net, the real answer is “Whatever you want it to be; it’s a reference to the briefcase in Robert Aldrich’s film Kiss Me Deadly. ” (That lead-lined case contained nuclear material.) Those words are from the lips of the genius himself. Another upload claims an early version of the Pulp Fiction script called for a golden, jewel-encrusted falcon in the briefcase (oh, Quentin, you referential genius!). Actor Samuel Jackson says the briefcase effect was achieved with two light bulbs, a bunch of batteries, and a gold-colored gel. Matthew Alice’s guess about the golden glow? Quentin’s ego. (To add your briefcase profundities, e-mail jbonne@phantom.com.)