Pulp (1972)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Mike Hodges

Writer:

Mike Hodges (written by)

Release Date:

November 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Write it. Live it. But try not to be it.

Plot:

A seedy writer of sleazy pulp novels is recruited by a quirky, reclusive ex-actor to help him write his biography at his house in Malta.

Plot Keywords:

Clairvoyant | Stenographer | Exile | Eccentric | Princess

Cast

Michael Caine	...	Mickey King
Mickey Rooney	...	Preston Gilbert
Lionel Stander	...	Ben Dinuccio
Lizabeth Scott	...	Princess Betty Cippola
Nadia Cassini	...	Liz Adams
Dennis Price	...	Mysterious Englishman
Al Lettieri	...	Miller
Leopoldo Trieste	...	Marcovic
Amerigo Tot	...	Partisan
Robert Sacchi	...	Jim Norman (as Roberto Sacchi)
Giulio Donnini	...	Typing pool manager
Joe Zammit Cordina	...	The Beautiful Thing
Luciano Pigozzi	...	Clairvoyant
Maria Cumani Quasimodo	...	Office manager (as Maria Quasimodo)
Liu Bosisio	...	Typist #1

Also Known As:

Memoirs of a Ghostwriter (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:12 (video rating) | UK:AA (original rating) | Australia:M | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Malta

Company:

Three Michaels Film Productions

Trivia:

The original title was "Memoirs of a Ghostwriter".

Quotes:

Mickey King: She looked like a distant relative of Rocky Marciano. It looked like her honor was on the missing list. So was her cash. I got the feeling it was too late to retrieve either.

Movie Connections:

References The Pink Panther (1963)

A Comedy Treat

This film confounded those who were expecting a performance from Caine that echoed the 'hard man of few words' character which he mastered in Get Carter only one year before Pulp. Some saw it as playing his recent success for laughs, but when viewed separate from Get Carter, the jokes still stand up. The sense of farce builds and the sinister setting and plot twists move the story along without breaking the essential flow. Much of the comedy comes from well delivered one liners parodying the pulp novelist, so often seen today but done well for the first time in this film, but the understated "black slapstick" and the stoic character portrayed by Caine have much comedic value. The main reason this film is little known now is that it never quite fit into a genre very well. The only advice I can offer is to watch the film without Caine preconceptions and let the laughs come.