Director: Mike Hodges
Notable Cast: Michael
Caine, Mickey Rooney, Lionel Stander, Lizabeth Scott, Nadia Cassini, Dennis
Price, Al Lettieri, Leopoldo Trieste, Amerigo Tot, Robert Sacci
Pulp was a wild
card film for me. Although I had previously enjoyed the combination of Michael
Caine and director Mike Hodges in the original Get Carter, the idea of them working together on a comedy noir didn’t
necessarily seem to be a sure-fire winner out of the gate and the lack of longevity
for the film in cinephile circles didn’t bode well either. When Arrow Video announced
the film for its end of 2017 line up though, it perked my interest. Arrow is
known for finding cult gems and giving them the love they deserve and if Pulp
was on the docket then it deserved a watch. Pulp
is a tough film to crack though and it can be easy to see why it didn’t
resonate as well as a film like Get
Carter did through the years. Not only is it rooted in a lot of cultural
references to the period, but its slow building noir foundation mixed with
desert dry humor doesn’t just appeal to the more casual cinephile. Even then,
the film has an impeccable sense of what it is in a kind of self-referential manner
and once the style settles in it becomes a comedic romp that will certainly find
a new cult audience.