The dance competition scene in Pulp Fiction is a true Hollywood legend — one of those scenes that stick out and resonate for decades to come. It’s slick and ultra-cool in a way that was groundbreaking when the movie came out in 1994. After turning some heads with Reservoir Dogs, it was Pulp Fiction that put Tarantino’s approach to filmmaking on everyone’s map.

In the scene, John Travolta's Vincent Vega takes Mia (Uma Thurman) out, as instructed by his boss, Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Mia is Marsellus' wife, and Vince's job is to keep her entertained but out of trouble — and to keep himself out of trouble while he's at it. Mia's former babysitter didn't last long.

In fact, Marsellus had the unlucky henchman thrown off a fourth-floor balcony for massaging her feet. It keeps Vince jumpy and nervous for the early part of the date until they hit the dance floor.

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It Was John Travolta’s Favorite Scene — But Uma Thurman Dreaded It

John Travolta and Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction
Via rollingstone.com

In an interview with The Daily Beast, Tarantino said the initial idea for the dance scene was inspired by French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, in particular, the film Bande a part. Tarantino named his production company Band Apart after the movie.

According to an interview in Vanity Fair, Tarantino had written the scene before Travolta was officially cast in the movie. Naturally, incorporating the star of Saturday Night Fever and Grease made the dance competition a bigger part of the story.

The dance scene, as it turns out, was John Travolta’s favorite. "The scene that gave me the most pleasure was the scene with Uma in Jack Rabbit Slims — the whole conversation, intrigue, and then moving onto the dance floor. That was my favorite to film," he told The Daily Beast.

While Travolta was all in, however, Uma Thurman was terrified of the dance scene — even more so than the grueling drug overdose scene that follows. She spoke about the experience in 2019 at France’s Series Mania Festival, as reported in Variety.

“I was more afraid of the dancing than almost anything because it was exactly to my total insecurity,” Thurman said during a keynote speech. “Being big and awkward and still quite young then. But once I started dancing I didn’t wanna stop, so it was a dream come true.”

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John Travolta Improvised The Choreography On The Spot

Uma Thurman and John Travolta in Pulp Fiction
Via youtube.com

Quentin's initial instructions to John and Uma were simple: do the Twist, a dance that was popular in the 1950s. Travolta, as everyone knows, was a trained dancer, however, and he had other ideas. “That was improvised quite a bit,” he told The Daily Beast of the dance sequence.

On the movie’s 25th anniversary, Travolta described what happened in an interview with Vanity Fair. “Quentin recommended the Twist, and I said, ‘Well, Little Johnny Travolta won the Twist contest when I was eight years old, so I know every version. But you may add other novelty dances that were very special in the day.’ He said, ‘What do you mean?’ I said, ‘There was the Batman, the Hitchhiker, the Swim, as well as the Twist.’ And I showed them to him, and he loved them. I said, ‘I’ll teach Uma the steps, and when you want to see a different step, call it out.’ ”

While he was directing and shouting out the dances “Watusi! Hitchhiker! Batman!”, as the video clip shows, Tarantino was trying out the steps for himself.”

“We shot it during the section of the day, and there weren’t that many takes,” Travolta told The Daily Beast.

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The Restaurant Is Based On A Real Place Called Famous Mel's

Pulp Fiction - Jack Rabbit Slims
Via screenrant.com

In the movie, the ultra-cool nightclub with a 1950s theme is called Jack Rabbit Slim's. The set, built in a warehouse in Culver City, was based on a real place called Famous Mel's or Mel's Drive-in, and it's still a Hollywood icon. Because of the success of the movie, Harvey Weinstein, a co-executive producer on the film, was reportedly toying with the idea of opening a chain of Jack Rabbit Slim restaurants through his Miramax company.

Before the dance competition, Vince Vega orders a Douglas Sirk Steak, and Mia orders the Durward Kirby Burger. The waitress asks them if they want their meat “burnt to a crisp” or “bloody as hell”. The phrase, like many moments from the movie, has attained an iconic status, has since been used for anything from restaurants to a song by artist TeknoAXE in 2016.

The scene is fun and unexpected in a violent gangster flick and plays brilliantly off Travolta’s reputation. The movie would go on to revive Travolta’s career even as it helped establish both Tarantino and Thurman, who was still a relative newcomer at the time; the dance competition scene is a big part of why the film had such a huge impact.

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