4. Lose the S&M Angle
Butch's story is easily the 'odd one out' in terms of narrative - his life intersects the main threads of Marsellus, Vincent and Jules and is largely separate in comparison. However, it's also a damn good story and has Bruce Willis at his comedic and acting prime as he plays Butch, a washed-out boxer who has just beaten his opponent in the ring to death in order to rig the results and escape his life, betraying his boss. However, through trying to retrieve his father's golden watch, he and Marsellus (the man he just betrayed) are kidnapped and placed inside a basement dungeon where sadistic owners Maynard and Zed proceed to rape Marsellus in a frighteningly quiet and underplayed sequence. The most jarring thing about this whole section is that the rape is played utterly at odds with the violent but light attitude to the rest of the film - there's no eleventh-hour rescue before Marsellus is brutally violated, it's a bitterly dark section that I suspect could have done with hinting at without going the whole hog.