MovieChat Forums > Pulp Fiction (1994) Discussion > Why doesn't Vincent freak out after he a...

Why doesn't Vincent freak out after he accidentally shoots Marvin?


Not that he didn't at all freak out, but he's considerably calm about what just happened when compared to Jules and his reaction.

I don't know if that was the intent, but I feel horrible for finding the scene darkly funny. Maybe a lot of it has to do with how casual John Travolta makes it sound like ("I just shot Marvin in the face!"). He makes it sound like a minor nuisance like accidentally spilling a cup of coffee and staining your carpet.

Maybe, since Vincent is a professional hitman (i.e. he kills people for a living), he sort of become desensitized to the seeing blood and murder. And I would assume that hitman by nature, have to be somewhat emotionally detached in order to function, which could be why Vincent seems so composed.

If anything though, Vincent is more panicked when Mia ODs while on his watch than him accidentally shooting a man to death.

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He's drugged up.

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Vincent has to be the sloppiest hitman to ever live. What the hell was Vincent thinking when he had his gun out in plain view with Marvin in the back seat in the first place? If you aren't intending on using it, then put it in your holster. I don't care if you think that the safety is on.

And Vincent later leaves his weapon out (again, with the safety off) when he goes to use the toilet at Butch's apartment. You can't say that Vincent didn't know or anticipate Butch's arrival, because why else was Vincent there in the first place?

Here are some past articles that detail his incompetency:
https://nedhardy.com/2023/02/13/vincent-vega/

https://screenrant.com/pulp-fiction-why-marsellus-wallace-uses-vincent-vega/

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Between Vic and Vincent, the Vega family produced some none too bright criminals.

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They wanted to lead into the segment with Harvey Keitel and introduce the Tarantino and Bonnie story. Marvin had to go.

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Vincent's character calls for being calm, cool & collected and considering he just shot some dude to death no more than probably 5 minutes earlier, it didn't phase him. Mia Wallace on the other hand was his Boss's wife and he was entrusted to take her out and her dying from an overdose would've probably cost him his life..

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And it wouldn’t have been a quick end either. He tells Lance that he’ll be “forced” to tell Marcellus what happened. We saw what was done to Zed. The same type of torture would have applied to Vince.

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He's a psychopath among a bunch of sociopaths.

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You shouldn't feel horrible about thinking it was funny because it was written to be funny. These 2 are like Dumb and Dumber during the entire scene including throught the Bonnie Situation. I was surprised how easily they let it go that Marvin didn't tell him the Seinfeld looking dude was in the backroom with a hand cannon. Vincent's character would make me think he would be willing to kill Marvin for not telling him and if not for a miracle he'd be dead. So for messing up that bad I don't feel bad for Marvin since he almost cost his 2 friends their lives. Marvin also set the 3 college kids to die by setting up a time and opened the door for Vincent and Jules at exactly 7:30. Not 7:22 but exactly 7:30.

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Because Marvin meant nothing to him.

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