Vincent Vega

Vincent Vega is a character in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, portrayed by John Travolta in an Academy Award-nominated performance. He is the only character to appear in all story lines in the movie (aside from Marsellus Wallace and Mia Wallace). He is the brother of Vic Vega, a character in Reservoir Dogs.

Vincent is a hitman working for mob boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). He is usually partnered with Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) when he is ordered to kill someone.

Vincent is an "Elvis man": He wears a bola tie with his suit, he has long hair pulled back into a ponytail, and he orders his Douglas Sirk Steak "bloody as hell."
Despite being a hitman, Vincent shows some signs of humanity, such as scrupulous loyalty and a general concern for the few people he cares about. He is also a heroin user. He resides in Redondo Beach, as he mentions to Winston Wolfe when Wolf offers him a ride home.
In the film
(Note: the following summary is told in the chronological order in which they occur in the film, rather than in the non-linear style portrayed in the film.)

At the beginning of the film, Vincent has returned home from a long vacation in Amsterdam. He waxes philosophical with his partner Jules about the implications of ordering food at McDonald's in Paris. The two then kill a group of college students who had tried to steal a mysterious briefcase from Wallace, but are nearly killed themselves when one of the students fires on them, narrowly missing. On the way back, Vincent gets into an argument with Jules, who is convinced that they had been saved by a miracle; in the heat of the moment, Vincent accidentally shoots and kills Marvin (Phil LaMarr), who they had been instructed to leave alive (he was the informant who had led them to Brett), covering their car with blood and brain matter.

They take refuge with Jules' friend Jimmy Dimmick (Quentin Tarantino), and call Winston Wolf (Harvey Keitel), Wallace's personal fixer. They dispose of the evidence, and later resolve their differences over a cup of coffee in a diner. Just then, however, a young couple (Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer) try to rob the coffee shop, and demand the briefcase from Jules, who refuses and holds one of the robbers at gunpoint. Vincent comes to Jules' defense, but Jules tells him to stand down. Vincent then listens, spellbound, as Jules explains to the robber that he was going to forsake his life of crime.

After the restaurant ordeal, Vincent and Jules go to Wallace's hideout to return his briefcase to him. While there, Vincent meets Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis), and openly insults him. The encounter is then cut short by Wallace calling Vincent to his table.

Keeping an Eye on Mia
Wallace asks Vincent to keep an eye on his wife, Mia (Uma Thurman), and take her out to dinner while he is away. The two form an instant attraction as they compete in (and steal) the "Jackrabbit Slim's Twist Contest" at the '50s diner they go to, but Vincent tells himself to ignore his feelings. While he is in the bathroom, Mia finds a pouch of heroin in his coat and snorts it, mistaking it for cocaine, and lapses into an overdose. Panicked, Vincent takes her to his dealer, Lance (Eric Stoltz), who helps him to revive her with a shot of adrenaline to the heart. Vincent takes her home, and blows her a kiss goodnight.

Death
Vincent encounters Butch for the second time at Butch's apartment. By this time, Butch had double-crossed Wallace, making him a target. While in the apartment, Butch notices a MAC-11 on the kitchen counter. As Butch picks up the gun, he hears the toilet flush in the bathroom. Vincent walks out of the bathroom only to find himself staring down the barrel of his boss' gun, who had left it when he had gone to buy coffee and donuts. Seconds elapse, in which the two silently recognize each other, before a pair of Poptarts jump out of the toaster and Butch shoots Vincent in the stomach and gets back to the bathroom and lands in the shower and setting off the alarm, killing him.

Trivia

*The shot of Vincent plunging the syringe into Mia's chest was filmed by having John Travolta pull the needle out, then running the film backwards.

*Mia calls Vincent "cowboy" - a reference to Urban Cowboy, one of Travolta's earlier films. Vincent in return calls Mia "cowgirl", a reference to Thurman's film Even Cowgirls Get the Blues.

*Travolta has said that some of the dance moves between himself and Uma Thurman in the Jack Rabbit Slim's scene were based on Adam West's Batusi from the 1960s Batman television series.

*The role was written for Michael Madsen, who turned it down; however, Madsen had played Vic Vega, Vincent's brother in Reservoir Dogs.

*Vega drives a red Chevrolet Malibu convertible in the movie.

*In a deleted scene from the movie, Vincent is revealed to have a cousin, Suzanne Vega. Mia asks whether this is the folk singer. Vincent says he is unaware if his cousin has become a folk singer.

*Although he says that he does not watch TV, he repeatedly references television shows throughout the movie.

*Whenever Vincent goes to the bathroom something bad happens. He goes to the bathroom when Mia overdoses, when the diner gets robbed, and when he gets killed by Butch.

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