In the generation since Superfly and Sweet Sweetback, the Afro gangster rose in the movie hierarchy. By the time of Quentin Tarantino’s breakthrough crime epic, he has become a Mob boss with gravitas, dispensing a lot of hurt — and taking quite a bit too. At first, Marsellus is the bete noir who sends one of his lieutenants (John Travolta) on the delicate errand of giving his young wife (Uma Thurman) a fun night out. He’s front and center in the second episode, when he orders the death of a boxer (Bruce Willis), then is ravaged by a pair of deranged hillbillies. Willis saves the big man’s life, then asks him if he’s OK. Marsellus’ immortal reply: “Naw, man. I’m pretty f—in’ far from OK.” His other great line, to the surviving sodomist: “I’m-a get medieval on your ass”
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Ving Rhames as Marsellus Wallace
Full List
EVIL CHARACTERS
- George Siegmann as Silas Lynch
- Peter Lorre as Hans Beckert
- Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West
- Joseph Cotten as Uncle Charlie
- Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson
- Ann Savage as Vera
- Marcel Herrand as Lacenaire
- Lionel Barrymore as Henry F. Potter
- Denis Price as Louis Mazzini
- James Cagney as Cody Jarrett
- Toshiro Mifune as Tajomaru
- Prithviraj as Justice Raghunat
- Carl Boehm as Mark Lewis
- Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Iselin
- Robert Mitchum as Max Cady
- Henry Fonda as Frank
- Klaus Kinski as de Aguirre
- Laurence Olivier as Dr. Christian Szell
- Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator
- Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman
- Anthony Wong as Wong Chi-hang
- Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth
- Ving Rhames as Marsellus Wallace
- Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter
- Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine
