Twotall

Question: Why did Elle kill Budd? Was it really just to get her hands on Kiddo's sword? or was it more to it? As poor as he was seems like she could have just offered him a small amount of money for it. Why kill him?

Carl Missouri

Chosen answer: The way she talks to Budd as he lies dying, seems to indicate that she has disliked and hated him for years, plus the fact that she feels that he was not "worthy" of killing Kiddo (seeing how Kiddo was a fantastic warrior, while Budd is an alcoholic hick). However, it would be difficult for her to get close enough to kill him earlier, as he would not buy any excuse why she just came visiting. But when Budd actually invites her over, she gets a chance to get back at him, and in the same while take the credit for killing the Bride and retrieving her Hanzo sword for Bill. Vengeance and personal gain in one swoop.

Twotall

Question: Specifically HOW would Pai Mei have taught the "five point palm exploding heart technique" to the Bride? We all know she trained with him for months. Bill (and the film generally) makes that very clear. Could someone simplify this for me?

Answer: It is obvious they practiced this on anything but a live person. See the look in her eyes when she completes the move on Bill? She's like, "yes, OK, it works" even though I'm sure she implicitly trusted Pei Mei, she had never seen the technique on a real person. So likely they would have used anything from a piece a wood to a dummy. Also she trained with Pei Mei for years not months. Remember Bill telling her not to sass back at least for the "first year or so till he warms up to her" - they had lots of time together.

Answer: The same way he would have taught her any other dangerous or esoteric techniques. Most likely, he would show her the precise way to position the fingers, precisely when and where to strike and then have her practice until she could do it correctly in an instant. In addition, a training aid such as a dummy would also help her know exactly how much force to use, as well as letting Pai Mei judge whether or not she did everything correctly and correct any flaws. But it really is impossible to do anything but speculate on this, as techniques like this and the teachings thereof are deliberately not shown to the general public (if they even exist, that is), and so the only ones who know how to teach this will not give away any hints or reveal any special training methods they use.

Twotall

Question: There is a humorous scene in which we cut to a classroom and Beatrix's name is called, to which she responds she is present. I thought it was funny, but what was it's significance? Where was it from? Was it an homage shot, or just a joke?

Answer: It is just to show that Beatrix Kiddo really is the name of "The Bride". It would not have the same effect if the teacher had called the name and you would see an unknown little girl answer.

Twotall

Answer: It's homage to the Woody Allen movie, Annie Hall. He plays a comedy writer who reminiscences about his childhood classmates. In the flashback, he is his adult self in a classroom of children.

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.