Why was pulp fiction almost given an NC-17 rating?

Answer 1

In the scene where Jules and Vincent are transporting Marvin from the house and Vincent turns around and accidentally shoots Marvin in the face, the original cut included a shot of a fake head exploding on camera - then it cutting to a follow shot of blood splattering all over the inside of the car. Originally, this scene was dubbed too violent due to the head exploding and thus considering this film was already pushing boudries for an R-Film, the MPAA bumped the rating to an NC-17. Quickly realizing this, Tarantino agreed to cut out the head exploding scene, but the scene itself is still very graphic.