I always loved the Fox force five joke thread in Pulp Fiction.
It’s not a great joke. I believe there are several tellings of it over on Jokeyphone, but this is done in a way that has so much emotional resonance and it’s really used as a link to the characters for Tarantino, and an easy way to give his small talk context. Earlier in the scene as the fifties diner as they wolf down burgers Thurman’s character sets it up and tells him about a pilot he did called Fox Force Five. Her character tells a joke. She refuses to tell Travolta the joke as she’s sure he won’t laugh. Later after a horrible night where she almost died from a heroin overdose, and he sees his life come to an end as she’s his crazy bosses wife, he drops her off and as she goes inside she finally gives up the joke, and sure enough he doesn’t laugh. It’s not that he’s a stronger man that to be tempted by her charm, it’s that fate has played the night out in a way that the deck is now stacked in his favor. He has what it takes to walk away.
