Pulp Fiction to Mia Wallace's heart is on "Premiere"s list of "100 Greatest Movie Moments". The scene of Travolta and Thurman's characters dancing has been frequently homaged, most unambiguously in the 2005 film "Be Cool", starring the same two actors. The image of Travolta and Jackson's characters standing side by side in suit and tie, pointing their guns, has also become widely familiar. In 2007, BBC News reported that "London transport workers have painted over an iconic mural by 'guerrilla artist' Banksy ... The image depicted a scene from Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction", with Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta clutching bananas
Pulp Fiction of the briefcase's contents alters one's understanding of the movie. Despite Tarantino's statements, many solutions to what one scholar calls this "unexplained postmodern puzzle" have been proposed. A strong similarity has often been observed with the 1955 film noir "Kiss Me Deadly". That movie, whose protagonist Tarantino has cited as a source for Butch, features a glowing briefcase housing an atomic explosive. In their review of Alex Cox's 1984 film "Repo Man" in the "Daily Telegraph", Nick Cowen and Hari Patience suggest that "Pulp Fiction" may also owe "a debt of inspiration" to the glowing car trunk in that film.