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Reservoir Dogs is the 1992 debut film of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It portrays what happens before and after a botched jewel heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast with Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Quentin Tarantino, Eddie Bunker, Chris Penn and Lawrence Tierney. Tarantino has a minor role, as does criminal-turned-author Eddie Bunker. It incorporates many themes and aesthetics that have become Tarantino's hallmarks: violent crime, pop culture references, memorable dialogue, profuse profanity, and a nonlinear storyline.
The film has become a classic of independent film and a cult hit.
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Quotations
Five Total Strangers Team Up For The Perfect Crime. They Don't Know Each Other's Name. But They've Got Each Other's Number.
Four perfect killers. One perfect crime. Now all they have to fear is each other.
I don't wanna kill anybody. But if I gotta get out that door, and you're standing in my way, one way or the other, you're gettin' outta my way.
If they hadn't a done what I told them not to do they would still be alive.
If you keep talking like a bitch, I'm gonna slap you like one.
If you shoot this man, you die next. Repeat. If you shoot this man, you die next.
Encyclopedia
Reservoir Dogs is the 1992 debut film of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It portrays what happens before and after a botched jewel heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast with Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Quentin Tarantino, Eddie Bunker, Chris Penn and Lawrence Tierney. Tarantino has a minor role, as does criminal-turned-author Eddie Bunker. It incorporates many themes and aesthetics that have become Tarantino's hallmarks: violent crime, pop culture references, memorable dialogue, profuse profanity, and a nonlinear storyline.
The film has become a classic of independent film and a cult hit. It was named "Greatest Independent Film of all Time" by Empire. Reservoir Dogs was generally well received and the cast was praised by many critics. Although it was never given much promotion upon release, the film was a modest success by grossing $2,832,029, which made its budget back. However, it did become a major hit in the United Kingdom; grossing nearly 6.5 million pounds, and it achieved higher popularity after the success of Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. It is often criticized for its high degree of violence and profanity, and audience members reportedly walked out during a torture scene.
A soundtrack titled Reservoir Dogs: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released featuring songs used in the film, mostly from the 1970s. In 2006, a video game was released to mediocre reviews. The video game—like the film—caused controversy for its violence.
Plot
The film opens to eight men eating breakfast at a diner: Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr. Blue (Eddie Bunker), Mr. Brown (Quentin Tarantino), Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney), and his son, "Nice Guy" Eddie (Chris Penn). Mr. Brown discusses his comparative analysis on Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and Mr. Pink explains his anti-tipping policy until Joe forces him to leave a tip.
After the credits, the action cuts quickly to the interior of a speeding car. Mr. White, driving with one hand, is trying to comfort a hysterical Mr. Orange, who has been shot in the abdomen and is bleeding profusely. They arrive at an abandoned warehouse, later revealed to be the rendezvous point for the armed robbery they have just committed. Mr. White leaves Mr. Orange on the warehouse floor. Mr. Pink appears and angrily suggests that the jewelry heist was a setup. Mr. Brown has been killed by the police and the whereabouts of Mr. Blonde and Mr. Blue are unknown to Mr. White and Mr. Pink.
Mr. White and Mr. Pink are enraged at Mr. Blonde, who shot and killed several civilians after the alarm went off. They argue about whether or not to take the unconscious Mr. Orange to a hospital. The argument turns violent when Mr. White reveals that he told Mr. Orange his real first name. They point their loaded pistols at each other. At that point, Mr. Blonde, who has been watching the action from the shadows, steps forward and tells them not to leave the warehouse because Nice Guy Eddie is on his way there. Mr. Blonde takes them outside to his car and opens the trunk to reveal Marvin Nash (Kirk Baltz), a police officer he has captured.
Mr. Pink and Mr. White brutalize the officer, then Mr. Blonde tapes him to a chair. Eddie arrives at the warehouse and orders Mr. Pink and Mr. White to come with him to retrieve the stolen diamonds (that Mr. Pink stashed after fleeing the scene) and get rid of the hijacked vehicles, while ordering Mr. Blonde to stay with the dying Mr. Orange and the "cop". The officer denies knowing anything about the setup, and begs to be released. Mr. Blonde then draws a straight razor from his cowboy boot and tunes a radio to K-Billy's "Super Sounds of the '70s", which is playing "Stuck in the Middle With You" by Stealers Wheel. Dancing around to the music, Mr. Blonde slashes the officer's face and cuts off his ear. He then splashes the officer with gasoline and prepares to ignite it with his cigarette lighter when Mr. Orange suddenly shoots Mr. Blonde several times in the chest, killing him. Mr. Orange tells Marvin that he is actually an undercover police detective named Freddy Newandyke, and reassures him that a large police force is in position a few blocks down the road waiting for Joe Cabot to arrive.
Mr. Orange's scenes reveals how he went undercover, his mission being to catch Cabot. Joe prepares the robbery and lays out the heist plan, including the code names for the men. The story then jumps to Mr. White, Mr. Orange and Mr. Brown minutes after the robbery; Mr. Brown has been shot in the head and crashes their getaway car because he has blood in his eyes. After Mr. White kills two pursuing cops, he and Mr. Orange see that Mr. Brown has died from his injury. They hijack a car but the female driver shoots Mr. Orange in the abdomen before Mr. Orange shoots her back and kills her. The film replays a part of the car scene from the start of the film before the view jumps back to present time at the warehouse.
The remainder of the heist group return to the warehouse to find a dead Mr. Blonde. Mr. Orange claims that Mr. Blonde was going to kill the officer, Mr. Orange and the rest of the gang so that he could take the diamonds for himself. Eddie doesn't believe the story and, furious with Mr. Orange, shoots Marvin dead. Joe walks in and tells everyone that Mr. Blue was killed, and confidently accuses Mr. Orange of being an informant, forcing Mr. White to defend Mr. Orange. Joe points a gun at Mr. Orange as Mr. White points his gun at Joe. Eddie then points his gun at Mr. White, posing a Mexican standoff. After a brief attempt at reasoning with each other, Joe shoots Mr. Orange and is then shot dead by Mr. White; Eddie shoots Mr. White, who shoots and kills Eddie. Mr. Pink, who stayed out of the shootout, takes the diamonds and flees. There is some ambiguity as to his fate; faint sound effects of a car trying to start, police sirens and gunshots suggests he was either captured or killed by the police. Mr. White cradles Mr. Orange in his arms and Mr. Orange reveals that he is in fact a cop, devastating his friend. Mr. White puts his gun to Mr. Orange's head just as the police enter. He pulls the trigger, just as the police blow him away as well. The screen then cuts to black.
Cast and characters
- Harvey Keitel as Mr. White: A professional criminal and thief. His real name is revealed to be Lawrence Dimmick. Mr. White is portrayed in the movie as a criminal who does not hesitate to kill but is still human enough to care about innocent bystanders, as is evident by his line, "The choice between doing ten years and killing some stupid motherfucker ain't no choice at all, but I ain't no madman either." He blindly believes in Mr. Orange and takes a bullet for him in the final Mexican standoff. After Mr. Orange reveals his true identity, Mr. White, in a state of rage and grief, shoots him in the head. He is then shot in turn by the police, who had just arrived to the scene.
- Tim Roth as Mr. Orange: An undercover police officer, his real name is revealed to be Freddy Newandyke. Later scenes reveal the story of how he went undercover, including the fake "commode story" he told the robbers to gain status and trust. He is shot in the abdomen by a woman trying to defend herself and spends most of the film bleeding on the warehouse floor. He takes a second bullet during the Mexican standoff and is shot dead by Mr. White after he reveals to him that he is a police officer.
- Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink: The only major character whose real name is never revealed, also the only major character who might still be alive at the end of the film, although faint sound effects could be taken to suggest otherwise. Mr. Pink often reminds the other robbers to be "professionals" and is the only person present to stay out of the Mexican standoff. Off-camera it is suggested he is arrested by the police arriving outside to apprehend the gangsters in the warehouse. Mr. Pink is notable for his anti-tipping monologue from the beginning of the film.
- Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde: His real name is Victor Vega, also known as Vic or Toothpick Vic. He is a sadistic psychopathic criminal who indiscriminately shot several civilians during the robbery. He also gleefully tortures a policeman for his own pleasure—slashing the young officer's face, cutting off his ear and dousing him with gasoline—only to be stopped from burning him alive by Mr. Orange, when he shoots Vega several times in the chest, killing him.
- Chris Penn as "Nice Guy" Eddie Cabot: The son of Joe Cabot. Eddie does not take part in the heist; he is also the only one who does not initially believe the heist was a setup. He shoots Mr. White in the Mexican standoff between Eddie, Mr. White, and Joe Cabot, and Mr. White in turn shoots and kills Eddie and his father Joe.
- Lawrence Tierney as Joe Cabot: The mastermind of the heist and father of "Nice Guy" Eddie Cabot, Joe is killed by Mr. White during the final standoff. Mr. Orange, during his meeting with fellow cop Holdaway, compares Joe to The Thing from the Fantastic Four.
- Quentin Tarantino as Mr. Brown: Tarantino plays a small role as he often does in his films; Mr. Brown's real name is also not revealed. He had the opening lines of the film in Mr. Brown's insight that "Like a Virgin" is a "metaphor for big dicks". He is shot in the head and killed by the cops.
- Edward Bunker as Mr. Blue: A small role played by ex-criminal Eddie Bunker. Despite not having much screen time, he is often referenced by the other characters since nobody saw what happened to him after the heist. Near the end of the film, Joe reveals that Mr. Blue was killed by the police.
- Randy Brooks as Holdaway: A police officer and a friend of Mr. Orange. He is shown helping Mr. Orange prepare for his mission and presenting the "commode story" to him.
- Kirk Baltz as Marvin Nash: The police officer who is kidnapped by Mr. Blonde after the heist and tortured during the ear-cutting scene. He is shot to death in a fit of rage by "Nice Guy" Eddie.
- Steven Wright as the voice of K-Billy DJ: The voice of comedian Steven Wright moves in and out of the film as the voice of the DJ of "K-Billy's Super Sounds of the Seventies", the radio station referenced several times throughout the film.
Production
Tarantino had been working as a video store clerk in Los Angeles and was originally going to shoot the film with his friends on a budget of $30,000 on 16 mm format with producer Lawrence Bender playing Nice Guy Eddie. However, when actor Harvey Keitel became involved he agreed to act in the film and co-produce. Harvey Keitel was then cast as Mr. White. With Keitel's assistance, the filmmakers were able to raise $1.5 million to make the film.
Reservoir Dogs was, according to Tarantino, his version of Stanley Kubrick's The Killing. Tarantino himself said that "[he] didn't go out of [his] way to do a rip-off of The Killing but [he] did think of it as [his] 'Killing,' [his] take on that kind of heist movie". The film's plot was suggested by the 1952 movie Kansas City Confidential. Reservoir Dogs has also been accused of plagiarism, specifically Ringo Lam's 1987 film City on Fire, and has even been accused of lifting entire scenes from this film. Additionally, Joseph H. Lewis's The Big Combo inspired the scene where a cop is tortured in a chair. Tarantino has denied that he plagiarized with Reservoir Dogs instead claiming that he does homages.
One unique feature of the film is that the actual heist is never shown. Tarantino has said that the reason for not showing the heist was initially budgetary but that he always liked the idea of not showing it and stuck with that idea. He has said that the technique lets the viewer realize that the movie is "about other things". He compared this to the work of a novelist and has said that he wanted the movie to be about something that is not seen and that he wanted it to "play with a real-time clock as opposed to a movie clock ticking".
Reception
Reservoir Dogs opened in 19 theaters with a first week total of $147,839 in the United States. The film was never released to more than 61 theaters in the US and totaled $2,832,029 at the box office there. The film gained most of its success after the popularity of Pulp Fiction. However, in Britain, the film was a success and gained recognition. After its success in Britain, it was put into the Sundance Film Festival. Empire Magazine named it the "Greatest Independent Film ever made". The movie has since come to be seen as an important and highly-influential milestone of independent filmmaking. Reservoir Dogs carries a 95% rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Reservoir Dogs has inspired many other independent films and is considered key in the development of independent cinema. The Bollywood film Kaante from Sanjay Gupta is an unauthorized remake of Reservoir Dogs featuring a similar plot and dialogue style.
Critical reaction
At the film's release at the Sundance Film Festival, film critic Jami Bernard of the New York Daily News compared the effect of Reservoir Dogs to that of the 1895 film L'Arrivée d'un Train en Gare de la Ciotat, whereby audiences putatively observed a moving train approaching the camera and scrambled. Bernard claimed that Reservoir Dogs had a similar effect and people were not ready for it. Vincent Canby of the New York Times enjoyed the cast and the usage of non-linear storytelling. He similarly complimented Tarantino's directing and liked the fact that he did not often use close-ups in the film. Kenneth Turan of the LA Times also enjoyed the film and the acting, particularly that of Buscemi, Tierney and Madsen, and said "Tarantino's palpable enthusiasm, his unapologetic passion for what he's created, reinvigorates this venerable plot and, mayhem aside, makes it involving for longer than you might suspect."
Roger Ebert was less enthusiastic; he felt that the script could have been better and said that the movie "feels like it's going to be terrific", but Tarantino's script does not have much curiosity about the characters. He also stated that "[Tarantino] has an idea, and trusts the idea to drive the plot." Ebert gave the movie two and a half stars out of four also claiming that he enjoyed it, and that it was a very good film from a talented director, like other critics, he enjoyed the cast, but stated "I liked what I saw, but I wanted more".
Reservoir Dogs has received substantial criticism for its strong violence and language. One particular scene that viewers found unnerving was Michael Madsen's ear-cutting scene, and Madsen himself reportedly had a great deal of difficulty finishing the scene especially after Kirk Baltz ad-libbed the desperate plea "I've got a little kid at home". Many people have left theaters during the film and Tarantino commented at the time
It happens at every single screening. For some people the violence, or the rudeness of the language, is a mountain they can't climb. That's OK. It's not their cup of tea. But I am affecting them. I wanted that scene to be disturbing. During a screening of the movie at a Film Festival in Barcelona, fifteen people walked out, including renowned Horror film Director Wes Craven and Special Effects artist Rick Baker. Baker later told Tarantino to take the walk out as a "compliment" and explained that he found the violence unnerving because of its heightened sense of realism.
Critic John Hartl compared the ear-cutting scene to the shower murder scene in Psycho and Tarantino to David Lynch. He furthermore explored parallels between Reservoir Dogs and Glengarry Glenn Ross. After this film, Tarantino was also compared to Martin Scorsese, Sam Peckinpah, John Singleton, Gus Van Sant and Abel Ferrara. For its nonlinear storyline, Reservoir Dogs has also often been compared to Rashomon. Critic James Berardinelli was of a similar opinion; he complimented both the cast and Tarantino's dialogue writing abilities. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post was similarly enthusiastic about the cast, complimenting the film on its "deadpan sense of humor". Todd McCarthy called the film "undeniably impressive" and was of the opinion that it was influenced by Mean Streets, Goodfellas and The Killing.
Critical analysis
Reservoir Dogs has often been seen as a prominent film in terms of on-screen violence. J.P. Telotte compared Reservoir Dogs to classic caper noir films and points out the irony in its ending scenes. Mark Irwin also made the connection between Reservoir Dogs and classic American noir.
A notable motif in Tarantino's films is the use of accidents to move the plot further. In Reservoir Dogs, the major plot event is also moved by an accidental occurrence; in this case the robbery going awry. Caroline Jewers called Reservoir Dogs a "feudal epic" and compared it to Pulp Fiction. She paralleled the color pseudonyms to color names of medieval knights.
A frequently cited comparison has been to Tarantino's second and more successful film Pulp Fiction especially since the majority of audiences saw Reservoir Dogs after the success of Pulp Fiction. Comparisons have been made regarding the black humor in both the films, the theme of accidents, and more concretely, the style of dialogue and narrative style that Tarantino incorporates into both of his movies. Also, the prominent theme of racism plays a big part in the films, specifically the relationship between whites and blacks. Stanley Crouch of the New York Times compared the way the white criminals speak of blacks in Reservoir Dogs to the way they are spoken of in Scorsese's Mean Streets and Goodfellas. Crouch observed the way the blacks are looked down upon in Reservoir Dogs, but also the way that the criminals accuse each other of "verbally imitating" the blacks and the characters' apparent sexual attraction to black actress Pam Grier.
DVD releases
Region 1 DVDs of Reservoir Dogs have been released multiple times. The first release was a single two-sided disc from Artisan Entertainment, released in June 1997 and featuring both pan-and-scan and letterbox versions of the film. Five years later, Artisan did a two-disc 10th annversary edition featuring multiple covers color-coded to match the nicknames of five of the characters (Pink, White, Orange, Blonde and Brown) and a disc-full of bonus features such as interviews with the cast and crew..
For the 15th anniversary of the film, Lions Gate Entertainment, which had purchased Artisan in the interim, produced a two-disc 15th anniversary edition with a remastered 16x9 transfer, a new supplement, but not all of the extra features from the 10th Anniversary edition. In particular, interviews with the cast and crew were dropped, and a new 48-minute-long feature called "Tributes and Dedications" was included. The packaging for the 15th anniversary edition is fancier: the discs are enclosed in a large matchbook, and the matchbook is in a thin aluminum case made to resemble a gas can. The content of this disc, except for the packaging, are also available on Blu-Ray disc.
Soundtrack
The Reservoir Dogs: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was the first soundtrack produced by Quentin Tarantino and set the structure his later soundtracks would follow. This includes the use of snippets of dialogue from the film. The soundtrack has selections of songs from the 70s. The radio station "K-Billy's Super Sound of the Seventies" played a prominent role in the film. The DJ for the radio was chosen to be Steven Wright, a comedian known for his deadpan delivery of jokes.
An unusual feature of the soundtrack was the choice of songs. The film uses music from the 1970s. Tarantino has said that he feels the music to be a counterpoint to the on-screen violence and action. He also stated that he wished for the film to have a '50s feel while using '70s music. A prominent instance of this is the torture scene to the tune of "Stuck in the Middle With You".
Track listing
- "And Now Little Green Bag..." (Dialogue extract performed by Steven Wright) – 0:15
- "Little Green Bag" by The George Baker Selection – 3:15
- "Rock Flock of Five" (Dialogue extract performed by Steven Wright) – 0:11
- "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede – 2:53
- "Bohemiath" (Dialogue extract performed by Steven Wright) – 0:34
- "I Gotcha" by Joe Tex – 2:27
- "Magic Carpet Ride" by Bedlam – 5:10
- "Madonna Speech" (Dialogue extract performed by Quentin Tarantino, Edward Bunker, Lawrence Tierney, Steve Buscemi and Harvey Keitel) – 0:59
- "Fool for Love" by Sandy Rogers – 3:25
- "Super Sounds" (Dialogue extract performed by Steven Wright) – 0:19
- "Stuck in the Middle" by Stealers Wheel – 3:23
- "Harvest Moon" by Bedlam – 2:38
- "Let's Get a Taco" (Dialogue extract performed by Harvey Keitel and Tim Roth) – 1:02
- "Keep on Truckin'" (Dialogue extract performed by Steven Wright) – 0:16
- "Coconut" by Harry Nilsson – 3:50
- "Home of Rock" (Dialogue extract performed by Steven Wright) – 0:05
Video game
A video game based on the film was released in 2006 for PC, Xbox and PlayStation 2. However, the game does not feature the likeness of any of the actors with the exception of Michael Madsen. It received mediocre reviews, but caused controversy for its amount of violence and was banned in Australia and New Zealand.
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