OK sooooo I think its high time I did another one of them review thingies and I decided to go back to the 90s to do this one (well not literally!) and it will be on Quentin Tarantino's debut film, Reservoir Dogs. So let's get on the suits, the shades and do that slow-mo walk and give this one a look....
Right so we all know the story pretty much by now but I thought I would go over it roughly, so it begins with eight men sitting in a diner have a discussion, the men in questioning are going to perform a heist at jewelry store. Six of the men are given alises of Mr Brown (Tarantino), Mr Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr White (Harvey Keitel), Mr Blue (Edward Bunker), Mr Orange (Tim Roth) and Mr Pink (Steve Buscemi) for the purposes of the robbery and the organiser and mob boss, Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) doesn't want them to use their christian names. Cabot also organises the heist with his son/underboss, "Nice Guy" Eddie (Chris Penn) and together they discuss the heist among other more trivial things and then leave.
The next scene cuts to Mr White driving a car with Mr Orange in the back, who has been shot in the stomach and is bleeding badly. White drives them to an abandoned warehouse, the agreed meeting point for the thieves and takes Orange in and tries to reassure him he will be okay. Not long after Pink arrives, who is convinced that they were set up by the cops, given the fact that they showed up so fast at the scene of the crime. White tells Pink that Mr Brown as killed at the scene of the heist as well and they both discuss how Mr Blonde killed several civilians during the robbery when the alarm was sounded, and White is angered at how Joe would employ a psychopath like Blonde. Afterward White and Pink argue with one another over whether or not they should take Orange to a hospital, which becomes heated as they pull guns on one another, but it is soon diffused by the arrival of Mr Blonde. White berates Blonde for his actions at the jewelry store, but Blonde quickly dismisses the criticism and tells them he has spoken to Nice Guy Eddie who has told them to stay put. Blonde then takes White and Pink out to his car and opens the boot to reveal he has taken a police officer hostage, Marvin Nash (Kirk Baltz) and the three of them beat up to try and force him into revealing any information of an informant.
Later on Eddie arrives at the warehouse and confronts the men over the bungled heist and the possibility of a setup, which he refuses to accept and tells White and Pink to come with to ditch the stolen cars and retrieve the stashed diamonds (which Pink has secured) leaving Blonde alone with Nash and Orange, who is unconscious. Blonde then decides to torture Nash for his own amusement and while listening to a show on the radio named "K Billy's supersounds of the 70s" he tortures Nash by slashing his face and cutting his right ear off with a straight razor. Blonde then goes outside and comes back in with some gasoline which he douses Nash with and prepares to set him alight, but at this point Orange regains consciousness and kills Blonde. Blonde tells Nash that he is an undercover cop and that the police are waiting in force to storm the warehouse once Cabot shows up there. And from here we get Orange's back story, which leads into the events prior to the heist and then it cuts back to the aftermath of the heist, which leads into the film's dramatic climax....
It has to be said that Reservoir Dogs remains one of the most impressive film debuts in recent years of an any filmmaker, although for me it still remains one of my least favourite Tarantinto films, but its still compelling, intense and entertaining film nonetheless. Tarantino, was a former video store worker, who had an indepth knowledge of films and his passion for film is clear in his works not only in Reservoir Dogs but his other films as well. Tarantino also loosely based the plot of the film around Stanley Kubrick's film, The Killing, and it also pays homage to The Taking of Pelham, one two three, where they used similar aliases as Mr White, Mr Pink, etc, as well as the film's final stand-off resembling a climactic sequences from the Chinese action film, City on Fire. Tarantino initally planned to make the film for only $30,000 using 16mm film but his screenplay soon gained the attention of Harvey Keitel, who helped raised funds to get it made into a proper film feature, with the film's final budget being 1.5 million dollars. The film on its release was a critical success although it also received some controversy over its violence, but this of course is something that would feature heavily in Tarantino's other films.
Getting onto the performances, this is where Reservoir Dogs really excels as they are all top notch and Tarantino has assembled a great cast. Starting with Harvey Keitel who is superb in his role as Mr White, one of the more compassionate thieves who helps the dying Mr Orange, after he has been shot. Keitel has plenty of highlights in the film, such as in the opening scene where he get's fed up with Joe Cabot reading from an old diary, and he grabs it off him. And in the scene Keitel as White says "for the past 15 minutes, you have been droning on about names. Toby?? Toby Wong. Toby Wong?? Charlie fuckin Chan! I've got Madonna's big dick coming out of my right ear and Toby the jap out of my left!". Another scene is where White confronts Blonde at the warehouse over his killing spree at the store and White says to Blonde "You better start talkin, asshole! Cos we've got alot of shit to talk about! We're already freaked out, and we need you acting freaky like we need a fuckin bag on our hip!". And as White is about to leaving Blonde tells him not to take a step further, White yells "FUCK YOU MANIAC! Its your fuckin fault we're in this trouble!" and Blonde asks him what's his problem and White yells back "Yeah I've got a BIG FUCKIN PROBLEM!! With any trigger happy madman, who almost get's me shot!". And this is followed by "You almost KILLED ME!! ASSHOLE! If I knew what kind of guy you were I never would have agreed to work with you!". Keitel also has some good moments with Tim Roth, especially in the scene after they just arrive at the warehouse and White tries to reassure Blonde that he will be ok, and says "You're not gonna fuckin die, kid, alright? Along with the kneecap, the gut is the most painful area a guy can get shot in. But it takes a long time to die from it. We're talking days, and time is on your side". And later on in the film where in the flashback scene, White tells Orange on how to handle a tricky customer at the jewelry store and he tells him what to do if the manager gives him hassle. And White says "Now managers usually know better than to fuck around, but if you get one who's giving you some static, cut off one of his fingers, the little one and then tell him his thumb's next. After that he'll tell if he wears ladies underwear!".
Tim Roth is also excellent in his role as Mr Orange, the undercover cop who infiltrates the gang and takes part in the robbery, which goes awry and later suffers a gunshot wound to the stomach and spends most of the film lying in his own blood in the warehouse. Roth also shares some excellent scenes with Keitel, especially in the scene where White takes Orange to the warehouse and Orange pleads with White to drop him off at the hospital and he says to White "Look in my eyes, man. Look in my eyes. I swear to fucking God! I won't tell them anything! You'll be safe, man". And later on when Blonde regains consciousness and shoots Blonde just before he burns the cop, Nash, he quietly asks Nash his name and tells him that the police are waiting just a block away. And when Nash petulantly yells at Blonde about his sliced off ear and slashed face, Blonde musters all he can and shouts back "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!!! I'M FUCKING DYING HERE! I'M FUCKIN DYING!!". And later on in the film during Orange's backstory, Orange talks to his fellow cop, Holdaway (Randy Brooks) about the group of thieves and what does Cabot look like and Orange says "Do you remember the Fantastic four?? The thing! The motherfucker looks just like the thing!".
Steve Buscemi is terrific in his role as the highly strung Mr Pink, who is the most sussed out of the group and realises quickly that they were set up. Buscemi has plenty of great moments in the film such as in the opening scene where Pink disagrees with tipping waitresses much to the dismay of the other members of the group. And Buscemi get's some good lines in this scene where he rubs his fingers together saying "You know what this is? Its the world's smallest violin playing just for the waitresses!". And another great highlight in the film is Buscemi's scene with Keitel where White and Pink face off against each other in the warehouse and pull their guns on each other. And Pink yells "You wanna fuck with me?? I'll show you who you're fuckin with?! Fuck you, White! I didn't create this situation I'm dealing with it! You're acting like a first year fucking thief. I'm acting like a professional! You lookin at me like its my fault? I didn't tell them my name or where I'm from! Shit, 15 minutes you almost told me YOUR name! So if you wanna throw bad looks somewhere, throw them at a mirror!". And in the next scene where Pink diffuses a potential barny between White and Blonde, and White complains about taking sides with Blonde, Pink yells "Fuck sides man what we need here is a little solidarity! If someone is sticking a red hot poker up our asses I wanna know who's name is on the handle!". And later on Buscemi also has a fun moment where he complains about being named Mr Pink for the heist, and Pink says to Cabot "Mr Pink sounds like Mr Pussy!" and White says to him who cares about the name and Pink says "Its easy for you to say, you've got a cool sounding name. So if you don't mind being Mr Pink, do you wanna trade?" And as Cabot grows tired of Pink's complaining, Pink says "Jesus Christ, Joe, let's forget about it. Its beneath me. I'm Mr Pink. Let's move on".
Michael Madsen provides a memorable and rather chilling performance as the cool headed sociopath, Mr Blonde, who engages in a killing spree during the heist and later tortures the cop, Nash in the warehouse (the heist itself however is never seen). Madsen in his role get's some good glib dialogue as Blonde, and his flashback story provides a nice introduction to his role, where Blonde (or Vic Vega as his real name is) meets up with Joe and Eddie. And Blonde has some playful rapport with Eddie the scene where the two of them wrestle on the floor and Eddie comically accuses Blonde of trying to fuck him, and Blonde says "If I were a butt cowboy, I wouldn't even throw you to the posse!" followed by "Eddie if you keep talking like a bitch, I'm gonna slap you like a bitch!". And later on in the scene where Blonde is left alone with Orange and Nash, he walks up to Nash, who is tied to a chair and says to him "Guess what? I think I'm parked in the red zone!". And in the same scene Madsen delivers that immortal chilling line where he says to Nash "Look, kid. I'm not gonna bullshit you. I don't really give a good fuck what you know or don't know, but I'm gonna torture you anyway!". Another amusing moment Madsen has is in the scene where Nice Guy Eddie turns up at the warehouse and White complains again about Blonde's behaviour at the jewelry and White says pointing his finger "He was like this... BAM! BAM! BAM!". And Blonde wearily says "Yeah bam, bam bam! I told them not to touch the fuckin alarm and they did! If they haven't done what I told them not to do, then they would still be alive!" followed by sarcastic applause by White who says "My fucking hero!" and Blonde takes a little bow smiling.
Chris Penn is also great in his role as Joe Cabot's son, Nice Guy Eddie, the underboss who co-organises the heist. Penn also has some really good moments such as the sccene where Eddie first arrives at the warehouse and confronts the men over what has happened. And Eddie says "You fuckin assholes turn a jewelry store into the wild west and you wonder why the fuckin cops show up?!" and he asks why they are beating up the cop. And Eddie says "If you fucking beat this prick long enough, he's gonna tell you who started the goddamn fuckin Chigaco fire! But that don't necessarily make it fuckin so! Come on, man, think!". And later on Penn has a funny scene where he tells the story of "Lady E" a woman who's abusive partner lead her to play a practical joke on him. And Eddie says in the scene "She buys this wacko glue and glues his dick to his belly! The paramedics had to cut the prick loose!" and White asks if he was pissed off and Eddie laughs and says "How would you feel if every time you had to take a piss you had to do a handstand!". And later Penn has one of his best moments when he confronts Orange over what happened to Blonde when Orange killed him and he refuses to believe Orange's excuse. "You're telling me this man who did five years for us, and we're making good on our commitment to him, he's GONNA DECIDE OUT OF THE FUCKIN BLUE TO RIP US OFF???!! Why don't you tell me what REALLY happened?!".
Lawrence Tierney also is very good in his role as the gruff aged mob boss, Joe Cabot, who organises the jewel heist. And Tierney's best scene comes when he tells the men their names "Here are you're name, Mr Blonde, Mr White, Mr Blue, Mr Brown and Mr Pink" and when Pink asks "Why am I Mr Pink?" Joe sharply says "Cos you're a faggot alright?!!!". And when Pink asks why can't they chose their own colours, Joe says "No, no way. Tried it once, it doesn't work. You got four guys all fighting over who wants to be Mr Black, but they don't know each other so nobody wants to back down! No way. I pick! You're Mr Pink! Be thankful you're not Mr Yellow!". And at the of the scene Joe says to the men "I'm so goddamn mad hollering at you guys I can hardly talk! Let's go to work!". And later on when Joe turns up at the warehouse he confirms that Mr Blue was killed, and Pinks "Blue's dead?" and Joe delivers the great line "dead as Dilinger!".
Kirk Baltz is also very good in his role as Nash the cop who is taken hostage, beaten and then tortured by Blonde, and I still find it hard to look at the open wound of his severed ear in the film to this day! Yeeughhh! Baltz also does very well in the film's most unsettling and difficult scene where Nash begs with Blonde to spare him just as Blonde douses the cop in gasoline and prepares to burn him, only to be saved by Orange in the nick of time. Baltz's most memorable line comes when he complains to Orange about how he looks and Orange tells him there are cops just a block away waiting to move in and he says "What the fuck are they waiting for?! I mean this guy slices my face and cuts my fucking ear off! I'm fucking deformed!". And lastly Edward Bunker does well in his brief role as Mr Blue, who later dies off screen and his best line comes in the opening scene where he asks Pink how he would define a special waitress who would put forward a special effort by saying "What's special. Take you in the back and suck your dick?!" and Eddie ponders and says "I'd go over 12% for that!".
And last of all Tarantinto provides his own tuppence in the film as Mr Brown who delivers an admittedly silly and annoying monologue about the real meaning of the Madonna song "Like a virgin" and he refers to the woman in the song as a "cooz who is a regular fuck machine, I'm talkin morning, noon, day and night! Dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick!" And Blue then asks "How many dicks it that?" and White dryly says "alot!". And Brown continues by saying "you see the pain reminds a fuck machine what it was once like to be a virgin. Hence like a virgin!". And later on when Brown is given his alias of Mr Brown, Tarantino delivers his best line when complains and says "Mr Brown it a little too close to Mr Shit!".
So finally getting onto the director, Tarantinto does an excellent job with Dogs and given that it is his debut its also a fairly impressive technical film, with Tarantino using a string of long takes to give the actors good distance from one another and it goes without saying his writing is of a very high quality as his script witty, immensely profane, and above all very clever. Tarantino also paces the film to perfection as it clocks in at just 95 minutes so there is not a minute's flab in there (well in movie length weight terms that is!).
As for flaws does Reservoir Dogs have any glaring ones??? Well I wouldn't say glaring but I feel the film does have one or two problems, and to start off I think its remains one of Tarantino's less accessible films and that the violence in the film also could threaten to alienate audiences as there was some real controversy when it was released, specifically regarding the ear cutting off scene, even though you don't see the action itself. The film was also even delayed its initial video release by the British film censors due to the timing of its impending video release with the Jamie Bulger murder, which occurred roundabout that time and as a result the film wasn't subsequently released until 1995. The film also has some rather uncomfortable racist and misogynistic tones to it especially in the language of the thieves which comes over in the scene where White, Pink and Eddie talk about how black men treat women. And in this scene for example White says "How is it every nigger I know treats their woman like a piece of shit?". And another scene is where Pink yells at White and Blonde in the warehouse and he says "Fuckin guys are acting like a bunch of fuckin niggers, man! You ever worked with niggers? Just like you two! Always trying to kill each other!". And in Reservoir Dogs it is a predominantly male orientated universe and women play very much second fiddle to them, where the only women we see in the film is the one who is dragged out of her car window by Pink or the other one who Orange shoots dead in retaliation for her shooting him in the abdomen. And this would be themes that would continue to permeate their way through Tarantino's work although he does somewhat cut them down in future films, and in Kill Bill and Jackie Brown he does provide specific strong female leads rather than helpless bystanders. I also felt Tarantino's small performance in the film is very much superflous to the flm itself and his whole monologue on Brown's analysis of "Like a vigrin" is pretty annoying where the smug criminal tells the men his pointless and silly theory on the meaning of the song. But at the same time you get that Tarantino wanted to announce himself on and off the screen as well so people could quickly put a name to the face.
But all that aside Reservoir Dogs is still a very entertaining and solid film debut from Quentin Tarantino which is still worth a watch over 20 years later.
And with that I shall leave you's there.
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