“Reservoir Dogs” (1992)
“Are you gonna bark all day little doggie, or are you gonna bite?”
“Are you gonna bark all day little doggie, or are you gonna bite?”
For good or ill, I’ve been a Quentin Tarantino obsessive my entire adult cinema going and film loving life, and here’s my appreciation of the film that started it all for me as well as yet another Hollywood enfant terrible. I can’t claim to have seen Reservoir Dogs when it first opened at the cinema three decades ago but I did have a treasured bootleg copy that I played to death before buying an official VHS cassette and at the turn of the century, an American import DVD (Mr White edition) that still has pride of place within my QT collection.
One of my first long form film articles originally written exactly a decade ago, I present to you either Tarantino’s entire cinematic career in the opus blog articles linked at the bottom of this paragraph or after this, my appreciation of the opening 9 minutes of Reservoir Dogs together with a little character colourisation and a general love-in for a spectacular debut from a director assured of his place within the halls of cinematic fame.
The Genius of Quentin Tarantino
The nine films of Quentin Tarantino. Or is it a Hateful Eight?medium.com
The Genius of Quentin Tarantino Vol 2
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Oozing with myopic love, not spoilers.medium.com
“All right Ramblers. Let’s get Rambling!”
9 minutes and 40 seconds into this stunning debut classic from Quentin Tarantino and all seems in order. Shooting the shit around a coffee house table are mainly sharply dressed guys in black suits discussing various topics of the day, from the meaning of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”, the merits or otherwise of tipping and the contents of the Boss’ address book. Cue Steven Wright and his sublimely distinctive voice, “K Billy’s Super Sounds of the 70's”, and one of the most iconic movie introductions of recent history.
The first 9 minutes give no indication to the tour de force you are about to watch. A time line that jumps back and forth with dialogue to die for and a screenplay that has gone into movie history. A soundtrack with hit after hit that is brilliantly effective and takes the film to even greater heights. A twist that if you’re unfamiliar with the film will genuinely surprise you and, as with all Quentin Tarantino films, characters that are rich, layered, brilliantly written and played by some of the greatest actors of our generation.
Following those first nine minutes, our cast of characters are introduced:
Driving to the safe house is “Mr White” played with trademark cool and in a calm, methodical manner by Harvey Keitel. In the backseat, “Mr Orange” is bleeding profusely from a gunshot wound and our first introduction to a gem of a performance from Tim Roth. It’s also the first of several dual performances throughout the film, whereby the story is excellently told by just two characters. Two cameras, Roth never losing eye contact with Keitel, it’s a sublime moment. Back to Tim Roth, and his crowning glory in this film, the commode story. To justify his place in the heist team he memorises a drug selling story set in an airport toilet. Within a short two minute scene, Roth is excellent as we cut from learning the story in his flat, to performing for a friend, to actually performing the story in a nightclub. All the while, the flashbacks are cut between the actual event as portrayed in the story, to the nightclub and back again several times, before ending the story back in the actual event, telling the ending (as it were) to the Police officers in attendance!
“Mr Pink” is brilliantly played by one of my favourite actors (so I’m obviously biased), Steve Buscemi. Frantic and fast talking, he excels and shares another dual scene alone with Mr White as they piece together the puzzle and dissect how the heist went wrong. Again, one maybe two cameras at most and both characters in shot at all times.
“Mr Blonde” is a reckless, carefree thief and Michael Madsen brings the character to life in yet another iconic manner. Tarantino films are synonymous for being eminently quotable and in this debut feature, Mr Blonde features highly with classics such as “Are you gonna bark all day little doggie, or are you gonna bite?”. There are numerous others. Suffice to say, Michael Madsen is superb. Separately, Mr Blonde has two key dual scenes, firstly a boisterous stand off with Mr White (with trademark cutting dialogue between the two), then with the unfortunate Policeman who has been kidnapped.
Quentin Tarantino plays a small cameo as “Mr Brown”, as does Eddie Bunker as “Mr Blue”, and there we have the heist team in full. In support of the team are two much fuller and richer roles, starting with the Boss “Joe Cabot”, brilliantly played by Laurence Tierney and a truly stand out, career defining yet slightly unfulfilled role for Chris Penn as “Nice Guy Eddie”.
Watching this classic in retrospect it’s easy to spot the future Tarantino trademarks such as zoom close ups on inanimate objects (a bowl of quarters while searching for a wedding ring), character or place names for future films, dialogue that has transcended into the zeitgeist and a soundtrack that is absolute perfection. From “Little Green Bag” by the George Baker Selection accompanying the opening credits to “Hooked on a Feeling” by Blue Suede, “I Gotcha” by Joe Tex, to the immortal, iconic use of Stealers Wheels “Stuck in the Middle with You”. Adding to the soundtrack but eminently more to the actual film is comedian Steven Wright. Using radio interludes as a path between Acts and his unique voice describing “K Billy’s Super Sounds of the 70's” always raises a smile and from the first watching of this film has always been effective.
Another trademark is the use of the characters themselves to tell the story, as opposed to laying every part of the story on the screen. As we’ve established, the diamond heist doesn’t go according to plan, yet we don’t see it. Similarly, the ending to the infamous torture scene is not seen either.
Further trademarks such as the use of a non linear time line is incorporated and being a fan of these film types I love the way it engages you in the story. Flashbacks are brilliantly used, fully explored and are richly detailed. As the majority of the film takes place in a safe house/warehouse, the film needs these flashbacks to be as explored as they are. They’re not throwaway segments just to propel the story along, they are fully incorporated into the narrative. Also inserted into the narrative are numerous film/TV and culture references which are synonymous with future Tarantino films, but this film sees the least heavy use of them. The film opens with the Madonna discussion, The Lost Boys film is discussed, as are film stars such as Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin, with Mr Blonde’s funny and infamous taunt at Mr White: “I bet you’re a Lee Marvin fan!” and many more besides.
20 years since it’s release, Reservoir Dogs has become a phenomenon, a cultural reference point, an iconic piece of film making. Still as fresh, challenging and disturbing as it was on release, it deserves its place as one of the greatest directorial debuts of all time.
Thanks for reading. Just for larks as always, and always a human reaction rather than spoilers galore. My three most recently published film articles are linked below or there’s well over 100 blog articles (with 300+ individual film reviews) within my archives from which to choose:
“A Serious Man” (2009)
My Coen Brothers Top Ten — Vol 10.medium.com
“The Big Lebowski” (1998)
My Coen Brothers Top Ten — Vol 1.medium.com
“The Banshees of Inisherin” (2022)
“She never fecking says hello!”medium.com