1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die- Reservoir Dogs

#880- Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino


Plot Summary: Mobster Joe Cabot and his son, "Nice Guy" Eddie hire six men for a diamond heist and give them different aliases, Mr. White, Mr. Pink, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Blonde. When the cops seem prepared for the robbery, it is speculated that there was a tip-off from someone involved in the heist. With Mr. Orange wounded, Mr. White tries to protect him, while also contending with Mr. Pink over who the "rat" is, and also having to worry about Mr. Blonde, whom Mr. White has labelled "psychotic" for murdering innocent people during the heist.


Mobster March ends with a film from my favorite director, Quentin Tarantino. Before he was a household name for films like Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, and Django Unchained, Tarantino achieved success with his big-screen debut with Reservoir Dogs, his big-screen debut as a director. With an already established status quo for the gangster genre with films like The Godfather and Goodfellas, what could Tarantino bring to the table? The biggest impact Tarantino could make on the gangster genre was not to change or reinvent what the genre is about, but by adding his own spin on it by incorporating an innovative style of filmmaking that has since cemented his career as one of the best directors out there today.

Reservoir Dogs stars Harvey Keitel as Mr. White. Keitel is one of those actors that is known to have a no-nonsense demeanor, but can also crack some good one-liners when needed to. And that comes out in full with Mr. White, who values professionalism and respect, but is also able to have fun and joke around with the few men he trusts. One of the men Mr. White trusts in the film is Mr. Orange, played by Tim Roth. He's a bit cocky guy and has a quick mouth, but he's a likeable enough character to watch. There's not a whole lot I can say about him without giving some of the major plot points away, but let's just say a lot of the film is centered on the backgrounds of three of the six hired men, and Mr. Orange is one of them, and is arguably the most in depth sequences of the film.

Mr. Pink is played by Steve Buscemi and he gives the performance you'd come to expect from him. His unique voice, sarcastic behavior, comedic timing, and scrawny physique helps create a timid, yet loudmouth character that the audience can have a lot of fun watching. Some of the best zingers in the film come from Mr. Pink, such as why he doesn't tip at restaurants, or even his disdain for being given the nickname Mr. Pink. But by far, my favorite character in the film is Mr. Blonde, played by Michael Madsen. Mr. Blonde, or Vic Vega as he's actually known, is a loose-cannon character that has many layers of personality. There are scenes in which he can be humorous and likable and others where he's intimidating and even scary, and some where they two merge. One of the film's most famous scenes involve Mr. Blonde and the song "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Stealers Wheel, and that's all I'm going to say about that. Point is, Mr. Blonde is one of those villains that the audience loves to hate. Watch for yourself and see how hard it is to actually "hate" him.

The mobster that hired all these men is Joe Cabot, played by Lawrence Tierney. Tierney gives Joe an intimidating reputation and allows Joe's authority to be made through personal words and leaves the actions to be done by those he hires. Joe's son is "Nice Guy" Eddie, played by Chris Penn. Eddie has a lot of interesting relationships with many of the main characters, a casual business relationship with Mr. White, Mr. Orange, and Mr. Pink, a best friend relationship with Mr. Blonde, and of course a father and son relationship with Joe. Penn does a lot with the role of "Nice Guy" Eddie, allowing him to be a humorous and easy-going guy throughout the film (hence his nickname), but also giving him moments where he can be very serious and intimidating, just like his father.

While the other characters are given enough screen time and development, there are two that feel underutilized. Mr. Blue is played by Edward Bunker and while he gets a few funny lines in a handful of scenes, not much is known about him and not much time is actually spent on him. The other is Mr. Brown, played by Quentin Tarantino himself. Mr. Brown's biggest contribution to the film is by initiating the opening dialogue by analyzing the song "Like a Virgin" by Madonna. While it has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the film, it is still an engaging discussion that helps reveal the layers to some unique characters. Since this is Tarantino's first film, it is ironic that the character he plays is the first to carry out his own style of character development through anecdotes.

Tarantino's style of telling a complete story with scenes that are chronologically out of sequence has been his bread and butter. Reservoir Dogs really got the ball rolling on that, and it carried on in Tarantino's other films. One of my absolute favorite films is Pulp Fiction (another Tarantino gangster film), which borrows a lot of style and recurring actors from Reservoir Dogs (my personal favorite that John Travolta's Vincent Vega is Mr. Blonde's brother). The film also serves as a building block for the evolution of a director like Tarantino. After those films were released, Tarantino set his sights on other genres, from war films to martial arts films to westerns. Hm...westerns? That might be a good place to go for next month. While I'm at it, I might as well stick to Tarantino if we're on that subject.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Reservoir Dogs was the film that allowed Quentin Tarantino to get his foot in the door as a director, and he's been successful ever since. To see his unique spin on the gangster genre, and the film that got his career started, I recommend this film be seen and owned by all fans of action and gangster films.

Comment below to share your thoughts on the movie or to discuss a topic that I left out of my review

Reservoir Dogs and movie images are copyrighted by Miramax Films