16/03/2012: Reservoir Dogs [1992]

Quentin Tarintino is a name most people will recognize but who's movies not everyone will have watched or liked. Many claiming to love his famous film, Pulp Fiction without ever having seen it. He is undeniably a master filmmaker who has been one of the most influential men in the business since he quit his job at the video store and set out to make Reservoir Dogs.




Quentin Tarintino actually had a number of idea's and script floating around before he started to make his first film. Tony Scott read both his script for Reservoir Dogs and True Romance, and when saying he wanted to direct RD, Tarantino told him he could have TR, as he wanted to do RD himself. As such Tarantino set off with ~$ 30 000 to direct Reservoir Dogs himself.
It speaks to how good an actor is when he sees a script from an unknown filmmaker and can regardless of budget decide to join on. Harvey Keitel upon reading the script decided to help fund the movie, helping to raise over a million dollars for RD. Even then that was only so much, but Reservoir Dogs would go on to attract quite the cast, with different actors all fighting over the different parts. Harvey Keitel would play Mr. White, Tim Roth landed Mr. Orange, Michael Madsen won Mr. Blonde and Steve Buscemi would fight to win Tarantino's own role of Mr. Pink. This left Taraninto to play Mr. Brown, Chris Penn to play Nice Guy Eddie, and Lawrence Tierney as Joe, the boss.

Mr. Blue, unfortunately plays a small role after being scouted by the Blue Man Group early on in the shooting of RD.

When it comes down to it, Reservoir Dogs had three things going for it, a great script, a great new director and a cast that all gave amazing performances.

The script of Reservoir Dogs is all about the dialogue and the actors performances. The plot of the movie is seemingly simple. A group of six professional criminals get together under the direction of a crime boss an rob a diamond store. Unfortunately things go wrong when the cops appear to be there waiting for them. As the survivors gather at the warehouse, they begin to suspect that one of them is a rat, leading to a dangerous situation. Interestingly, Reservoir Dogs is often ranked amongst the Top 10 heist movies, something Tarantino himself is proud of, although it never shows the heist itself.

What makes RDs unique, is all of Tarantino's, now trademark aspects. The storyline isn't linear, and one must piece things together as they are unveiled. The movie also contains his usual elements of violent crime, a love of pop culture, and 272 uses of the word Fuck. The opening scene is also great, with an argument I've had a few times about tipping. (I tend to agree with Mr. Pink)

Just because county sheriffs always shoot the shit in the men's room

Reservoir Dogs is Tarantino's first film produced independently and premiered at Sundance. With no budget, half the movie is shot in an empty warehouse, with a couple of scene at local restaurants. The "apartment" is actually a room above the warehouse, and converted to appear as it does in the movies. The actors used their own clothes and cars most of the time, with the suits being donated by a designer. But when it comes down to it none of it matters when the story is that great and performances great. One of the interesting things that tend to happen a lot with violent, touchy subject matter movies is the amount that filmmakers tell their financial backers. Tarantino, filmed all of the tamer scenes first, leaving the more violent one till the end so that the backers would be less likely to back out. I've read about this happening a number of times and find it a rather sneaky trick, but it's a shame it should have to be done in the first place.

I can't remember another time "Stuck in the Middle With You" has been played to such violence.

The cast is truly one of the greatest elements of RD, with Michael Madsen, playing Mr. Blonde (above) being my favourite.  But the entire cast is amazing, all of them fitting their roles perfectly and giving award winning performances. While apparently no one one won, the movie itself has won many over the years, and still remains one of the greatest movies, ranking 68th on IMDB's top 250.

 While Reservoir Dogs isn't for everyone, with many people leaving the theatre due to it's violence, neither are many of the "top" movies. What Tarantino wanted was to affect people, and so Reservoir Dogs does, and it has easily earned its place in cinema history. If you haven't seen it watch it, no arguments.

Tarantino is easily one of my favourite directors, which is why, this weekend I have dedicated to him. Next watching True Romance, which he wrote, and then Pulp Fiction, which most say is his greatest movie, and is # 4 on IMDB. So expect reviews on those cropping up soon. I also just bought the 15th anniversary gas-can edition of Reservoir Dogs, and am very happy to add that edition to my collection.

This movie also has the best fan made posters, I couldn't help but use one.

Link:
Reservoir Dogs IMDB