Mr. Pink: You kill anybody?
Mr. White: A few cops.
Mr. Pink: No real people?
Mr. White: Just cops.
Reservoir Dogs is a crime movie directed, written, and starred in by Quentin Tarantino. This film was the first film that he directed, wrote, and acted in (if you want to get really technical, he actually was a guest star on The Golden Girls as an Elvis impersonator). The film was originally planned to be in black and white with Tarantino's friends acting in it. However, one of Tarantino's friends was in an acting class taught by Harvey Keitel's wife. Keitel got his hands on the script and liked it so much that he signed on, and got production for the film. The film was made in 1992, and is rated R with a runtime of 99 minutes.
Six men are brought together in order to commit a diamond robbery. In order to insure that none of the men get to know their peers that well, the leader names them colors. Out of the six men, one is a rat. The rat has been training to go deep within the criminal group in order to capture the leader. He slips into their fold easily enough, but will he live to get out.
Due to a fumble in the job, many civilians were killed. Many of these men have no problems with killing, but would prefer to stick with cops. A single shot, and the job went to shit. The cops were on them as soon as a civilian went down. Two of the men died, and one was seriously wounded. The rest of the group have now realized that there had to be a rat. Waiting in the safe house after the job, rounds of accusations occur and it's not so clear whether the criminals will get themselves before the cops do.
Quentin Tarantino's first film is quite a good start, and a very down to earth film. The characters are quite human down to Mr. Pink arguing about his code name. The film style is non-linear, as many of Tarantino's later films, such as Pulp Fiction. Robert Kurtzman did the special make-up effects for free on the film, in exchange for Quentin Tarantino writing a script based upon Kurtzman's short story From Dusk Till Dawn. Also there is a conversation between Joe and Mr. White about a woman named Alabama, this is a future reference to True Romance, which was later written by Quentin Tarantino. A small, odd tidbit is that the title of the film is named for the movie Au Revoir les Enfants, which Tarantino could not properly pronounce when he worked as a video store clerk.
This film, like Pulp Fiction which he would make later, is not ordered linearly. We start off with the men eating at a small restraunt, and telling jokes. The next scene that we jump to is after the job. The movie focuses on the memories or scenes involving Mr. White, Mr. Blonde, and Mr. Orange.
The soundtrack for Reservoir Dogs has selections of oldies from the 70s. The radio played an important part in the film, and was always tuned to the same station, "the Home of Rock." The DJ for the radio was chosen to be Steven Wright, a comedian known for his deadpan delivery of jokes. Oldies songs would also later become a prominent part of Tarantino's later films.
Cast:
Harvey Keitel - Mr. White/Larry
Tim Roth - Mr. Orange/Freddy
Michael Madsen - Mr. Blonde/Vic
Chris Penn - Nice Guy Eddie
Steve Buscemi - Mr. Pink
Lawrence Tierney - Joe Cabot
Randy Brooks - Holdaway
Kirk Baltz - Marvin Nash
Edward Bunker - Mr. Blue
Quentin Tarantino - Mr. Brown
Rich Turner - Sheriff #1
David Steen - Sheriff #2
Tony Cosmo - Sheriff #3
Stevo Polyi - Sheriff #4
Michael Sottile - Teddy
Robert Ruth - Shot Cop
Lawrence Bender - Young Cop (also Voice for Background Radio Play)
Linda Kaye - Shocked Woman
Suzanne Celeste - Shot Woman
Steven Wright - K-Billy DJ (voice)
Laurie Latham - Radio Play Background Voice (voice)
Maria Strova - Radio Play Background Voice (voice)
Burr Steers - Radio Play Background Voice (voice)
Craig Hamann - Radio Play Background Voice (voice)
Reservoir Dogs Soundtrack
Tracks
- And Now the Little Green Bag... Spoken by Steven Wright
- Little Green Bag Performed by the George Baker Selection
- Rock Flock of Five Spoken by Steven Wright
- Hooked on a Feeling Performed by Blue Swede
- Bohemiath Spoken by Steven Wright
- I Gotcha Performed by Joe Tex
- Magic Carpet Ride Performed by Bedlam
- Madonna Speech Spoken by Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, and Eddie Bunker
- Fool for Love Performed by Sandy Rogers
- Super Sounds Spoken by Steven Wright
- Stuck in the Middle with You Performed by Stealers Wheel
- Harvest Moon Performed by Bedlam
- Let's Get a Taco Spoken by Harvey Keitel and Tim Roth
- Keep On Truckin' Spoken by Steven Wright
- Coconut Performed by Harry Nilsson
- Home of Rock Spoken by Steven Wright
Sources:
http://www.imdb.com