Reservoir Dogs (1992)

After a simple jewelery heist goes terribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.

Director:

Quentin Tarantino

Writers:

Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary (background radio dialog),

Stars:

Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen

Top 250 #71 | 10 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Harvey Keitel	...	Mr. White - Larry Dimmick
Tim Roth	...	Mr. Orange - Freddy Newandyke
Michael Madsen	...	Mr. Blonde - Vic Vega
Chris Penn	...	Nice Guy Eddie Cabot
Steve Buscemi	...	Mr. Pink
Lawrence Tierney	...	Joe Cabot
Edward Bunker	...	Mr. Blue (as Eddie Bunker)
Quentin Tarantino	...	Mr. Brown
Randy Brooks	...	Holdaway
Kirk Baltz	...	Ofcr. Marvin Nash
Steven Wright	...	K-Billy DJ (voice)
Rich Turner	...	Sheriff #1
David Steen	...	Sheriff #2
Tony Cosmo	...	Sheriff #3
Stevo Polyi	...	Sheriff #4 (as Stevo Poliy)

Storyline

Six criminals, who are strangers to each other, are hired by a crime boss Joe Cabot to carry out a diamond robbery. Right at the outset, they are given false names with an intention that they won't get too close and concentrate on the job instead. They are completely sure that the robbery is going to be a success. But when the police show up right at the time and the site of the robbery, panic spreads amongst the group members and one of them is killed in the subsequent shootout along with a few policemen and civilians. When the remaining people assemble at the premeditated rendezvous point (a warehouse), they begin to suspect that one of them is an undercover cop.

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Plot Keywords:

Police | Robbery | Diamond | Heist | Flashback | 

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Taglines:

Seven Total Strangers Team Up For The Perfect Crime. They Don't Know Each Other's Name. But They've Got Each Other's Color

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and language

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 October 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Perros de la calle

Filming Locations:

5860 North Figueroa Street, Highland Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,200,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$2,812,029 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Live Entertainment, Dog Eat Dog Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

For the European release, the distributor used one sheet posters for each of the main characters. This was quite a novel strategy at the time, and has now become very widespread.

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Goofs

Mr White washes the blood of his hands twice both before and after Mr Pink also freshens up.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Mr. Brown: Let me tell you what 'Like a Virgin' is about. It's all about a girl who digs a guy with a big dick. The entire song. It's a metaphor for big dicks.
Mr. Blonde: No, no. It's about a girl who is very vulnerable. She's been fucked over a few times. Then she meets some guy who's really sensitive...
Mr. Brown: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa... Time out Greenbay. Tell that fucking bullshit to the tourists.
Joe: Toby... Who the fuck is Toby? Toby...
Mr. Brown: 'Like a Virgin' is not about this sensitive girl who meets a nice ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits leave out Writing and Directing credits. They are then shown first during the end credits.

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Connections

Referenced in Nip/Tuck: Momma Boone (2005)
like in "Reservoir Dogs" the song "Stuck in the Middle with You" is played during a human is cut off (in "Reservoir Dogs" ears were cut off, here breasts were cut off), shortly after that the new doctor comes in, his name is Quentin, the director of "Reservoir Dogs" is Quentin Tarantino.

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Soundtracks

"I GOTCHA"
Written and Performed by Joe Tex
Courtesy of Tree Productions

User Reviews

A stylish and excellent example of expert story-telling.

After watching this half a dozen times with a biased, anti-Tarantino, "what the heck is so great about this guy, anyway" view(which, as most anyone watching any film with that view and a fair bit of self-knowledge will tell you, is a rather fruitless practice in pointlessness... if you've decided you're not going to like it, there's very little reason to think that you will, no matter how good it is; you need an open mind), I finally decided to give it a fair hearing... and I saw it for what it is. An unusual film, at least for its time. A stylish film full of cool dialog, cinematography, editing and music. The whole thing comes together perfectly and is very short of creating a sublime film experience. The plot is excellently written and told. The pace is perfect. I wasn't bored for a second, nor did I ever really want it to move faster or slower. The cinematography is magnificent, and incredibly well-integrated. Pans, dolly trips and, lest we forget, the stationary shots... all perfectly used. Very stylized. The acting is top-notch all-round. With most of the cast being name actors, this is no surprise, but they really do shine. Madsen, Buscemi, Keitel, Roth... all incredible. The one role that had less than good... well, let's be honest, it had rather awful acting. I'm speaking, of course, of Tarantino's character. Now, don't get me wrong; in From Dusk Till Dawn, this man did great. But just about any other time I've seen him act, he just doesn't seem to have the first clue. Being a film-maker myself(albeit on somewhat of a smaller scale than Quentin), I can relate to wanting to cast yourself in a role... but sometimes, you just need to face up to the facts, and admit it if you can't act. Still, that is a minor complaint. Another one might be that there are at least two fairly big characters that seem completely and entirely expendable... they had no real role in the action and could very, very easily have been cut with no real loss to the overall product. I won't name them here, but anyone who's seen the film will know who I'm talking about. All the characters, however, are well-written and their actions credible. Tarantino knows his stuff when it comes to writing... something that also shows in the dialog, which, although somewhat drawn-out at times, is exceptional. Well-delivered, too. When it comes to direction, he shows how talented he is, as well. The film is very well put together. The editing is great, with the non-linear time-line telling the story far better than a "regular" film ever could. One of the many Tarantino-fans, in fact, the very person who originally talked me into watching this film, once told me that he had heard of someone editing films with such time-lines - this, Pulp Fiction, Memento, etc.

• so that their time-lines were perfectly linear. I'm sorry, I entirely

respect their right to do such a thing... and I won't claim that their doing so has less artistic value than the original films in any way... but I refuse to watch that. A big part of this being so well-told lies in the time-line. Also, I'm a firm believer of watching something the way the makers intended it. Don't edit, don't censor, don't make your own version and pass it off as anything but just that... your own version, and not the original. Sorry, rant over. Finally, I just need to comment on the music... the soundtrack of this is just great. Tarantino collected so many amazing 70's tunes for this film and used them great. All in all, just a really, really good film. Very little keeps this from being a perfect ten, most of which I've covered here. I recommend this to anyone who can stomach the violence and who likes their films with a side of style. 8/10