Reservoir Dogs
|
---|
Directed by
| Quentin Tarantino
|
---|
Written by
| Quentin Tarantino
|
---|
Produced by
| Lawrence Bender
|
---|
Starring
| |
---|
Cinematography
| Andrzej Sekuła
|
---|
Edited by
| Sally Menke
|
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Production
companies
| |
---|
Distributed by
| Miramax Films
|
---|
Release dates
|
- January 21, 1992
(
1992-01-21
)
(
Sundance
)
- October 9, 1992
(
1992-10-09
)
(United States)
|
---|
Running time
| 99 minutes
|
---|
Country
| United States
|
---|
Language
| English
|
---|
Budget
| $1.2?1.5 million
[1]
|
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Box office
| $2.8 million (North America)
|
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Reservoir Dogs
is a 1992 American crime
drama
thriller movie
written and directed by
Quentin Tarantino
. It stars
Harvey Keitel
,
Tim Roth
,
Michael Madsen
,
Chris Penn
and
Steve Buscemi
. It is the first movie directed by Tarantino and is about the events before and after a
jewelry
store
robbery
that went wrong. The movie was released on October 23, 1992. The title, and promo shots associated with the movie, were a take on the violent Sam Peckinpah movie, Straw Dogs. Although
Reservoir Dogs
failed at the
theater
, it found new life after being released on
VHS
and
DVD
, quickly becoming a
cult
classic.
The movie shows the events before and after a
robbery
at a jewelry shop in
Los Angeles
,
California
, that went wrong. The men are given
nicknames
with colours so that they do not know each others names; Mr. Blonde (
Michael Madsen
), Mr. Blue (
Eddie Bunker
), Mr. Brown (
Quentin Tarantino
), Mr. Orange (
Tim Roth
), Mr. Pink (
Steve Buscemi
), and Mr. White (
Harvey Keitel
). They work for a gangster Joe Cabot (
Lawrence Tierney
) and his son, "Nice Guy" Eddie (
Chris Penn
).
The robbery goes wrong and several of the men are killed, and Mr. Orange is shot and bleeding. The rest of the men return to the hideout and talk about what went wrong. Mr. Blonde has captured a police officer, Marvin Nash (
Kirk Baltz
) and beat him to try to get an answer. Mr. Blonde tries to
torture
the police officer while the rest of the men are away but is killed by Mr. Orange who is actually an
undercover
police officer.
The rest of the men argue and are in a
Mexican standoff
and are all shot. Mr. Pink, who hid from the shootout, steals the
diamonds
and runs away.
- Randy Brooks
as Holdaway
- Kirk Baltz
as Marvin Nash
- Rich Turner as Sheriff #1
- David Steen as Sheriff #2
- Tony Cosmo as Sheriff #3
- Stevo Poliy as Sheriff #4
- Michael Sottile as Teddy
- Robert Ruth as Shot Cop
- Lawrence Bender
as Young Cop
- Linda Kaye
as Shocked Woman
- Suzanne Celeste as Shot Woman
- Steven Wright
(voice) as the K-Billy DJ
[2]
At the movie's release at the
Sundance Film Festival
, movie critic
Jami Bernard
of the
New York Daily News
compared the effect of
Reservoir Dogs
to that of the 1895 movie
L'Arrivee d'un Train en Gare de la Ciotat
, where audiences watched a moving train approaching the camera and ran away frightened. Bernard claimed that
Reservoir Dogs
had a similar effect and people were not ready for it.
[3]
Vincent Canby
of the
New York Times
enjoyed the cast and the use of non-linear storytelling. He similarly complimented Tarantino's directing and liked the fact that he did not often use close-ups in the movie.
[4]
Kenneth Turan
of the
Los Angeles Times
also enjoyed the movie and the acting, particularly that of Buscemi, Tierney and Madsen, and said "Tarantino's palpable enthusiasm, his unapologetic passion for what he's created, reinvigorates this venerable plot and, mayhem aside, makes it involving for longer than you might suspect."
[5]
Roger Ebert
was less enthusiastic; he felt that the script could have been better and said that the movie "feels like it's going to be terrific", but Tarantino's script does not have much curiosity about the characters. He also stated that "[Tarantino] has an idea, and trusts the idea to drive the plot." Ebert gave the movie two and a half stars out of four also claiming that he enjoyed it, and that it was a very good movie from a talented director, like other critics, he enjoyed the cast, but stated "I liked what I saw, but I wanted more".
[6]
Reservoir Dogs
has received a lot of criticism for its strong violence and language. One particular scene that viewers did not like was
Michael Madsen
cutting off the police officer's ear, and Madsen himself reportedly had a great deal of difficulty finishing the scene especially after Kirk Baltz ad-libbed the desperate plea "I've got a little kid at home".
[7]
Many people have left theaters during the movie and Tarantino commented at the time:
It happens at every single screening. For some people the violence, or the rudeness of the language, is a mountain they can't climb. That's OK. It's not their cup of tea. But I am affecting them. I wanted that scene to be disturbing.
[1]
During a screening of the movie at a
Film Festival
in
Barcelona
, fifteen people walked out, including
horror movie
director
Wes Craven
and
special effects
artist
Rick Baker
.
[8]
Baker later told Tarantino to take the walk out as a "compliment" and explained that he found the violence unnerving because of its heightened sense of realism.
[8]
Critic John Hartl compared the ear-cutting scene to the shower murder scene in
Psycho
and Tarantino to
David Lynch
. He furthermore explored parallels between
Reservoir Dogs
and
Glengarry Glen Ross
.
[1]
After this movie, Tarantino was also compared to
Martin Scorsese
,
Sam Peckinpah
,
John Singleton
,
Gus Van Sant
, and
Abel Ferrara
.
[9]
For its nonlinear storyline,
Reservoir Dogs
has also often been compared to
Rashomon
.
[9]
Critic
James Berardinelli
was of a similar opinion; he complimented both the cast and Tarantino's dialogue writing abilities.
[10]
Hal Hinson of
The Washington Post
was also enthusiastic about the cast, complimenting the movie on its "deadpan sense of humor".
[11]
Todd McCarthy called the movie "undeniably impressive" and was of the opinion that it was influenced by
Mean Streets
,
Goodfellas
and
The Killing
.
[12]
- ↑
1.0
1.1
1.2
Hartl, John (1992-10-29).
"
'Dogs' Gets Walkouts and Raves"
. The Seattle Times. pp. Arts, Entertainment, page F5. Archived from
the original
on 2009-01-26
. Retrieved
2009-01-18
.
- ↑
Howe, Desse (1992-10-23).
"Reservoir Dogs"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
2008-05-05
.
- ↑
Persall, Steve (2002-08-27).
"The 'Reservoir' watershed"
.
St. Petersburg Times
. Retrieved
2007-05-25
.
- ↑
Canby, Vincent (1992-10-23). "Vincent Canby review of
Reservoir Dogs
".
New York Times
. pp. Section C, page 14, column 1.
- ↑
Turan, Kenneth (1992-10-23). "Movie Reviews; City Mauls, N.Y. to L.A.; Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino's Brash Debut Film, Announces a Director to be Reckoned with".
LA Times
. pp. Calendar, Part F, Page 1, Column 4, Entertainment Desk.
- ↑
Ebert, Roger (1992-10-26). "Roger Ebert review".
Reservoir Dogs Looks Tougher Than It Really Is
. Chicago Sun-Times. pp. Section 2, Features, Movies, pg. 30.
- ↑
Rensin, David (1995).
"Playboy- 20 Questions"
.
Playboy Magazine
. Archived from
the original
on 30 September 2010.
- ↑
8.0
8.1
Clarkson, Wensley
(1995).
Quentin Tarantino ? Shooting From The Hip
. London: Piatkus. pp.
180
?181.
ISBN
0-7499-1555-2
.
- ↑
9.0
9.1
de Vries, Hilary (1994-09-11). "Cover Story; A Chat with Mr. Mayhem; Quentin Tarantino Quickly Acquired Quite the Reputation for Violence; His 1992 Film, "Reservoir Dogs", was a Cult Hit, Now Comes "Pulp Fiction". Is he Trying to Outgun Himself or all of Hollywood?".
Los Angeles Times
. pp. Calendar, p. 6, Calendar desk.
- ↑
Berardinelli, James.
"Reservoir Dogs"
. ReelViews
. Retrieved
2008-11-03
.
- ↑
Hinson, Hal (1992-10-24).
"Reservoir Dogs"
.
Washington Post
. Retrieved
2008-03-11
.
- ↑
McCarthy, Todd (1992-01-27).
"Reservoir Dogs"
. Variety
. Retrieved
2008-03-11
.