July 25, 2019
'Reservoir Dogs'
The Ringer's Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey, and Chris Ryan argue over who has to be Mr. Pink as they rewatch Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut, 'Reservoir Dogs,' starring Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, and Tim Roth.
Cast
Harvey Keitel as Mr. White / Larry Dimmick
Tim Roth as Mr. Orange / Freddy Newandyke
Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink
Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde / Vic Vega
Chris Penn as Nice Guy Eddie
Lawrence Tierney as Joe Cabot
Eddie Bunker as Mr. Blue
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Written by: Quentin Tarantino
Notes
- Budget of $1.2 million, made $2.86 million domestic plus £5 million in the UK (about $12 million) – a huge hit in Britain because of Tim Roth.
- Originally planned as a $30,000 black-and-white 16mm shoot with friends; Lawrence Bender was going to play the cop chasing Mr. Pink.
- Harvey Keitel received the script through his acting teacher's wife, loved it, signed on as co-producer, and paid for casting sessions where they found Buscemi and Madsen.
- 91% on Rotten Tomatoes – Roger Ebert gave it 2½ stars, saying 'I liked what I saw, but I wanted more'.
- People walked out of screenings including Wes Craven and makeup legend Rick Baker – Tarantino said 'the guy who did Last House on the Left walked out of my movie'.
- The entire soundtrack budget was spent on securing 'Stuck in the Middle with You'.
- Many actors used their own clothing as wardrobe due to the low budget; Chris Penn used his own car.
- Budget couldn't cover police assistance for traffic control, so the carjacking scene could only be shot when traffic lights were green.
- Tim Roth lay in fake blood so long it would dry and he'd have to be peeled off the floor.
- Vic Vega (Mr. Blonde) and Vincent Vega ('Pulp Fiction') are brothers – Tarantino wanted to make a prequel called 'Double V Vega' but Madsen and Travolta got too old.
- The theatrical release contains no female speaking parts besides the woman who shoots Mr. Orange during the carjacking.
- The title came from a customer at Video Archives who mispronounced 'Au Revoir Les Enfants' as 'Reservoir Dogs'.
- Madonna liked the film but refuted Tarantino's Like a Virgin interpretation, signing him a copy of Erotica: 'It's not about dick. It's about love.'
Categories
Most re-watchable scene
- The opening diner scene – the Madonna Like a Virgin theory, the tipping debate, the foreshadowing of the rat (Mr. Orange snitches on Mr. Pink for not tipping).
- Keitel vs. Buscemi with the bleeding Tim Roth – 'you're acting like a first year thief / I'm acting like a fucking professional'.
- The ear-cutting scene and the unexpected Tim Roth murder – 'it's amusing to me to torture a cop'.
- The commode story – Tim Roth performing his background story in multiple settings, one of the most inventive sequences in '90s cinema.
- Buscemi arguing about name selections – 'who cares what your name is? / yeah, that's easy for you to say, you're Mr. White'.
- Chris Penn doubting Mr. Orange's story and the three-way shootout finale.
- Vic Vega's return from prison – the wrestling scene in Eddie's office.
What aged the best?
- The opening credit sequence / slow-motion strut – so influential that 'Swingers' blatantly ripped it off four years later.
- Young Michael Madsen – had a bit of Newman about him, a top-five lottery pick who ended up as a Tom Gugliotta comp.
- The juxtaposition of easy listening music with extreme violence – Steelers Wheel during the ear-cutting was mind-blowing and has been copied endlessly since.
- The 'who's the mole' device – the first hour of the movie slowly unfurling who the rat is.
- Steven Wright as the K-Billy radio host on the soundtrack.
- The movie as an LA movie – Eagle Rock warehouse, Gardena, the whole valley-baked sun palette.
- Young Buscemi – in the conversation for his best performance alongside Sopranos and 'Fargo'.
What aged the worst?
- The N-word usage – even a little controversial in the '90s, has gotten worse over time; Spike Lee later called Tarantino out specifically around Jackie Brown.
- Lawrence Tierney as Joe – he's bad, forgot lines on camera, was reportedly fired after day three.
- Tim Roth's American accent – his dialect coach was on set the entire movie, yet the accent changes throughout; at one point he sounds Dutch.
Casting what-ifs
- James Woods was offered the role five times but his agent refused the offers without telling him – Woods fired the agent when he found out.
- Tarantino originally wrote Mr. Pink for himself.
- Michael Madsen originally auditioned for Mr. Pink; Vincent Gallo turned it down; Tim Roth and Tom Sizemore were finalists.
- George Clooney read for Mr. Blonde – later did From Dusk Till Dawn with Tarantino.
- Christopher Walken refused Mr. Blonde.
- Robert Forster auditioned for Joe Cabot – eventually played Max Cherry in Jackie Brown.
- Tony Scott read both scripts and wanted to direct 'Reservoir Dogs'; Tarantino said 'you can have True Romance'.
Over-acting award
- Chris Penn – spit flying, eyeballs bulging, 'stop pointing that fucking gun at my dad!' It's great stuff.
- The last 30 seconds of Keitel – weirdly climbs on Roth, almost romantic.
Best "heat check" performance
- Michael Madsen in the ear-cutting scene – like Vinnie Johnson in Game 5 of the 1990 Finals, just feed him the ball.
- Tim Roth's boss – 'some scum-ridden motherfucker' – does a lot with a little.
Best "that guy"
- Kirk Baltz as Marvin Nash, the kidnapped cop – never seen since, but unforgettable.
- The cop in the commode story who keeps saying 'buddy, if you don't put your hands on the dash, I'm going to blow your brains out' – great mustache.
Half-assed (internet) research
- Influenced by Stanley Kubrick's The Killing – Tarantino said 'I didn't go out of my way to do a rip off, but I did think of it as my Killing'.
- Joseph H. Lewis's The Big Combo and Sergio Corbucci's 1966 Django inspired the torture-in-chair scene.
- Character names come from Taking of Pelham 123.
- Heavily draws from Ringo Lam's City on Fire – 'huge parts of this movie are just Reservoir Dogs'.
- Hellstrom's King Kong theory (from 'Inglourious Basterds') is actually Tarantino's real theory from his Terry Gross interview.
- Tarantino's theory about Like a Virgin has been refuted by Madonna herself.
- A 2006 video game was released; only Michael Madsen signed off on his likeness – GameSpot called it 'an out and out failure'.
- 272 F-bombs in the movie.
- Michael Madsen allegedly had difficulty filming the torture scene due to a strong aversion to violence.
- Donnie Donowitz from 'Inglourious Basterds' is the father of Lee Donowitz from 'True Romance'; Aldo Raine is assumed to be the great-grandfather of Floyd from 'True Romance'.
Apex Mountain
- Michael Madsen – this was his Apex Mountain, full stop.
- Chris Penn – somewhere between here and Short Cuts, though people would say Footloose.
- Steve Buscemi – this is the movie he blossomed, but hard to separate from 'Fargo' and Sopranos.
Picking nits
- They're eating breakfast before a bank heist in matching black suits – the waitress who they stiffed on the tip would absolutely remember them.
- They all have pseudonyms for secrecy but meet together at a diner beforehand.
- The female driver pulls a gun and shoots during a carjacking – one guy but not two makes less sense.
- How did Keitel get two shots off in the three-way shootout? He kills both Joe and Nice Guy Eddie in a split second while being shot himself.
(Probably) unanswerable questions
- Does Mr. Pink survive? Tarantino says yes – if you jack up the volume, you hear him yelling 'don't shoot, I've been shot, God damn it'.
- Is this a better movie if we see the heist? Consensus says no, but Bill Simmons loves bank robbery scenes.
- What the fuck is happening in Gardena?
- What would Tony Scott's 'Reservoir Dogs' have looked like? Definitely would have had the heist, probably Hans Zimmer instead of '70s songs.
Who won the movie?
- Quentin Tarantino – the most aggressive career launch in movie history, compared to Orson Welles; unlike Welles, his next movie ('Pulp Fiction') topped it.
- Nobody had ever been shot out of a cannon with a directorial debut and made themselves a pop cultural icon – he hosted SNL, was first guest on Leno's couch.