Reservoir Dogs
Encyclopedia
Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film
marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino
. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist
, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast
: Harvey Keitel
, Steve Buscemi
, Tim Roth
, Michael Madsen
, Chris Penn
, and Lawrence Tierney
. Tarantino has a minor role, as does criminal-turned-author Eddie Bunker
. It incorporates many themes that have become Tarantino's hallmarks: violent crime, pop culture
references, profuse profanity
, and a nonlinear storyline. The film contains key elements similar to those found in Ringo Lam
's 1987 film City On Fire
.
The film has become a classic of independent film
and a cult hit
. It was named "Greatest Independent Film of all Time" by Empire
. Reservoir Dogs was generally well received, and the cast was praised by many critics. Although it was never given much promotion upon release, the film was a modest success by grossing $2,832,029, which made its $1.2 million budget back. However, it did become a major hit in the United Kingdom
, grossing nearly £6.5 million, and it achieved higher popularity after the success of Tarantino's next directorial effort, Pulp Fiction
.
A soundtrack titled Reservoir Dogs: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released featuring songs used in the film, mostly from the 1970s. In 2006, a Reservoir Dogs video game
was released which was banned in some jurisdictions for its violence.
The film begins with eight men eating breakfast at a Los Angeles diner. Six of them are using aliases: 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
). With them are gangster Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney
) and his son, "Nice Guy" Eddie (Chris Penn
).
After they leave the diner, the action abruptly cuts to a speeding car, in which Mr. White is comforting Mr. Orange, who has been shot in the abdomen and is bleeding badly. They arrive at an abandoned warehouse. Mr. Pink arrives next, and he angrily suggests that the group’s diamond heist, orchestrated by Joe Cabot, was a setup, due to the rapid police response. The men also discuss the actions of Mr. Blonde, who murdered several civilians in the jewelry store after the alarm had been triggered. Mr. White is angered that Joe Cabot, an old friend of his, employed such a psychopath and agrees about the possibility of a setup. Mr. Pink also reveals that he escaped with the diamonds and hid them in a secure location. They argue over whether to take Mr. Orange, who is now unconscious, to a hospital, and Mr. White reveals that he told Mr. Orange his true first name and where he was from.
Mr. Blonde, who has been watching them from a distance, steps forward and ends the dispute. Mr. White berates him for his deadly rampage, but Mr. Blonde calmly dismisses the criticism. He tells the others to stay as Nice Guy Eddie is on his way. Mr. Blonde has captured a police officer, Marvin Nash (Kirk Baltz
), and the three men beat Nash in an attempt to find out who the informant is. Eddie then arrives at the warehouse, and orders Mr. Pink and Mr. White to assist him in retrieving the stolen diamonds and disposing of the hijacked vehicles, while Mr. Blonde stays with Nash and the unconscious Mr. Orange.
Alone with Mr. Blonde, Nash denies any knowledge of a setup, but Mr. Blonde is uninterested and wishes to torture Marvin for his own amusement. As the radio plays the Stealers Wheel
song, "Stuck in the Middle with You
", Mr. Blonde does a menacing dance, slashing at Marvin's face with a straight razor
and severing his right ear. He then douses Marvin in gasoline, but before he can ignite it, Mr. Orange shoots and kills Mr. Blonde. Mr. Orange tells Nash he is an undercover cop, and reassures Marvin that a massive police force is in position nearby but is waiting until Joe arrives before moving in.
Eddie, Mr. Pink, and Mr. White return to the warehouse to find Mr. Blonde dead. Mr. Orange claims that Mr. Blonde was going to kill all of them and take the diamonds for himself. After impulsively pulling out his gun and killing Nash, Eddie rejects Mr. Orange’s claims, telling him that Mr. Blonde was a close personal friend who had always remained loyal to him and his father. As Mr. Orange struggles to justify his actions, Joe arrives and confidently accuses Mr. Orange of being an informant, forcing Mr. White to defend his friend.
Joe is about to execute Mr. Orange when Mr. White pulls his gun on Joe, and Eddie in turn trains his gun on Mr. White. A Mexican standoff
ensues. Suddenly Joe shoots Mr. Orange, wounding him again, Mr. White shoots and kills Joe in response, Eddie shoots Mr. White, severely wounding him, and Mr. White shoots and kills Eddie.
Mr. Pink, who hid under the stairs to avoid the shootout, takes the diamonds and flees the warehouse. Police sirens and shouting are heard outside, followed by several shots. As Mr. White cradles Mr. Orange in his arms, Mr. Orange reveals that he is in fact an undercover cop. This devastates Mr. White, who begins sobbing in frustration and points his gun at Mr. Orange's head. The police storm the warehouse, demanding that he drop his gun; Mr. White refuses and shoots Mr. Orange, and the police open fire on Mr. White as the film ends.
, a video store, in Manhattan Beach, California
, and was originally going to shoot the film with his friends on a budget of $30,000 in a 16 mm
format with producer Lawrence Bender
playing Nice Guy Eddie. When actor Harvey Keitel became involved he agreed to act in the film and co-produce. Harvey Keitel was then cast as Mr. White. With Keitel's assistance, the filmmakers were able to raise $1.5 million to make the film.
Reservoir Dogs was, according to Tarantino, his version of Stanley Kubrick
's The Killing. Tarantino himself said that he "[...] didn't go out of my way to do a rip-off of The Killing, but I did think of it as my Killing, my take on that kind of heist movie". The film's plot was suggested by the 1952 movie Kansas City Confidential. Additionally, Joseph H. Lewis
's The Big Combo
inspired the scene where a cop is tortured in a chair. Tarantino has denied that he plagiarized with Reservoir Dogs instead claiming that he does homages. Also, the main characters being named after colors (Mr. Pink, White, Brown, etc.) was first seen in the 1974 film The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
The actual heist is never shown. Tarantino has said that the reason was initially budgetary but that he always liked the idea of not showing it and stuck with that idea. He has said that the technique lets the viewer realize that the movie is "about other things". He compared this to the work of a novelist and has said that he wanted the movie to be about something that is not seen and that he wanted it to "play with a real-time clock as opposed to a movie clock ticking".
. After its success in Britain, it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival
. Empire Magazine
named it the "Greatest Independent Film ever made". The movie has since come to be seen as an important and highly-influential milestone of independent film
making. Reservoir Dogs carries a 96% rating at Rotten Tomatoes
, while Metacritic
carries an average rating of 78/100, based on 23 critic reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews.
Reservoir Dogs has inspired many other independent films and is considered key in the development of independent cinema. The Bollywood
film Kaante
(2002) from Sanjay Gupta
is considered an unauthorized remake of Reservoir Dogs featuring a similar plot and dialogue style. Reservoir Dogs is itself considered to have taken inspiration from Ringo Lam
's Hong Kong action
film City on Fire
(1987), which features a similar final segment.
The film was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival
. It won the Critic's Award at the 4th Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival
in February 1993 which Tarantino attended.
American Film Institute
Lists
, film critic Jami Bernard
of the New York Daily News
compared the effect of Reservoir Dogs to that of the 1895 film L'Arrivée d'un Train en Gare de la Ciotat
, whereby audiences putatively observed a moving train approaching the camera and scrambled. Bernard claimed that Reservoir Dogs had a similar effect and people were not ready for it. Vincent Canby
of the New York Times enjoyed the cast and the usage of non-linear storytelling. He similarly complimented Tarantino's directing and liked the fact that he did not often use close-ups in the film. Kenneth Turan
of the Los Angeles Times
also enjoyed the film 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."
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 film from a talented director, like other critics, he enjoyed the cast, but stated "I liked what I saw, but I wanted more."
The film has received substantial criticism for its strong violence and language. One scene that viewers found particularly unnerving was the ear-cutting scene; Madsen himself reportedly had great difficulty finishing it, especially after Kirk Baltz ad-libbed the desperate plea "I've got a little kid at home."
Many people walked out during the film and Tarantino commented about it at the time:
in Barcelona
, fifteen people walked out, including horror film
director Wes Craven
and special effects artist Rick Baker. Baker later told Tarantino to take the walkout as a "compliment" and explained that he found the violence unnerving because of its heightened sense of realism.
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
. After this film, Tarantino was also compared to Martin Scorsese
, Sam Peckinpah
, John Singleton, Gus Van Sant
, and Abel Ferrara
. For its nonlinear storyline, Reservoir Dogs has also often been compared to Rashomon
. Critic James Berardinelli
was of a similar opinion; he complimented both the cast and Tarantino's dialogue writing abilities. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post
was also enthusiastic about the cast, complimenting the film on its "deadpan sense of humor". Todd McCarthy called the film "undeniably impressive" and was of the opinion that it was influenced by Mean Streets
, Goodfellas
and The Killing.
Reservoir Dogs also ranks at number 97 in Empire
magazines list of the 500 Greatest Films of All Time..
films and points out the irony in its ending scenes. Mark Irwin also made the connection between Reservoir Dogs and classic American noir.
A notable motif in Tarantino's films is the use of accidents to move the plot further. In Reservoir Dogs, the major plot event is also moved by an accidental occurrence; in this case the robbery going awry. Caroline Jewers called Reservoir Dogs a "feudal epic" and compared it to Pulp Fiction
. She paralleled the color pseudonyms to color names of medieval knights.
A frequently cited comparison has been to Tarantino's second and more successful film Pulp Fiction, especially since the majority of audiences saw Reservoir Dogs after the success of Pulp Fiction. Comparisons have been made regarding the black humor in both the films, the theme of accidents, and more concretely, the style of dialogue and narrative style that Tarantino incorporates into both of his movies. Also, the theme of racism plays a big part in the films, specifically the relationship between whites and blacks. Stanley Crouch of The New York Times
compared the way the white criminals speak of blacks in Reservoir Dogs to the way they are spoken of in Scorsese's Mean Streets
and Goodfellas
. Crouch observed the way the blacks are looked down upon in Reservoir Dogs, but also the way that the criminals accuse each other of "verbally imitating" the blacks and the characters' apparent sexual attraction to black actress Pam Grier
.
versions of the film. Five years later, Artisan did a two-disc 10th anniversary edition featuring multiple covers color-coded to match the nicknames of five of the characters (Pink, White, Orange, Blonde and Brown) and a disc of bonus features such as interviews with the cast and crew.
For the 15th anniversary of the film, Lionsgate, which had purchased Artisan in the interim, produced a two-disc 15th anniversary edition with a remastered 16x9 transfer, a new supplement, but not all of the extra features from the 10th Anniversary edition. In particular, interviews with the cast and crew were dropped, and a new 48-minute-long feature called "Tributes and Dedications" was included. The packaging for the 15th anniversary edition is fancier: the discs are enclosed in a large matchbook
, and the matchbook is in a thin aluminum case made to resemble a gas can.
film and set the structure his later soundtracks would follow. This includes the use of snippets of dialogue from the film. The soundtrack has selections of songs from the 1970s. The radio station "K-Billy's Super Sounds of the Seventies" played a prominent role in the film. The DJ for the radio was chosen to be Steven Wright
, a comedian known for his deadpan delivery of jokes.
An unusual feature of the soundtrack was the choice of songs. The film uses music from the 1970s. Tarantino has said that he feels the music to be a counterpoint to the on-screen violence and action. He also stated that he wished for the film to have a 1950s feel while using '70s music. A prominent instance of this is the torture scene to the tune of "Stuck in the Middle with You
".
Track listing
, Xbox
and PlayStation 2
. However, the game does not feature the likeness of any of the actors with the exception of Michael Madsen
. GameSpot called it "an out and out failure". It caused controversy for its amount of violence and was banned in Australia and New Zealand.
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast
Ensemble cast
An ensemble cast is made up of cast members in which the principal actors and performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance and screen time in a dramatic production. This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on...
: Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
, Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
, Tim Roth
Tim Roth
Simon Timothy "Tim" Roth is an English film actor and director best known for his roles in the American films,Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for...
, Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen
Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...
, Chris Penn
Chris Penn
Christopher Shannon "Chris" Penn was an American film and television actor known for his roles in such films as The Wild Life, Reservoir Dogs, Footloose, Rush Hour, True Romance, All the Right Moves and Pale Rider.-Early life:Penn was born in Los Angeles, California, the youngest son of Leo Penn,...
, and Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney was an American actor, known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and hardened criminals, which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law....
. Tarantino has a minor role, as does criminal-turned-author Eddie Bunker
Edward Bunker
Edward Heward Bunker was an American author of crime fiction, a screenwriter, and an actor. He wrote numerous books, some of which have been adapted into films....
. It incorporates many themes that have become Tarantino's hallmarks: violent crime, pop culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
references, profuse profanity
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
, and a nonlinear storyline. The film contains key elements similar to those found in Ringo Lam
Ringo Lam
Ringo Lam Ling-Tung , born in 1955 is a Hong Kong film director, producer and scriptwriter.He is known for gritty, dark and realistic action thrillers. He was born in Hong Kong and studied film at York University film school in Toronto...
's 1987 film City On Fire
City on Fire (1987 film)
City on Fire is a gritty and stylish 1987 Hong Kong action crime drama film produced and directed by Ringo Lam, and starring Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee and Sun Yueh...
.
The film has become a classic of independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
and a cult hit
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
. It was named "Greatest Independent Film of all Time" by Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
. Reservoir Dogs was generally well received, and the cast was praised by many critics. Although it was never given much promotion upon release, the film was a modest success by grossing $2,832,029, which made its $1.2 million budget back. However, it did become a major hit in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, grossing nearly £6.5 million, and it achieved higher popularity after the success of Tarantino's next directorial effort, Pulp Fiction
Pulp fiction
Pulp fiction may refer to:* pulp magazines, short stories presented in a magazine format, printed on cheaply made wood-pulp paper* Pulp Fiction, a 1994 film directed by Quentin Tarantino...
.
A soundtrack titled Reservoir Dogs: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released featuring songs used in the film, mostly from the 1970s. In 2006, a Reservoir Dogs video game
Reservoir Dogs (video game)
Reservoir Dogs is a video game based on the Quentin Tarantino film of the same name. Released in 2006, it garnered mostly mediocre reviews and caused minor controversies for its violence, being banned in Australia and New Zealand.-Plot:...
was released which was banned in some jurisdictions for its violence.
Plot
Michael Madsen
Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...
), Mr. Blue (Eddie Bunker), Mr. Brown (Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
), Mr. Orange (Tim Roth
Tim Roth
Simon Timothy "Tim" Roth is an English film actor and director best known for his roles in the American films,Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for...
), Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi
Steven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
), and Mr. White (Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
). With them are gangster Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney
Lawrence Tierney was an American actor, known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and hardened criminals, which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law....
) and his son, "Nice Guy" Eddie (Chris Penn
Chris Penn
Christopher Shannon "Chris" Penn was an American film and television actor known for his roles in such films as The Wild Life, Reservoir Dogs, Footloose, Rush Hour, True Romance, All the Right Moves and Pale Rider.-Early life:Penn was born in Los Angeles, California, the youngest son of Leo Penn,...
).
After they leave the diner, the action abruptly cuts to a speeding car, in which Mr. White is comforting Mr. Orange, who has been shot in the abdomen and is bleeding badly. They arrive at an abandoned warehouse. Mr. Pink arrives next, and he angrily suggests that the group’s diamond heist, orchestrated by Joe Cabot, was a setup, due to the rapid police response. The men also discuss the actions of Mr. Blonde, who murdered several civilians in the jewelry store after the alarm had been triggered. Mr. White is angered that Joe Cabot, an old friend of his, employed such a psychopath and agrees about the possibility of a setup. Mr. Pink also reveals that he escaped with the diamonds and hid them in a secure location. They argue over whether to take Mr. Orange, who is now unconscious, to a hospital, and Mr. White reveals that he told Mr. Orange his true first name and where he was from.
Mr. Blonde, who has been watching them from a distance, steps forward and ends the dispute. Mr. White berates him for his deadly rampage, but Mr. Blonde calmly dismisses the criticism. He tells the others to stay as Nice Guy Eddie is on his way. Mr. Blonde has captured a police officer, Marvin Nash (Kirk Baltz
Kirk Baltz
Kirk Baltz is an American actor who has starred in film and on television.-Career:Baltz is best known for his role as Marvin Nash, an LAPD police officer in the famous torture scene of the 1992 Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs. Kirk also starred in another film written by Tarantino, 1994's...
), and the three men beat Nash in an attempt to find out who the informant is. Eddie then arrives at the warehouse, and orders Mr. Pink and Mr. White to assist him in retrieving the stolen diamonds and disposing of the hijacked vehicles, while Mr. Blonde stays with Nash and the unconscious Mr. Orange.
Alone with Mr. Blonde, Nash denies any knowledge of a setup, but Mr. Blonde is uninterested and wishes to torture Marvin for his own amusement. As the radio plays the Stealers Wheel
Stealers Wheel
Stealers Wheel are a Scottish folk rock/rock band formed in Paisley, Renfrewshire in 1972 by former school friends Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty.The band broke up in 1975 and re-formed without Egan and Rafferty in 2008.-Biography:...
song, "Stuck in the Middle with You
Stuck in the Middle With You
"Stuck in the Middle with You" is a song written by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan and originally performed by their band Stealers Wheel....
", Mr. Blonde does a menacing dance, slashing at Marvin's face with a straight razor
Straight razor
A straight razor is a razor with a blade that can fold into its handle. They are also called open razors and cut-throat razors.Although straight razors were once the principal method of manual shaving, they have been largely overshadowed by the safety razor, incorporating a disposable blade...
and severing his right ear. He then douses Marvin in gasoline, but before he can ignite it, Mr. Orange shoots and kills Mr. Blonde. Mr. Orange tells Nash he is an undercover cop, and reassures Marvin that a massive police force is in position nearby but is waiting until Joe arrives before moving in.
Eddie, Mr. Pink, and Mr. White return to the warehouse to find Mr. Blonde dead. Mr. Orange claims that Mr. Blonde was going to kill all of them and take the diamonds for himself. After impulsively pulling out his gun and killing Nash, Eddie rejects Mr. Orange’s claims, telling him that Mr. Blonde was a close personal friend who had always remained loyal to him and his father. As Mr. Orange struggles to justify his actions, Joe arrives and confidently accuses Mr. Orange of being an informant, forcing Mr. White to defend his friend.
Joe is about to execute Mr. Orange when Mr. White pulls his gun on Joe, and Eddie in turn trains his gun on Mr. White. A Mexican standoff
Mexican standoff
A Mexican standoff is a slang term defined as a stalemate or impasse; a confrontation that neither side can foreseeably win. The term is most often used in lieu of "stalemate" when the confrontational situation is exceptionally dangerous for all parties involved.In popular culture, the Mexican...
ensues. Suddenly Joe shoots Mr. Orange, wounding him again, Mr. White shoots and kills Joe in response, Eddie shoots Mr. White, severely wounding him, and Mr. White shoots and kills Eddie.
Mr. Pink, who hid under the stairs to avoid the shootout, takes the diamonds and flees the warehouse. Police sirens and shouting are heard outside, followed by several shots. As Mr. White cradles Mr. Orange in his arms, Mr. Orange reveals that he is in fact an undercover cop. This devastates Mr. White, who begins sobbing in frustration and points his gun at Mr. Orange's head. The police storm the warehouse, demanding that he drop his gun; Mr. White refuses and shoots Mr. Orange, and the police open fire on Mr. White as the film ends.
The Reservoir Dogs
- Harvey KeitelHarvey KeitelHarvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
as Larry Dimmick, a.k.a. Mr. White - Tim RothTim RothSimon Timothy "Tim" Roth is an English film actor and director best known for his roles in the American films,Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for...
as Freddy Newandyke, a.k.a. Mr. Orange - Michael MadsenMichael MadsenMichael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...
as Vic Vega, a.k.a. Mr. Blonde - Chris PennChris PennChristopher Shannon "Chris" Penn was an American film and television actor known for his roles in such films as The Wild Life, Reservoir Dogs, Footloose, Rush Hour, True Romance, All the Right Moves and Pale Rider.-Early life:Penn was born in Los Angeles, California, the youngest son of Leo Penn,...
as Nice Guy Eddie Cabot - Steve BuscemiSteve BuscemiSteven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
as Mr. Pink - Lawrence TierneyLawrence TierneyLawrence Tierney was an American actor, known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and hardened criminals, which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law....
as Joe Cabot - Eddie BunkerEdward BunkerEdward Heward Bunker was an American author of crime fiction, a screenwriter, and an actor. He wrote numerous books, some of which have been adapted into films....
as Mr. Blue - Quentin TarantinoQuentin TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
as Mr. Brown
Others/cameos
- Randy Brooks as Holdaway
- Kirk BaltzKirk BaltzKirk Baltz is an American actor who has starred in film and on television.-Career:Baltz is best known for his role as Marvin Nash, an LAPD police officer in the famous torture scene of the 1992 Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs. Kirk also starred in another film written by Tarantino, 1994's...
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 BenderLawrence BenderLawrence Bender is an American film producer. He rose to fame by producing Reservoir Dogs in 1992 and has since produced all of Quentin Tarantino's films with the exception of Death Proof....
as Young Cop - Linda Kaye as Shocked Woman
- Suzanne Celeste as Shot Woman
- Steven WrightSteven WrightSteven Alexander Wright is an American comedian, actor and writer. He is known for his distinctly lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical jokes and one-liners with contrived situations.-Early life and career:Wright was born in Mount Auburn...
(voice) as the K-Billy DJ
Production
Tarantino had been working at Video ArchivesVideo Archives
Video Archives was a video rental store located in Manhattan Beach, California, owned and managed by Lance Lawson. In his youth, Quentin Tarantino, director of Pulp Fiction, was a clerk there...
, a video store, in Manhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach is the wealthiest beachfront city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The city is on the Pacific coast, south of El Segundo, and north of Hermosa Beach. Manhattan Beach is the home of both beach and indoor volleyball, and surfing. During the winter, the...
, and was originally going to shoot the film with his friends on a budget of $30,000 in a 16 mm
16 mm film
16 mm film refers to a popular, economical gauge of film used for motion pictures and non-theatrical film making. 16 mm refers to the width of the film...
format with producer Lawrence Bender
Lawrence Bender
Lawrence Bender is an American film producer. He rose to fame by producing Reservoir Dogs in 1992 and has since produced all of Quentin Tarantino's films with the exception of Death Proof....
playing Nice Guy Eddie. When actor Harvey Keitel became involved he agreed to act in the film and co-produce. Harvey Keitel was then cast as Mr. White. With Keitel's assistance, the filmmakers were able to raise $1.5 million to make the film.
Reservoir Dogs was, according to Tarantino, his version of Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, writer, producer, and photographer who lived in England during most of the last four decades of his career...
's The Killing. Tarantino himself said that he "[...] didn't go out of my way to do a rip-off of The Killing, but I did think of it as my Killing, my take on that kind of heist movie". The film's plot was suggested by the 1952 movie Kansas City Confidential. Additionally, Joseph H. Lewis
Joseph H. Lewis
Joseph H. Lewis was an American B-movie film director whose stylish flourishes came to be appreciated by auteur theory-espousing film critics in the years following his retirement in 1966...
's The Big Combo
The Big Combo
The Big Combo is an American film noir directed by Joseph H. Lewis and stylistically photographed by cinematographer and noir icon John Alton with music by David Raksin....
inspired the scene where a cop is tortured in a chair. Tarantino has denied that he plagiarized with Reservoir Dogs instead claiming that he does homages. Also, the main characters being named after colors (Mr. Pink, White, Brown, etc.) was first seen in the 1974 film The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
The actual heist is never shown. Tarantino has said that the reason was initially budgetary but that he always liked the idea of not showing it and stuck with that idea. He has said that the technique lets the viewer realize that the movie is "about other things". He compared this to the work of a novelist and has said that he wanted the movie to be about something that is not seen and that he wanted it to "play with a real-time clock as opposed to a movie clock ticking".
Reception
Reservoir Dogs opened in 19 theaters with a first week total of $147,839 in the United States. The film was never released to more than 61 theaters there and totaled $2,832,029 at the box office. The film gained most of its success due to the popularity of Pulp FictionPulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
. After its success in Britain, it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
. Empire Magazine
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
named it the "Greatest Independent Film ever made". The movie has since come to be seen as an important and highly-influential milestone of independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
making. Reservoir Dogs carries a 96% rating at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, while Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
carries an average rating of 78/100, based on 23 critic reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews.
Reservoir Dogs has inspired many other independent films and is considered key in the development of independent cinema. The Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
film Kaante
Kaante
Kaante is a 2002 Bollywood action film directed by Sanjay Gupta and starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Mahesh Manjrekar, Lucky Ali, Kumar Gaurav, Namrata Singh Gujral, Rati Agnihotri, Malaika Arora and Isha Koppikar in the lead roles. The film's plot is based on Quentin...
(2002) from Sanjay Gupta
Sanjay Gupta (Director)
Sanjay Gupta is a Bollywood writer-director known for his dark thrillersSanjay Gupta comes from an affluent business family of South Mumbai. He completed his studies at Palm Beach School at Napean Sea Road and Sydenham College at Churchgate in Mumbai. He has frequently worked with Sanjay Dutt. The...
is considered an unauthorized remake of Reservoir Dogs featuring a similar plot and dialogue style. Reservoir Dogs is itself considered to have taken inspiration from Ringo Lam
Ringo Lam
Ringo Lam Ling-Tung , born in 1955 is a Hong Kong film director, producer and scriptwriter.He is known for gritty, dark and realistic action thrillers. He was born in Hong Kong and studied film at York University film school in Toronto...
's Hong Kong action
Hong Kong action cinema
Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...
film City on Fire
City on Fire (1987 film)
City on Fire is a gritty and stylish 1987 Hong Kong action crime drama film produced and directed by Ringo Lam, and starring Chow Yun-fat, Danny Lee and Sun Yueh...
(1987), which features a similar final segment.
The film was screened out of competition at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival
1992 Cannes Film Festival
- Jury :*Gérard Depardieu *John Boorman *Carlo Di Palma *Jamie Lee Curtis *Joële Van Effenterre *Lester James Peries *Nana Djordjadze *Pedro Almodóvar *René Cleitman...
. It won the Critic's Award at the 4th Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival
Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival
The , also sometimes called YIFFF, is held in a resort-like environment in the small town of Yūbari on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaidō. From 1990 to 1999, the festival was known as the Yubari International Fantastic Adventure Film Festival.-History:...
in February 1993 which Tarantino attended.
American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
Lists
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills - Nominated
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains:
- “Mr. Blonde” (Vic Vega) - Nominated Villain
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs:
- Stuck In The Middle with You - Nominated
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
- "Are you gonna bark all day, little doggie, or are you gonna bite?" - Nominated
- AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute , the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008....
- Nominated Gangster Film
Critical reaction
At the film's release at the Sundance Film FestivalSundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
, film critic Jami Bernard
Jami Bernard
Jami Bernard is an author and media consultant, an award-winning film critic for The New York Post and The New York Daily News, and the founder of Barncat Publishing . She has appeared in documentaries as herself, including the Independent Film Channel's Indie Sex series , on which she was a...
of the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
compared the effect of Reservoir Dogs to that of the 1895 film L'Arrivée d'un Train en Gare de la Ciotat
L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de la Ciotat
L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat is an 1895 French short black-and-white silent documentary film directed...
, whereby audiences putatively observed a moving train approaching the camera and scrambled. Bernard claimed that Reservoir Dogs had a similar effect and people were not ready for it. Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of the New York Times enjoyed the cast and the usage of non-linear storytelling. He similarly complimented Tarantino's directing and liked the fact that he did not often use close-ups in the film. Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan is an American film critic and Lecturer in the Master of Professional Writing Program at the University of Southern California.-Background:...
of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
also enjoyed the film 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."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
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 film from a talented director, like other critics, he enjoyed the cast, but stated "I liked what I saw, but I wanted more."
The film has received substantial criticism for its strong violence and language. One scene that viewers found particularly unnerving was the ear-cutting scene; Madsen himself reportedly had great difficulty finishing it, especially after Kirk Baltz ad-libbed the desperate plea "I've got a little kid at home."
Many people walked out during the film and Tarantino commented about it at the time:
During a screening of the movie at a Film Festival
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.
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, fifteen people walked out, including horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
director Wes Craven
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...
and special effects artist Rick Baker. Baker later told Tarantino to take the walkout as a "compliment" and explained that he found the violence unnerving because of its heightened sense of realism.
Critic John Hartl compared the ear-cutting scene to the shower murder scene in Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
and Tarantino to David Lynch
David Lynch
David Keith Lynch is an American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor. Known for his surrealist films, he has developed his own unique cinematic style, which has been dubbed "Lynchian", and which is characterized by its dream imagery and meticulous sound...
. He furthermore explored parallels between Reservoir Dogs and Glengarry Glen Ross
Glengarry Glen Ross (film)
Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1992 American drama film, adapted by David Mamet from his acclaimed 1984 Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning play of the same name...
. After this film, Tarantino was also compared to Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
, Sam Peckinpah
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel "Sam" Peckinpah was an American filmmaker and screenwriter who achieved prominence following the release of the Western epic The Wild Bunch...
, John Singleton, Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
, and Abel Ferrara
Abel Ferrara
Abel Ferrara is an American film screenwriter and director. He is best known as an independent filmmaker of such films as The Driller Killer , Ms. 45 , King of New York , Bad Lieutenant and The Funeral .-Early life:Ferrara was born in the Bronx of Italian and Irish descent...
. For its nonlinear storyline, Reservoir Dogs has also often been compared to Rashomon
Rashomon (film)
The bandit's storyTajōmaru, a notorious brigand , claims that he tricked the samurai to step off the mountain trail with him and look at a cache of ancient swords he discovered. In the grove he tied the samurai to a tree, then brought the woman there. She initially tried to defend herself with a...
. Critic James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli is an American online film critic.-Personal life:Berardinelli was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey and spent his early childhood in Morristown, New Jersey. At the age of nine years, he relocated to the township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey...
was of a similar opinion; he complimented both the cast and Tarantino's dialogue writing abilities. Hal Hinson of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
was also enthusiastic about the cast, complimenting the film on its "deadpan sense of humor". Todd McCarthy called the film "undeniably impressive" and was of the opinion that it was influenced by Mean Streets
Mean Streets
Mean Streets is a 1973 drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin. The film stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. It was released by Warner Bros. on October 2, 1973...
, Goodfellas
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
and The Killing.
Reservoir Dogs also ranks at number 97 in Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
magazines list of the 500 Greatest Films of All Time..
Critical analysis
Reservoir Dogs has often been seen as a prominent film in terms of on-screen violence. J.P. Telotte compared Reservoir Dogs to classic caper noirCaper story
The caper story is a subgenre of crime fiction. The typical caper story involves one or more crimes perpetrated by the main characters in full view of the reader...
films and points out the irony in its ending scenes. Mark Irwin also made the connection between Reservoir Dogs and classic American noir.
A notable motif in Tarantino's films is the use of accidents to move the plot further. In Reservoir Dogs, the major plot event is also moved by an accidental occurrence; in this case the robbery going awry. Caroline Jewers called Reservoir Dogs a "feudal epic" and compared it to Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
. She paralleled the color pseudonyms to color names of medieval knights.
A frequently cited comparison has been to Tarantino's second and more successful film Pulp Fiction, especially since the majority of audiences saw Reservoir Dogs after the success of Pulp Fiction. Comparisons have been made regarding the black humor in both the films, the theme of accidents, and more concretely, the style of dialogue and narrative style that Tarantino incorporates into both of his movies. Also, the theme of racism plays a big part in the films, specifically the relationship between whites and blacks. Stanley Crouch of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
compared the way the white criminals speak of blacks in Reservoir Dogs to the way they are spoken of in Scorsese's Mean Streets
Mean Streets
Mean Streets is a 1973 drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin. The film stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. It was released by Warner Bros. on October 2, 1973...
and Goodfellas
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
. Crouch observed the way the blacks are looked down upon in Reservoir Dogs, but also the way that the criminals accuse each other of "verbally imitating" the blacks and the characters' apparent sexual attraction to black actress Pam Grier
Pam Grier
Pamela Suzette "Pam" Grier is an American actress. She became famous in the early 1970s, after starring in a string of moderately successful women in prison and blaxploitation films such as 1974's Foxy Brown. Her career was revitalized in 1997 after her appearance in Quentin Tarantino's film...
.
Home releases
Region 1 DVDs of Reservoir Dogs have been released multiple times. The first release was a single two-sided disc from LIVE Entertainment, released in June 1997 and featuring both pan-and-scan and letterboxLetterbox
Letterboxing is the practice of transferring film shot in a widescreen aspect ratio to standard-width video formats while preserving the film's original aspect ratio. The resulting videographic image has mattes above and below it; these mattes are part of the image...
versions of the film. Five years later, Artisan did a two-disc 10th anniversary edition featuring multiple covers color-coded to match the nicknames of five of the characters (Pink, White, Orange, Blonde and Brown) and a disc of bonus features such as interviews with the cast and crew.
For the 15th anniversary of the film, Lionsgate, which had purchased Artisan in the interim, produced a two-disc 15th anniversary edition with a remastered 16x9 transfer, a new supplement, but not all of the extra features from the 10th Anniversary edition. In particular, interviews with the cast and crew were dropped, and a new 48-minute-long feature called "Tributes and Dedications" was included. The packaging for the 15th anniversary edition is fancier: the discs are enclosed in a large matchbook
Matchbook
A matchbook is a small paperboard folder enclosing a quantity of matches and having a coarse striking surface on the exterior...
, and the matchbook is in a thin aluminum case made to resemble a gas can.
Soundtrack
The Reservoir Dogs: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was the first soundtrack for a Quentin TarantinoQuentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
film and set the structure his later soundtracks would follow. This includes the use of snippets of dialogue from the film. The soundtrack has selections of songs from the 1970s. The radio station "K-Billy's Super Sounds of the Seventies" played a prominent role in the film. The DJ for the radio was chosen to be Steven Wright
Steven Wright
Steven Alexander Wright is an American comedian, actor and writer. He is known for his distinctly lethargic voice and slow, deadpan delivery of ironic, philosophical and sometimes nonsensical jokes and one-liners with contrived situations.-Early life and career:Wright was born in Mount Auburn...
, a comedian known for his deadpan delivery of jokes.
An unusual feature of the soundtrack was the choice of songs. The film uses music from the 1970s. Tarantino has said that he feels the music to be a counterpoint to the on-screen violence and action. He also stated that he wished for the film to have a 1950s feel while using '70s music. A prominent instance of this is the torture scene to the tune of "Stuck in the Middle with You
Stuck in the Middle With You
"Stuck in the Middle with You" is a song written by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan and originally performed by their band Stealers Wheel....
".
Track listing
- "And Now Little Green Bag..." (Dialogue extract performed by Steven Wright) – 0:15
- "Little Green BagLittle Green Bag"Little Green Bag" is a 1969 song written by Dutch musicians, Jan Visser and George Baker , and recorded by the George Baker Selection at the band's own expense. The 7" single debut of the George Baker Selection was released by the label Negram. The B-side was "Pretty Little Dreamer"...
" by The George Baker Selection – 3:15 - "Rock Flock of Five" (Dialogue extract performed by Steven Wright) – 0:11
- "Hooked on a FeelingHooked on a Feeling"Hooked on a Feeling" is a 1968 pop song written by Mark James and originally performed by B. J. Thomas. Featuring the sound of the electric sitar, the song reached number five in 1969 on the Billboard Hot 100.-History:...
" by Blue SwedeBlue SwedeBlue Swede was a Swedish rock band from the early to mid 1970s, that succeeded with a few singles which were covers of other artists' material.-Career:...
– 2:53 - "Bohemiath" (Dialogue extract performed by Steven Wright) – 0:34
- "I GotchaI Gotcha (Joe Tex song)"I Gotcha" is a song by Joe Tex. Tex originally intended for the song to be recorded by King Floyd, but Floyd never recorded a version of it. Instead, Tex went ahead and recorded it himself in the late 1960s, but ended up not releasing it...
" by Joe TexJoe TexJoseph Arrington, Jr. , better known as "Joe Tex", was an American Southern soul singer-songwriter, most popular during the 1960s and 1970s...
– 2:27 - "Magic Carpet RideMagic Carpet Ride"Magic Carpet Ride" is a rock song written by John Kay and Rushton Moreve from the Canadian-American band Steppenwolf. The song was initially released in 1968 on the album The Second. It was the lead single from that album, peaking at No. 3 in the US, and becoming the band's second-biggest hit,...
" by Bedlam – 5:10 - "Madonna Speech" (Dialogue extract performed by Quentin TarantinoQuentin TarantinoQuentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
, Edward BunkerEdward BunkerEdward Heward Bunker was an American author of crime fiction, a screenwriter, and an actor. He wrote numerous books, some of which have been adapted into films....
, Lawrence TierneyLawrence TierneyLawrence Tierney was an American actor, known for his many screen portrayals of mobsters and hardened criminals, which mirrored his own frequent brushes with the law....
, Steve BuscemiSteve BuscemiSteven Vincent "Steve" Buscemi is an American actor, writer and film director. An associate member of the renowned experimental theater company The Wooster Group, Buscemi has starred and supported in successful Hollywood and indie films including New York Stories, Mystery Train, Reservoir Dogs,...
and Harvey KeitelHarvey KeitelHarvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
) – 0:59 - "Fool for Love" by Sandy Rogers – 3:25
- "Super Sounds" (Dialogue extract performed by Steven Wright) – 0:19
- "Stuck in the Middle with YouStuck in the Middle With You"Stuck in the Middle with You" is a song written by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan and originally performed by their band Stealers Wheel....
" by Stealers WheelStealers WheelStealers Wheel are a Scottish folk rock/rock band formed in Paisley, Renfrewshire in 1972 by former school friends Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty.The band broke up in 1975 and re-formed without Egan and Rafferty in 2008.-Biography:...
– 3:23 - "Harvest Moon" by Bedlam – 2:38
- "Let's Get a Taco" (Dialogue extract performed by Harvey KeitelHarvey KeitelHarvey Keitel is an American actor. Some of his most notable starring roles were in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott's The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Ettore Scola's That Night in Varennes, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion's The...
and Tim RothTim RothSimon Timothy "Tim" Roth is an English film actor and director best known for his roles in the American films,Legend of 1900, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Four Rooms, Skellig, Planet of the Apes, The Incredible Hulk and Rob Roy, receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for...
) – 1:02 - "Keep on Truckin'" (Dialogue extract performed by Steven Wright) – 0:16
- "CoconutCoconut (song)"Coconut" is a song written and first recorded by Harry Nilsson.-Original version:The third single from his 1971 album, Nilsson Schmilsson, it reached #8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and it features three distinct characters , all sung in different voices by Nilsson...
" by Harry NilssonHarry NilssonHarry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
– 3:50 - "Home of Rock" (Dialogue extract performed by Steven Wright) – 0:05
Video game
A video game based on the film was released in 2006 for PCPersonal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
and PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
. However, the game does not feature the likeness of any of the actors with the exception of Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen
Michael Søren Madsen is an American actor, poet, and photographer. He has appeared in more than 150 films, most of them small independent films, though he has starred in central roles in such films as Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy, Donnie Brasco, and Kill Bill, in addition to a supporting role in Sin...
. GameSpot called it "an out and out failure". It caused controversy for its amount of violence and was banned in Australia and New Zealand.