Reservoir Dogs is a 1992 film, Quentin Tarantino's debut as a feature film director. It introduced many of the themes and aesthetics that have become Tarantino's hallmarks — violent crime; pop culture references; memorable dialogue; and nonlinear stories.
It features Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi and Lawrence Tierney. Tarantino has a minor role, as does criminal-turned-author Eddie Bunker.
Tarantino (who had been working as a video store clerk in Los Angeles) was originally going to shoot it with his friends on a budget of $30,000 on 16 mm with producer Lawrence Bender playing Nice Guy Eddie. However, actor Harvey Keitel became involved via the wife of Bender's acting class teacher, who had managed to get a copy of the script to him. He agreed not only to act in the film, but to co-produce. With Keitel's assistance, the filmmakers were able to raise $1.2 million to make the film, fairly large for an independently-financed film, but a small fraction of the typical Hollywood production.
The movie has since come to be seen as an important and highly-influential milestone of independent filmmaking. Film critic Jami Bernard of New York Daily News said of the film's premier at Sundance: "I don't think people were ready. They didn't know what to make of it. It's like the first silent movie when audiences saw the train coming toward the camera and scattered."
A video game based on the film was released in 2006 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. However, the game doesn't feature the likeness of any of the characters with the exception of Mr. Blonde.
The film begins with a group of eight men eating breakfast at a Los Angeles diner. Joe (Lawrence Tierney) leafs through an old address book, aggravating the man sitting next to him. At the same time, the table is engrossed by one man’s opinions on Madonna’s song "Like a Virgin".When the time comes to leave the waitress a tip, everyone chips in, except Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), who details his anti-tipping policy, to his companions' disapproval. The men leave the diner & walk to their cars. In what has become an iconic scene, they are accompanied by the music of The George Baker Selection’s “Little Green Bag” as the credits roll.
The film cuts to Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) in the back seat of a Chevy Nova. He is bleeding profusely from a wound to his stomach. Panic stricken, he seems on the verge of a mental breakdown. Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) manages to navigate the car back to the pre-arranged rendezvous while still comforting the injured Orange.
Once they arrive at the rendezvous (an abandoned mortuary) Orange begs White to take him to a hospital for medical attention. White refuses, but is not without sympathy for his stricken ally. Soon, Mr. Pink arrives, inquires about the whereabouts of the other conspirators, and is informed by Mr. White that Mr. Brown (Quentin Tarantino) was killed by the police whilst fleeing from the scene of the crime. With Mr. Orange passed out on the floor, Pink and White move to another room to discuss their situation.
Mr. Pink makes his escape; yanking a woman out of a car window to steal it.
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Mr. Pink makes his escape; yanking a woman out of a car window to steal it.
It is revealed that the men were contracted to perform a jewel heist, involving a carefully plotted raid on a high street jewellers. During the raid, an alarm was activated. This panicked Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) who began shooting hostages. Inevitably, the police arrived, (although it is speculated that they may have been lying in wait the entire time). A flashback details Mr. Pink fleeing from the police through the streets, hijacking a beige Chevrolet Malibu and wounding a police officer in a gunfight. Mr. Pink is seen carrying a case during the flashback, which is later revealed to have contained the spoils of their robbery.
As Pink and White discuss the possible fates of the still unaccounted for Mr. Blonde and Mr. Blue, Pink reveals that he stashed the case somewhere before coming to the rendezvous. Coming to the conclusion that they have been set up, they speculate on the identity of the traitor in their midst. This leads to an argument in which Pink accuses Orange of being the 'rat'. This angers White who has nursed the injured Orange & doesn't believe him to be a traitor.
Another flashback shows Mr. White meeting with Joe in his office. They discuss his recent history as a thief and being contracted for this lucrative diamond heist.
Cut back to the rendevous, White decides he has to take Orange to the hospital. Pink disagrees, and when he finds out that Orange knows White’s real name (rather than the colours used as code) he flatly refuses. They fight, pulling their pistols on one another.
They are interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Blonde. White accuses Blonde of being a psychopathic killer, which Blonde calmly refutes, inciting White to further violence with his calm demeanor. The pair almost fight, but are stopped by Mr. Pink.
The three crooks go to Mr. Blonde’s car. Blonde opens the trunk to reveal a police officer (Kirk Baltz) whom he has kidnapped.
Another flashback to Joe's office, this time showing Mr. Blonde fresh from prison. Nice Guy Eddie (Chris Penn) soon enters, and the two tussle like brothers. After discussing Blonde’s situation, Eddie and Joe decide to recruit him for the diamond heist.
Back to the present, White, Pink & Blonde bring the policeman inside beat him. At the same time, Eddie is shown driving to the rendezvous while talking to one of his father’s subordinates on a cel phone. Upon his arrival at the rendevous, Eddie finds the cop bound to a chair and the three men interrogating him. Eddie is incensed at their tactics and orders Pink and White to take a car each and accompany him to dispose of the vehicles - which the police are now looking for. Mr. Blonde remains to watch over the police officer.
Alone with his prisoner, Blonde announces to the policeman that he plans to torture him, not for information, but for enjoyment. Blonde turns on the radio, which begins playing Stealer's Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You”. He removes a razor from his boot and dances around the warehouse nonchalantly before using the razor to cut off the man’s right ear.
Mr. Orange shoots Mr. Blonde.
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Mr. Orange shoots Mr. Blonde.
The camera now follows Blonde to his car, where he retrieves a can of gasoline. Returning to his hostage, he soaks him & prepares to ignite the petrol. However, before he gets the chance, Mr. Orange (who has regained consciousness unbeknownst to Blonde) shoots him in the chest several times, killing him. Orange asks the policeman his name. He is Marvin Nash. In conversation, the dying Orange admits to Marvin that he is, in fact, an undercover cop. He is the rat. His name is Freddy Newandyke and a police unit is waiting down the street for the arrival of Joe.
In another flashback, we see Mr. Orange meeting a police colleague in a diner, detailing a meeting between himself, Joe Cabot, Eddie, and Mr. White. His colleague suggests that Orange utilize “The Commode Story”, a humorous anecdote about a men’s restroom, to endear himself to Joe.
A montage follows, showing Orange's gradual acceptance into the group, and includes a scene in which they are all given their aliases by Joe. No one in the group is to know the real names of the people they are working with, to minimise risks.
In a continuation of the flashback, White and Orange are shown observing the diamond wholesaler from a vehicle, it shows they are bonding and reveals (to the audience) details of the heist to come. The film cuts to the escape from the heist, where Mr. Brown is driving a bullet-riddled car with White and Orange. Brown is shot and dies, and White & Orange escape the car & make their escape on foot. At this point they commandeer the Chevy Nova seen at the beginning of the film. In defence, the female driver pulls a revolver from her glove box and shoots Orange in the stomach, he retaliates by killing her.
Eddie, Joe, and Mr. White in a Mexican standoff as Mr. Orange lies dying on the floor.
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Eddie, Joe, and Mr. White in a Mexican standoff as Mr. Orange lies dying on the floor.
Cut back to the present. Eddie, White, and Pink arrive back at the warehouse to discover Blonde’s corpse. Orange tells Eddie what happened. Eddie shoots the policeman. He disputes Orange’s version of events just as Joe arrives. Joe confirms that Orange is the rat and that Mr. Blue (Eddie Bunker) is “dead as Dillinger”. Having bonded with Mr Orange, and refusing to believe that he is the rat, he defends Orange by and pulling his pistol on Joe as Joe draws on Orange. To defend Joe, Eddie points his pistol at White, forming a three way Mexican Standoff.
After a shouting match, Joe shoots Orange, White shoots Joe, Eddie shoots White, and White manages to shoot Eddie as he is falling. The DVD commentary describes this shot a little differently, in that 4 people get shot but only 3 shots are fired. Tarantino said it was a mistake but left it in the movie for people to debate.
In the aftermath these deaths, Pink comes out from hiding, grabs the case of diamonds, and flees the warehouse. White crawls over to Orange, where Orange finally reveals that he is indeed an undercover cop. White is tormented and horrified, putting his pistol to Orange’s head as the aforementioned police unit burst into the warehouse. The film ends with the camera rolling away from the action and several gunshots are heard from offscreen. Mr. Pink says something similar to "don't shoot, I give up," after he leaves. The ending left ambiguous as to whether White shot Orange.
