I have long wanted to do a series of blogs exploring Quentin Tarantino’s work. Aside from 4 Rooms, I own all of his big work on blu ray. Pulp Fiction may always be the most quotable, but which is my favorite? I will say this for Reservoir Dogs: this is the movie that got me hooked on Tarantino. I own more copies of this film than any other, and it’s not even close. I own all 5 collector’s covers on DVD, the 10 or 15-year anniversary DVD and put that in a collectible case with 6 shot glasses, and on blu ray. When I first got a PS3, I had to own a blu ray, but which one? I bought to that fateful evening, Reservoir Dogs, obviously, and Sin City. What a great purchase! So without further adieu, I bring to you, the greatest film of 1992, and it’s not even close. You have this, Might Ducks, A Few Good Men, and Aladdin. Yeah, exactly. Oh, and one last fun fact, I used to own a 5-foot tall poster of Michael Madsen from this film.
We start off with the famous table scene at a restaurant/diner. We meet damn near every character in this film. We have Joe, Nice Guy Eddie (Joe’s son), and the crew. Tarantino is going on and on about Like a Virgin. Joe is gonna handle the check, he tells the guys to handle the tip, a dollar apiece. Leave it to Steve Buscemi to say that he doesn’t believe in tipping. He doesn’t believe in automatic tipping, tipping if they go out of their way to serve you. Michael Madsen is already proving himself to be the angry gent of the group. Buscemi makes the point that we don’t tip workers at McDonald’s, and he makes a great point. He does sympathize with waitresses. Joe comes back and is pissed off at Mr. Pink for not tipping. Mr. Pink gives in and we are on our way.
We have Mr. White played by the legendary Harvey Keitel. Michael Madsen is playing as Mr. Blonde and this is the role that he has built his career off of. Tim Roth plays Mr. Orange, and once again, this really got his career really going. Hell, same could be said in a way for Buscemi. Tarantino is Mr. Brown, and well he’s in there because he likes to have bit parts in his movies. Edward Bunker rounds out the Mr’s as Mr. Blue. Who is Edward Bunker? I don’t know. Lawrence Tierney plays the head honcho Joe, and he has such a great voice and demeanor, and also played Elaine’s father in an episode of Seinfeld in the early episodes. Finally, there’s Chris Penn as Nice Guy Eddie, and he is full of energy. Great guy to play the boss’ son. There we go. A couple of the characters pop up down the line, but this is the main crew. Fun fact, Nina Siemaszko of Suicide Kings and Airheads fame, almost had the sole female role in this, but it got cut. That girl is still gorgeous.
The guys leave the diner, and we get our first sounds of the 70’s. This is one of the best soundtracks when it comes to film’s using actual songs. We have the fairly iconic slow-motion walk of all the guys as the credits go to the tune of Little Green Bag. Oh, and I should note that Steven Wright is the DJ who we often hear.
There’s some screaming/wailing, and we see Mr. Orange is a bloody mess in the back of a car with Mr. White as White is trying to comfort him. Orange got shot in the belly and thinks he is gonna die. White is taking Orange back to the Rendezvous Point, warehouse. One of my favorite lines “Say the fucking words: ‘You’re gonna be ok'”. That cracks me up every fucking time. Anytime somebody is hurt or sick and complaining, even if it’s legit, just give them that pep talk and make them say “You’re gonna be ok” and they will not like you for it. White gets Orange into the warehouse while they wait for Joe and then hope Joe can get a doctor. I could never tell if Tim Roth’s acting here was too over the top or not, like Norton’s crying at the end of American History X. Orange is trying to convince White to drop him off at a hospital, but White is a veteran of these type of things and he ain’t having it.
In bursts Pink, and he’s claiming that it was a setup. We find out that Brown is dead from a cop shooting him. Obviously the heist went bad, really bad. Pink is hellbent on the belief that they were set up based on how fast the cops showed up. The typical time frame for cops to show is 4 minutes, but I guess they were there in like a minute. Pink thinks the cops are probably on their way right now. Very paranoid, but justifiably so. Pink is pissed that he didn’t just drive off instead of meeting back at the warehouse. White and Pink are going through their perceptions of what went down, and Pink is saying the cops didn’t make their presence known until Blonde started shooting shit up.
We see how Pink escaped, chaotic scene of him running on a sidewalk knocking people to the side while 3 cops chase him. He gets hit by a car and then steals it. He opens fire on the 3 cops and makes his getaway.
Back to the warehouse and White and Pink are talking about why the hell Joe hired a guy like Blonde. Blonde is a loose cannon. I enjoy how everybody’s method of calming themselves down is by combing their hair. And they are dwelling on how people need to act like fucking professionals. I agree. White is fearful that maybe Blonde got the diamonds, but Pink was the one who secured them. White tells Pink of a story about a time when he did a job and one of the 4 guys was an undercover cop. They are trying to figure out who the rat is, and Pink suggests maybe it’s Orange, and White gets all pissy because he saw Orange take a bullet, so he can’t be the rat….obviously.
Flashback to Joe talking with White. This is where Joe pitches the heist to White. I love the banter between these 2 elder statesmen. Pink wants to bounce to a hotel and lay low and then contact Joe. Orange has passed out. White doesn’t want to leave because when Orange is awake, he is screaming in pain. They decide to take orange to the hospital as he doesn’t know anything about any of them. Well, White told him his first name while he was trying to calm him down, and he knows where White is from. Well, that’s fucked. Pink is all kinds of pissed at White for discussing that info. He pushes White’s buttons until White starts punching and kicking, so Pink pulls a gun and says that he’s busy trying to be a fucking professional. And there’s Mr. Blonde who showed up very quietly.
Naturally, they start asking him questions. Blonde is just staring, and Pink is asking so many questions, White is getting pissed at Blonde. They share the idea that they plan on bouncing and Blonde says nobody is leaving, so White says they are going to leave now pretty much to spite Blonde. White is all pissy at Blonde for the shooting spree. “Are you gonna bark all day little doggy, or are you gonna bite?” That is what was on my poster. Needless to say Pink has to break it up and ask them if they are gonna keep acting like N****rs or act like professionals. Blonde informs them that he has a surprise for them out in his car. White is skeptical, but Blonde is insistent. So off they go to venture outside.
Blonde informs them that he spoke with Nice Guy Eddie and that he is on the way and told them to stay put. Blonde opens up the trunk, and there is a cop, named Marvin. Now for a flashback with Blonde. We see Joe talking on the phone, and he is informed that Vick Vega is outside, possible relation to Vince Vega of Pulp Fiction fame. Vick is obviously Blonde. Blonde’s parole officer’s last name is Scagnetti, a name also in Natural Born Killers, written by you know who. Blonde expresses his appreciation to Joe for all of the care packages while he was in prison. In comes Nice Guy Eddie. He and Blonde are seemingly good friends, and Blonde starts breaking Eddie’s balls, and Joe goes along with it, so the boys start wrestling until Joe tells them to settle down. Hahaha, funny shit. Now Eddie is getting his jokes in. Now they get back to talking shit, and it just gets funnier and funnier. Haha, Joe has to intervene again. They scheme on how to get Scagnetti off of Blonde’s nuts by getting him a fake job working on the docks. Blonde wants in on a job ASAP, but Joe wants him to lie low. Eddie talks Joe into having Blonde in on the job.
“I Gotcha” is playing and I love this song. Eddie is calling Joe to inform him that there is a situation, and at the warehouse, the guys are beating the fuck outta Marvin. Joe is asking Eddie all sorts of questions. Maybe he was talking to Joe’s secretary upon further review. Eddie shows up as White is questioning Marvin the cop. White informs Eddie that they need medical attention. Pink immediately starts in on the conspiracy theory, and Eddie is getting all kinds of pissed. Hahaha, Eddie calls them assholes and idiots and White is taking offense. Hahaha, these fucking guys. Eddie has a Zack Morris phone. Eddie tells them to use common sense as far as beating a cop for info when he’ll eventually say whatever they want to hear. Eddie is having White and Pink to take the cars away from there and White doesn’t want to leave Blonde alone with Orange and Marvin. “Here’s what he was doing…Bam….bam….bam….bam” says White so Blonde says “If they hadn’t done what I told them not to do, they’d still be alive.” That is some flawless logic. So Eddie, Pink, and White leave.
Blonde takes off his suit jacket and approaches Marvin. Marvin claims that he has only been on the force for 8 months and he doesn’t know shit. In case you don’t know, this is the lead up to the most famous scene from this film. Blonde tells Marvin that he is going to torture him. He pulls a gun out just to fuck with Marvin. Marvin, it’s going to get far worse. Time to tune on the 70’s station and just in time for Stealer’s Wheel. Whoo! And the song begins. Watch this scene and try not to feel like dancing. It’s impossible. This song has to be one of the most synonymous with a film, like top 25 I’d speculate. Oh, and Blonde just cut off Marvin’s ear. Awesome! I love how the camera follows Blonde outside, and the music stops, as he was listening to the radio, and of course, the music gets louder once he opens the door. The small things, I love the small things. Well, Blonde brought in a can of gasoline. And so Blonde starts dumping the gas on Marvin, and we see the place where his ear used to be. Ouch! Marvin is begging him not to burn him. Marvin is pleading for his life. Suddenly Orange sits up and shoots and kills Blonde. Orange is a bloody fucking mess. Well, so is Marvin.
Orange starts to talk to Marvin, asking him his name and whatnot. Orange reveals to Marvin that he’s a cop and Marvin said that he knows. Orange’s name is Freddy. Marvin asks Orange how he looks, he’s worried due to the lack of ear and all. Marvin is all pissed wondering where the cops are, and Orange gives him shit as he is slowly bleeding to death. Orange says it’s not going to be much longer before Joe shows up. And it’s Orange’s flashback scene.
Orange meets up with his buddy, I think his name is Holdaway. Orange goes over his meeting with Eddie and how he got his name. This guy is asking Orange all kinds of questions. Basically, they are discussing what Orange found out. We then get to here the commode story, which is an amusing anecdote. This is to put everybody at ease. So flashback to Orange learning the story and to get the details all perfect. So we see him rehearse it in his place. It’s almost a montage of him telling the story. Sweet, Magic Carpet Ride is playing. We see that Orange is telling the story to Joe, Eddie, and White. I do love how Tarantino filmed this shot in the bathroom. I loved the Fantastic Four reference. It’s really because of this film that I started saying Flame On so much. I really don’t care much about the Fantastic Four, not that I am dog piling after what I heard was a mediocre to bad film. I love the Taxi Driver hommage briefly with Orange talking to himself in the mirror. And then Hooked On a Feeling plays…..so happy.
In the car, Eddie, White, Pink, and Orange are talking about the differences between white women and black women. White makes a reference to Compton, how timely. And a Pam Grier reference, which is awesome when you consider Jackie Brown. How can you not love the gluing the guy’s dick to his belly story?
Now we are in a room with Joe with all 6 members, and I am fairly certain that it’s the warehouse. Joe explains that he is giving them code names, and not for them to give out their name or personal info, not to talk about anything else. So he doles out the colors, and Pink has an issue with being Pink. Pink wants to know why they can’t just pick their own color and Joe said that he’s tried that in the past, but then you have 4 guys fighting over who is Black and nobody wants to back down. This way, Joe picks, and there’s no complaining. Of course Brown says he is a little too close to Mr. Shit. Pink says that he is too close to Mr. Pussy. Haha, Joe gives him the business.
White and Orange are in the car and going over the whole plan and who is where and their respective jobs/positions. White gives him the rundown and what to do if the crowd or employees give them issues. And now White wants a taco. So do I. And I will have one after this blog.
We see Brown driving, this is after the heist, and he is bleeding from his forehead, and he runs into a parked car, and he looks like shit, and White and Orange are in the back seat. The cars are stuck by the bumpers. The cops are coming. White takes out both of his guns. Brown can’t see because he has blood in his eyes, and White is ready for a shootout. White shoots the first 2 cops in the car. Blue is now dead. Orange and White go to the street and pull a gun on a girl driving. They tell her to get out of the car. She pulls a gun and shoots Orange, as we well know. White gets him in the car and we are back to the scene we already saw with Orange and White in the car.
Now we are back to the warehouse. White, Pink, and Eddie return. They see that Blonde is dead. Eddie asks Orange what happened. Orange explains that Blonde was going to burn the cop, so Eddie just shoots Marvin in the head to prove a point. Orange is telling them about how maniacal Blonde was acting. Eddie is calling bullshit on this. Orange keeps feeding bullshit to Eddie, but Eddie obviously knows that Blonde is a very good and loyal friend to them. I love how fuming Eddie gets. And Joe shows up and says that Orange set them up. White is in disbelief. Joe says that Orange was working with the LAPD. White is telling Joe that he is wrong. White asks Joe how he knows, and Joe says that Orange was the only one he wasn’t 100% sure on. That’s fair enough, but White isn’t buying it, he’s defending the kid. Joe pulls his gun to shoot Orange. White pulls his gun on Joe. Eddie pulls his gun on White. Yup, Mexican standoff time bitches. Eddie is none too happy. Pink says that they should be professionals. Eddie wants to put the guns down and talk it out. White tells Joe that if he shoots Orange, then he will shoot Joe, and if White shoots Joe, Eddie will shoot White, and well this all plays out exactly as expected, except Eddie also gets shot. Of course, there are 2 schools of thought as to who shot Eddie, White or Pink, and the reality is that Eddie’s squib went off sooner than it should, but it makes for a fun talk.
Joe and Eddie are dead, Pink was hiding under a ramp and he crawls out from underneath and makes his way to the door. White is still alive but in great pain. He makes his way to Orange. Orange admits that he was as Joe claimed, and the cops show up and tell White not to shoot, but he kills Orange anyway. And then the cops shoot White.
End film.
That is still an amazing film. 1992 was not a great year for films, so this really has little competition. It gets competition from the rest of Tarantino’s films. Here’s what I can say for this film. It’s really funny. It may not be intended to be funny as often as I laugh, but it gets me laughing every time. The violence is good, the acting is pretty top-notch, with the exception of Roth at certain points, he gets on my nerves. One thing I always look for are lulls in films by Tarantino, and comparatively, this really only has one slight lull towards the end with Roth’s flashback scene. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still good, but compared to the rest of the film, it is a bit of a lull. All in all, these are incredibly minor nitpicks. When comparing the films, ratings won’t matter so much as a gut feeling. Still, I am giving this a 9.2.
All the pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are the property of:
- Live Entertainment (as Live America Inc.)
- Dog Eat Dog Productions Inc.
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