Quentin Tarantino’s directorial debut launched the writer-director’s career. Like Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It a few years earlier, Tarantino’s movie singlehandedly revitalized American independent cinema.
Thanks to Tarantino’s novel approach to the plot – telling a heist story out of order without depicting the heist on-screen – Reservoir Dogs remains one of his most memorable scripts, with plenty of unforgettable scenes that fans are still discussing today.
Like A Virgin
Tarantino’s unique dialogue style was discussing mundane topics like tipping etiquette and the hidden meaning of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.”
After the success of the movie, Madonna ed Tarantino to tell him that he’d misread the lyrics of her song. But the great thing about interpreting art is that there are no wrong answers.
The Slow-Motion Parking Lot Walk
When the guys have paid up their check and Mr. Pink has reluctantly contributed to the tip, they walk through the parking lot in slow-motion set to The George Baker Selection’s “Little Green Bag.”
The image of gangsters in black suits would become synonymous with Tarantino’s distinctive style of crime film. The director even used this shot as the logo of his production company, A Band Apart.
“You’re Gonna Be Okay!”
After the opening credits, Reservoir Dogs skips past the heist to Mr. White and Mr. Orange fleeing from the scene. Mr. White is driving in a state of panic and Mr. Orange is bleeding out from a gunshot wound in the back of the car.
By skipping the heist, Tarantino keeps the audience on the edge of their seat. We don’t know what happened at the jewelry store; all we know is that it deviated drastically from the plan.
Mr. Pink Flees From The Cops
When Mr. Pink reconvenes with Mr. White and a bleeding Mr. Orange, he goes in the back of the warehouse with the former to smoke a cigarette and he tells the story of what happened to him after the robbery went awry.
In a flashback, Mr. Pink flees from the cops with the briefcase full of loot under his arm. He eventually fires back at the cops and steals a car with the time it buys him.
Mr. Blonde Tortures A Cop
Easily the most memorable music moment in Reservoir Dogs is the use of Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle with You” in the torture scene. When the other guys unwisely leave Mr. Blonde alone with the cop he kidnapped, he takes out a straight razor and promises to torture him, despite believing him when he says he doesn’t know anything.
Before he gets to work, Mr. Blonde turns on the radio and switches the station to K-Billy’s Super Sounds of the ‘70s. “Stuck in the Middle with You” is playing and Mr. Blonde disturbingly dances around the room in between slashing the cop’s face.
The Twist Reveal
Midway through the torture scene, Mr. Blonde decides he’s had enough fun and goes out to his car to get a jerry can so he can burn the cop alive. However, as he’s dowsing the cop and just about to light a match, he’s riddled with gunfire.
Mr. Orange has regained consciousness, drawn his weapon, and killed the sadistic criminal, revealing himself to be the undercover cop everyone’s trying to identify.
Joe Assigns Everyone A Color
In one of the movie’s flashback sequences, while Joe is laying out the plan for the heist, he assigns everyone on the crew a color. Larry is Mr. White, Vic is Mr. Blonde, etc.
A couple of the guys aren’t happy with their names. Mr. Pink would like to change his name to Mr. Purple and Mr. Brown thinks his name is “too close to Mr. S**t,” but Joe isn’t having any of it and makes them keep the colors he assigned them.
Mr. Orange’s Carefully Rehearsed Anecdote
In the flashbacks explaining Mr. Orange’s role as an undercover cop, he’s told that an undercover cop needs to be the greatest actor in the world, fully immersed in their role with their lines committed to memory.
When he first infiltrates Joe’s crew, Mr. Orange tells a carefully rehearsed anecdote about having weed in his pocket when he went into a public bathroom and found a bunch of cops and a police dog standing by the sinks.
The Climactic Standoff
Almost all of Tarantino’s movies contain a gun-toting standoff, like Jules confronting Pumpkin and Honey Bunny in the middle of their diner stickup in Pulp Fiction or Lt. Hicox’s cover being blown in the basement bar in Inglourious Basterds.
The director’s first movie culminated in a climactic standoff, too, as Joe wants to kill Mr. Orange for killing Mr. Blonde and Mr. White wants to protect the kid he’s come to think of as a son.
The Ambiguous Ending
The movie ends ambiguously as a dying Mr. Orange confesses that he’s the undercover cop and a betrayed Mr. White cradles him in his arms. Off-screen, it sounds like the cops burst in and shoot everyone dead, including Mr. White, but the tight framing leaves it ambiguous.
There’s a great juxtaposition on the soundtrack after the movie cuts to black, as the tension of the final scene is undercut by the whimsical melody of Harry Nilsson’s novelty song “Coconut.”
