Product Description
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Former video store clerk Quentin Tarantino's directorial
debut, RESERVOIR DOGS, is a brutally funny, supercharged
introduction to his supremely distinct cinematic vision, which
was later to become one of the most mimicked styles of the 1990s.
Mastermind Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) assembles a crew of
top-notch criminals to pull off a jewelry store heist. As the
film opens it becomes immediately clear that the plan backfired,
forcing the survivors, who have gathered at an abandoned
warehouse, to figure out if one of them is, in fact, a
informer.
The crew Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), an aged veteran; Mr. Orange
(Tim Roth), a wounded newcomer; Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), a
psychopathic parolee; Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), a bickering
weasel; and Nice Guy Eddie (Chris Penn), Joe's son begin to
unravel as the pressure becomes too much for them to handle. When
Joe arrives, the truth becomes clear in a vicious Mexican
standoff.Tarantino takes liberally from Hong Kong action flicks,
most notably Ringo Lam's CITY ON FIRE, but his ultra-hip '70s
soundtrack and hysterical pop culture dialogue make the film seem
wholly original and new. Taking a cue from the French New Wave
most notably Jean-Luc Godard RESERVOIR DOGS remains one of the
decade's most influential motion pictures.
.co.uk Review
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Quentin Tarantino came out of nowhere (i.e., a video
store in Manhattan Beach, California) and turned Hollywood on its
ear in 1992 with his explosive first feature, Reservoir Dogs.
Like Tarantino's mainstream breakthrough Pulp Fiction, Reservoir
Dogs has an unconventional structure, cleverly shuffling back and
forth in time to reveal details about the characters, experienced
criminals who know next to nothing about each other. Joe
(Lawrence Tierney) has assembled them to pull off a simple heist,
and has gruffly assigned them color-coded aliases (Mr. Orange,
Mr. Pink, Mr. White) to conceal their identities from being known
even to each other. But something has gone wrong, and the plan
has blown up in their faces. One by one, the surviving robbers
find their way back to their prearranged warehouse hideout.
There, they try to piece together the chronology of this bloody
fiasco--and to identify the traitor among them who tipped off the
. Pressure s, blood flows, accusations and bullets
fly. In the combustible atmosphere these men are forced to
confront life-and-death questions of trust, loyalty,
professionalism, deception, and betrayal. As many critics have
observed, it is a movie about "honor among thieves" (just as Pulp
Fiction is about redemption, and Jackie Brown is about survival).
Along with everything else, the movie provides a showcase for a
terrific ensemble of actors: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve
Buscemi, Michael Madsen, Christopher Penn, and Tarantino himself,
offering a fervent dissection of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" over
breakfast. Reservoir Dogs is violent (though the violence is
implied rather than explicit), clever, gabby, harrowing, funny,
suspenseful, and even--in the end--unexpectedly moving. (Don't
forget that "Super Sounds of the Seventies" soundtrack, either.)
Reservoir Dogs deserves just as much accl and attention as its
follow-up, Pulp Fiction, would receive two years later. --Jim
Emerson