The type of crowd that follows the question of “Did you kill anybody?” with a perfectly natural “Any real people or just cops?” This is definitely not the Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight, but rather a group of genuine hard guys, criminal professionals and proud of it, who know everything from how long the police take to respond to alarms, to which parts of the body are the most painful to be shot in. Orange swoons in his own blood on the floor. Energetic scenes of the shootout alternate with quiet flashbacks to the planning as well as the emotionally unstable situation at the rendezvous spot, as the surviving gang members scream bloody murder at each other, trying to figure out how an easy job turns into a fiasco while Mr. None of this is immediately obvious, coming into focus in bits and pieces, for Tarantino has broken his story up and told it non-chronologically. White (Harvey Keitel) as he heads the car toward a prearranged rendezvous spot.įor five of those original seven breakfasters, each named (for security reasons) after a color and all identically dressed in black suits, white shirts, thin black ties and sunglasses, turn out to be participants in a robbery of a diamond wholesaler planned by the other two, Joe (Lawrence Tierney) and his son, Nice Guy Eddie (Chris Penn). Orange (Tim Roth), shot so badly he seems almost to be drowning in his own blood, holds tight to the hand of a frantic Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) on why he doesn’t believe in tipping.Īlmost immediately after this meal, there is a sudden cut to the bloody interior of a late-model car, where Mr. Brown) starts things off with an exaggeratedly profane exegesis on what Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” is really all about, followed by a cranky riff by Mr. Tarantino’s writing style is clear from “Dogs’ ” opening set piece, focused around a table in a Los Angeles coffee shop where a group of seven nondescript men are just finishing up what looks to be a hearty breakfast. And it was that script that attracted excellent actors like Harvey Keitel (who also signed on as co-producer), Tim Roth, Michael Madsen and Steve Buscemi to the film. Tarantino’s background is as an actor and he has a gift for writing great bursts of caustic, quirky dialogue, verbal arias that show off not only his facility with scabrous, tough guy language but also the abilities of his performers. Though “Reservoir Dogs’ ” story line of what happens when a well-planned robbery goes wrong is a staple of both B pictures and pulp fiction, 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. Tarantino does have the filmmaking flair to go along with his zeal. An energetic macho stunt, “Reservoir Dogs” (selected theaters) glories in its excesses of blood and profanity, delighting, in classic Grand Guignol fashion, in going as far over the top as the man’s imagination will take it. Strong violence is Tarantino’s passion, and he embraces it with gleeful, almost religious, fervor. His brash debut film, “Reservoir Dogs,” a showy but insubstantial comic opera of violence, is as much a calling card as a movie, an audacious high-wire act announcing that he is here and to be reckoned with. Like it or not (and many people will have their doubts), writer-director Quentin Tarantino has arrived, in your face and on the screen.
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