Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Average Rating: 8.9/10
Reviews Counted: 49
Fresh: 47 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 8.6/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 13 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 381,822
My Rating
Movie Info
In 1992, Reservoir Dogs transformed Quentin Tarantino practically overnight from an obscure, unproduced screenwriter and part-time actor to the most influential new filmmaker of the 1990s. The story looks at what happens before and after (but not during) a botched jewelry store robbery organized by Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney). Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) is a career criminal who takes a liking to newcomer Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) and enjoys showing him the ropes. Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) is a
Jan 21, 1992 Wide
Nov 5, 2002
Miramax Films
Watch It Now
Cast
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Harvey Keitel
Mr. White/Larry -
Tim Roth
Mr. Orange/Freddy -
Michael Madsen
Mr. Blonde/Vic Vega -
Chris Penn
Nice Guy Eddie -
Steve Buscemi
Mr. Pink -
Lawrence Tierney
Joe Cabot -
Quentin Tarantino
Mr. Brown -
Kirk Baltz
Marvin Nash -
Randy Brooks
Holdaway -
Edward Bunker
Mr. Blue -
Suzanne Celeste
Shot Woman -
Tony Cosmo
3rd Sheriff -
Craig Hamann
Background Radio Play -
Linda Kaye
Shocked Woman -
Laurie Latham
Background Radio Play -
Stevo Poliy
4th Sheriff -
Robert Ruth
Shot Cop -
Michael Sottile
Teddy -
David Steen
2nd Sheriff -
Burr Steers
Background Radio Play -
Maria Strova
Background Radio Play -
Rich Turner
1st Sheriff -
Steven Wright
K-Billy DJ -
Lawrence Bender
Young Cop / Background ... -
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All Critics (49) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (54) | Rotten (2) | DVD (44)
Tarantino, in Reservoir Dogs, has made a nihilist comedy about how human nature will always undercut the best-laid plans.
Top CriticUndeniably impressive pic grabs the viewer by the lapels and shakes hard, but it also is about nothing other than a bunch of macho guys and how big their guns are.
It's unclear whether this macho thriller does anything to improve the state of the world or our understanding of it, but it certainly sets off enough rockets to hold and shake us for every one of its 99 minutes.
It's dynamite on a short fuse.
You may not like the terms Tarantino sets, but you have to admit he succeeds on them.
A tour de force.
Exuberance over violence is mostly reined in. Coiled male panic and ricocheting accusations carry the action. At its best, at a time before Tarantino became all show, Reservoir Dogs reveals masculinity as a bloody, savage, two-faced performance.
Undoubtedly one of the best films of the 1990s, and probably one of the best directorial debuts of all time, Reservoir Dogs announced the arrival of one of contemporary cinema's hottest talents -- and he came out shooting.
Raw and bloody. For adults.
An action movie comprised almost entirely of words.
In 1992 Quentin Tarantino did something that hadn't been done since 1986 with David Lynch's "Blue Velvet;" he reinvented cinema.
memorable
Tarantino was slated to direct the masterpiece that was True Romance but took on this project which might be the best directorial debut in years!
A highly cinematic blast for those who can stomach its brutality...Like Glengarry Glen Ross with guns.
Structurally, Tarantino may have borrowed from Kubrick's crimers and Hong Kong films, but for a debut, it's brilliantly written and acted and it captures the paranoia of white working-class men, threatened by gays, women and other groups.
Quentin Tarantino came out of nowhere with perhaps the most astonishing, explosive American debut film since John Cassavetes' Shadows.
This is a savage gangster story with all the Tarantino trappings, including enough blood for a couple of Jaws movies.
Audience Reviews for Reservoir Dogs
Super Reviewer
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- Mr. Blonde/Vic Vega: Are you gonna bark all day, lil' doggie, or are you gonna bite?
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- Marvin Nash: Hey Freddy. How do I look?
- Mr. Orange/Freddy: [chuckles] I don't know what to tell you Marvin.
-
- Mr. Brown: Let me tell you what "Like a Virgin" is about. It's all about a girl who digs a guy with a big dick. The entire song. It's a metaphor for big dicks.
- Mr. Blonde/Vic Vega: No, no. It's about a girl who is very vulnerable. She's been fucked over a few times. Then she meets some guy who's really sensitive...
- Mr. Brown: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa... Time out Greenbay. Tell that fucking bullshit to the tourists.
- Joe Cabot: Toby... Who the fuck is Toby? Toby...
- Mr. Brown: "Like a Virgin" is not about this sensitive girl who meets a nice fella. That's what "True Blue" is about, now, granted, no argument about that.
- Mr. Orange/Freddy: Which one is "True Blue"?
- Nice Guy Eddie: "True Blue" was a big ass hit for Madonna. I don't even follow this Tops In Pops shit, and I've at least heard of "True Blue".
- Mr. Orange/Freddy: Look, asshole, I didn't say I ain't heard of it. All I asked was how does it go? Excuse me for not being the world's biggest Madonna fan.
- Mr. Blonde/Vic Vega: Personally, I can do without her.
- Mr. Blue: I like her early stuff. You know, "Lucky Star", "Borderline" - but once she got into her "Papa Don't Preach" phase, I don't know, I tuned out.
- Mr. Brown: Hey, you guys are making me lose my... train of thought here. I was saying something, what was it?
- Joe Cabot: Oh, Toby was this Chinese girl, what was her last name?
- Mr. White/Larry: What's that?
- Joe Cabot: I found this old address book in a jacket I ain't worn in a coon's age. What was that name?
- Mr. Brown: What the fuck was I talking about?
- Mr. Pink: You said "True Blue" was about a nice girl, a sensitive girl who meets a nice guy, and that "Like a Virgin" was a metaphor for big dicks.
- Mr. Brown: Lemme tell you what 'Like a Virgin' is about. It's all about this cooze who's a regular fuck machine, I'm talking morning, day, night, afternoon, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick.
- Mr. Blue: How many dicks is that?
- Mr. White/Larry: A lot.
- Mr. Brown: Then one day she meets this John Holmes motherfucker and it's like, whoa baby, I mean this cat is like Charles Bronson in "The Great Escape", he's digging tunnels. Now, she's gettin' the serious dick action and she's feeling something she ain't felt since forever. Pain. Pain.
- Joe Cabot: Chew? Toby Chew?
- Mr. Blonde/Vic Vega: It hurts her. It shouldn't hurt her, you know, her pussy should be Bubble Yum by now, but when this cat fucks her it hurts. It hurts just like it did the first time. You see the pain is reminding a fuck machine what it once was like to be a virgin. Hence - "Like a Virgin".
- Joe Cabot: Wong?
-
- Mr. Blonde/Vic Vega: Eddie, if you keep talkin' like a bitch, I'm gonna slap you like a bitch.
-
- Joe Cabot: Wait a minute, who didn't throw in?
- Mr. Orange/Freddy: Mr. Pink.
- Joe Cabot: Mr. Pink? Why didn't you throw in?
- Mr. Orange/Freddy: He don't tip.
- Joe Cabot: He don't tip? What do you mean you don't tip?
- Mr. Orange/Freddy: He don't believe in it.
- Joe Cabot: Shut up.
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- Joe Cabot: Hey, who didn't throw in?
- Mr. Orange/Freddy: Mr. Pink.
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Foreign Titles
- Wilde Hunde (DE)
- Perros de reserva (ES)
I don't really have enough good things to say about this one. A perfect example of a film that works on every level. A somewhat simple story of a group of thieves infiltrated by a member of the LAPD(Roth) who as a result becomes tight with a long time criminal (Keitel) on a heist gone awry.
A notch cast that gives each character a background that you just feel. The great Lawrence Tierney portrays the man behind the "jobs" who is about as real as crime bosses get. "It's my way or the highway". His unique low, raspy voice is quite effective and lets you know that you do not mess with him. Remember him as Elaine's father on Seinfeld?
And I should mention that this film utilizes locations in Los Angeles that are pretty much never shown in films which keeps things real.
So If you have missed this one and would like to know why Steve Buscemi's character Mr. Pink doesn't tip, check this one out.
*This is the film that launched Quentin Tarantino's career as a filmmaker and is in my opinion his very best work.