Reservoir Dogs

[satori001]

The movie's title came from Tarantino's mispronounciation of Louis Malle's Au Revoir Les Enfants, combined with Straw Dogs (1971), the violent Sam Pekinpah thriller. I haven't seen the Malle flick.

Straw Dogs was very good, I thought at the time. Dustin Hoffman plays a nerd (astrophysicist) husband of a beautiful wife, alone in a house under siege by some murderous locals. Dr. Johnson observed that the knowledge that one is about to be hanged concentrates the mind wonderfully. In Hoffman's case, his concentration becomes resourcefulness and he finds the strength to fight for the life of himself and his wife.

Reservoir Dogs is called a "comedy," but only as the blackest irony.

If you blanche at the F-word, it's used in nearly every line of dialog, or so it seems. I mean, WTF Quentin?

It opens with gore, ends with gore, and there's plenty of gore in between. Also, there's brutal cruelty and cruel brutality, but not without a humorously sadistic twist that makes us chuckle in spite of ourselves.

So what about the story? It's a heist gone wrong. It's a sting gone bad. It's a con re-gaining his street legs. It's an anonymous affiliation of colorfully unsavory ne'er-do-wells (Mr. White, Mr. Brown, Mr. Pink...) led by a crusty crime boss and the son being groomed to inherit the family business.

In the midst of evil-doers and evil-doing we find bad guys, who know they're bad, and even celebrate their badness, still trying to live by a moral code, twisted but sincere. Reminds me of Vic Wierwille and the gang from New Knoxville. The fact that Howard confessed to "killing" Vic makes the parallel all the more... uh, repugnant.

Edited November 14, 2005 by satori001

[Belle]

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Reservoir Dogs - actually, I LOVE anything by Quentin Tarantino. :P Yes, I have a sick mind.

I haven't seen the parallels, but I'll certainly give it some brain time.....

My all time favorite movie - of ALL movies, not just Tarantino movies - is "True Romance" with Christian Slater and Rosanna Arquette. It's got Dennis Hopper in it and you KNOW anything with Hopper in it is gonna rock! Val Kilmer does an awesome job as an evil pimp and Bronson Pinchot is absolutely hilarious! It's got the Tarantino humor and violence in it.

No parallels to anything TWI, but I saw the title of the thread and thought I'd throw in my two cents worth. I hope you don't mind.

[gc]

I saw the movie, didn't find any humor in it at all (maybe I missed it while hiding my eyes), it was cold and cruel. Not my cuppa tea at all!

gc

[George Aar]

As with any Tarantino movie I've seen, I just don't get it.

I find nothing whatever to recommend this movie. Pointless, ugly, empty, interrupted by periods of empty pointlessness. Same as the other crap he's turned out.

How does this guy keep a job?

[Sudo]

Geo,

Re:"As with any Tarantino movie I've seen, I just don't get it."

Since a lot of folks love the guy's work, I'll chalk it up to a problem with ME but.. the only one of his movies I saw was Pulp Fiction and it made me physically ill to watch it. And since this was considered one of his best... I'll probably not watch another.

sudo

[Tom Strange]

I guess I like his movies OK... sometimes I wonder if he (Tarantino) didn't spend too much time working at the video store...

The first time I watched "Pulp Fiction" I didn't see what all the fuss was about... didn't get it... but so many people, film critics that I usually agree with and normal people as well, really raved about it so I watched it again... and the more I saw all the little subtle things he weaves in and out of the story line while he's slapping you silly with blood and guts and gore... the more I got it. And now I actually do like "Pulp Fiction"... same with the "Kill Bill 1 & 2", "Jackie Brown" and "From Dusk til Dawn" (oh wait a minute that was Robert Rodriguez wasn't it?)...

Anyway, I watch his movies, usually after they've come out on DVD... I don't go into a froth like some do, but I can understand somewhat why he's looked upon as he is... I have Resevoir Dogs, got it a long time ago because it got such good reviews (before I became an enlightened one), I couldn't get through it... I'm gonna give it another try though... maybe I'll like it, maybe I won't...

at least that's my take on him... he's definitely not everyone's cup of tea but sometimes I'm in the mood for his insanity (but I still think he spent too much time working at that video store watching all of those movies)