Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Give Quentin Tarantino $30,000 and a 16mm camera and see what he can do.

The budget was ultimately more than $30,000, but this has a very low-budget movie feel, not that that's a bad thing. In fact, it's almost exclusively shot in a warehouse.

As I was re-watching it, I thought about how this movie might work even better as a play. It's dramatic, sure, and it works as a film, but the focus to a single location would work very well on stage.

For the most part, the power of the film relies on the actors and the intensity in which they deliver their lines. We might not have known it in 1992, but this film includes many of what will become "Tarantino Guys" -- Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, and Harvey Keitel. The only "Guy" really missing is Samuel L. Jackson, who I understand auditioned for the part of Holdaway -- not a very big role, but a role that probably would have popped more with Jackson.

The movie is odd in that there is absolutely no female presence. I mean, none. I cannot think of another movie that has fewer females in it.

It also has quite a few characters throwing around the n-word. I suppose people do say the n-word in the privacy of their own conversations, but it's still quite uncomfortable to hear it so loosely used.

And no, Generation Z reviewers, Mr. Orange and Mr. White aren't gay lovers. It's weird that reviewers on Letterboxd what to make everything "gay." What's going on between Orange and White is male bonding. It's not sexual. There's no "sexual attraction." Maybe it's just a Gen Z joke to mention "gay" where it's not applicable, I don't know, but just in case anyone reads those reviews and takes them seriously... come on...

Rating: 4/5 stars

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The Writer's Poke

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