A botched robbery indicates a police informant, and the pressure mounts in the aftermath at a warehouse. Crime begets violence as the survivors — veteran Mr. White, newcomer Mr. Orange, psychopathic parolee Mr. Blonde, bickering weasel Mr. Pink and Nice Guy Eddie — unravel.
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Credits: TheMovieDb.
Film Cast:
- Mr. White / Larry Dimmick: Harvey Keitel
- Mr. Orange / Freddy Newandyke: Tim Roth
- Mr. Blonde / Vic Vega: Michael Madsen
- “Nice Guy” Eddie Cabot: Chris Penn
- Mr. Pink: Steve Buscemi
- Joe Cabot: Lawrence Tierney
- Detective Holdaway: Randy Brooks
- Officer Marvin Nash: Kirk Baltz
- Mr. Blue: Edward Bunker
- Mr. Brown: Quentin Tarantino
- Sheriff #1: Rich Turner
- Sheriff #2: David Steen
- Sheriff #3: Tony Cosmo
- Sheriff #4: Stevo Polyi
- Teddy: Michael Sottile
- Shot Cop: Robert Ruth
- Young Cop: Lawrence Bender
- Shocked Woman: Linda Kaye
- Shot Woman: Suzanne Celeste
- K-Billy DJ (voice): Steven Wright
- Background Radio Play (voice): Laurie Lathem
- Background Radio Play (voice): Maria Strova
- Background Radio Play (voice): Burr Steers
- Background Radio Play (voice): Craig Hamann
- Diner Patron (uncredited): Rowland Wafford
Film Crew:
- Writer: Quentin Tarantino
- Producer: Lawrence Bender
- Production Manager: Paul Hellerman
- Editor: Sally Menke
- Co-Producer: Harvey Keitel
- Grip: Ross Katz
- Production Design: David Wasco
- Creator: Roger Avary
- Casting: Ronnie Yeskel
- Director of Photography: Andrzej Sekula
- Music Supervisor: Karyn Rachtman
- Set Decoration: Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
- Costume Design: Betsy Heimann
- Assistant Accountant: Debra Grieco
- Executive Producer: Richard N. Gladstein
- Sound Re-Recording Mixer: Ron Bartlett
- Executive Producer: Monte Hellman
- Stunt Coordinator: Ken Lesco
- Costume Supervisor: Mary Claire Hannan
- Script Supervisor: Martin Kitrosser
- Executive Producer: Ronna B. Wallace
- Steadicam Operator: Mark Emery Moore
- Makeup Artist: Michelle Bühler
- First Assistant Camera: Ziad Doueiri
- Supervising Sound Editor: Stephen Hunter Flick
- First Assistant Editor: Kelley Dixon
- Special Effects: Stephen DeLollis
- Special Effects: Rick Yale
- Special Effects Coordinator: Larry Fioritto
- Dolby Consultant: Steve F.B. Smith
- Casting Associate: Peggy Kennedy
- Transportation Coordinator: James Lowder
- Leadman: Brett C. Smith
- Sound Editor: Curt Schulkey
- Supervising Sound Editor: Geoffrey G. Rubay
- Swing: Jonathan Bobbitt
- Property Master: Jonathan R. Hodges
- Sound Editor: David E. Stone
- Stunts: Marian Green
- First Assistant Director: Jamie Beardsley
- Craft Service: Jeannie H. Kelly
- Set Costumer: Jacqueline Aronson
- Security: Bruce Comtois
- Post Production Assistant: Jennifer Pyken
- Sound Editor: Charles Ewing Smith
- Production Sound Mixer: Ken Segal
- Foley Artist: Mary Louise Rodgers
- Second Assistant Director: Kelly Kiernan
- Production Coordinator: Enid L. Kantor
- Location Scout: Marino Pascal
- Key Grip: Ric Urbauer
- Hair Designer: Iain Jones
- Hairstylist: Rachel Tanner
- Dialect Coach: Suzanne Celeste
- Driver: David Coffee
- Legal Services: Wayne Alexander
- Public Relations: Warren Betts
- Set Medic: Melanie Molyneux
- Transportation Captain: Ben C. Giller
- Unit Publicist: Marina Bailey
- Color Timer: Chuck Winston
- Best Boy Electric: Jay Dahlquist
- Electrician: Joey D. Brown
- Gaffer: Greg R. McCullough
- Location Manager: Billy A. Fox
- Production Accountant: R. Blaine Currier
- Boom Operator: Dwayne S. Henkel
- Assistant Sound Editor: John Hulsman
- Foley Mixer: Cecilia Perna
- Thanks: John Lieberman
- Best Boy Grip: Dink Adams
- Second Second Assistant Director: Andy Spilkoman
- Assistant Music Supervisor: Nancy Lynn Hurlbut
- Dolly Grip: Dennis K. Wilson
- Second Assistant Camera: Randall Guth
- Negative Cutter: Mark Lass
- Assistant Location Manager: Judith E. Goldman
- Extras Casting: Mary Santiago
- Generator Operator: Robert John Speer
- Key Special Effects: Pat Domenico
- Production Assistant: Wendy Baker
Movie Reviews:
- talisencrw: This unique take on the heist-film-gone-wrong was excellent–stylish and intelligently made, yet very funny and inexpensive. Tarantino’s accolades from giving American cinema the resuscitation it needed mirrors what has happened, at least since the 70’s, with Martin Scorsese’s ‘Mean Streets’, both in terms of entertaining violence and usage of music in the scoring of films. I greatly thank Harvey Keitel for taking a chance on Tarantino back then–It paid off in spades.
- Wuchak: The cuss-oriented squabbles of lowlife crooks for 99 minutes (and no women)
RELEASED IN 1992 and written/directed by Quentin Tarantino, “Reservoir Dogs” is a crime drama/thriller about a diamond heist gone disastrously wrong in Los Angeles wherein the surviving thugs bicker back-and-forth in a warehouse about which of their members is a police informant. The main thieves are played by Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen and Chris Penn while Lawrence Tierney appears as the old salt mastermind.
This was Tarantino’s first feature film, costing only $1,200,000, and it has quirky glimmerings of future greatness, as seen in “Pulp Fiction” (1994), “Jackie Brown” (1997), “Kill Bill” (2003/2004), “Inglourious Basterds” (2009) and “Django Unchained” (2012), but “Reservoir” didn’t work for me. It’s hampered by a low-budget vibe, which I can handle, but not the uninteresting lowlife characters, their self-made conundrum, their interminably dull dialogue and the one-dimensional setting where about 80% of the story takes place in an old warehouse, not to mention no females in the main cast.
Still, it’s interesting to observe Tarantino’s first serious stab at filmmaking and it has its moments of genuine entertainment. It’s a lesson on humble beginnings, which shows potential while not being up to snuff.
THE FILM RUNS 1 hour, 39 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles & Burbank.
GRADE: C-