Ragtag group of gangsters aren’t sure who to trust in Quentin Tarantino’s violent debut, RESERVOIR DOGS
RESERVOIR DOGS (Quentin Tarantino, 1992)
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
143 East Houston St. between First & Second Aves.
Friday, April 12, and Saturday, April 13, 12 midnight
212-330-8182
www.landmarktheatres.com
Why does Steve Buscemi have to be Mr. Pink? Because Quentin Tarantino said so. Tarantino burst onto the indie film scene with the ultraviolent genre picture Reservoir Dogs, about a diamond heist gone horribly wrong. You know there’s a problem if Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) has to be called in to clean up the mess made by Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr. Blue (Eddie Bunker), Mr. Brown (Tarantino), Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), and, of course, Mr. Pink. The robbery was organized by Joe (Lawrence Tierney) and his son, Nice Guy Eddie (Chris Penn), who has issues of his own. Double crosses, Madonna discussions, and a torture scene set to the Stealers Wheel song “Stuck in the Middle with You” make things go from funny to frightening in hysterical blasts of bloody irony as tensions mount and the criminals debate whether they were set up. Reservoir Dogs served as quite a debut for writer-director Tarantino, instantly making him an indie-film hero and sending him on his way, to be followed by his great script for True Romance (1993) and his Palme d’Or winner Pulp Fiction (1994), pulling off quite a triple play in three awesome years.