Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by
Momentum Pictures

Cert:

Cat.no: MP345D

Running time: 95 minutes

Year: 1992

Pressing: 2004

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 18 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Languages: English

Subtitles: English

Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £19.99

Extras: Trailer, Original Interviews, Film Noir Files, Deleted Scenes, Class of '92, Securing the Shot: Location Scouting with Billy Fox, Tributes and Dedications, Audio Commentary.

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Director:

Quentin Tarantino (Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vols 1 & 2, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs)

Producer:

Lawrence Bender

Screenplay:

Quentin Tarantino

Music Supervisor:

Karyn Rachtman

Cast:

Mr. White: Harvey Keitel
Mr. Orange: Tim Roth
Nice Guy Eddie: Chris Penn
Mr. Pink: Steve Buscemi
Joe: Lawrence Tierney
Mr. Blonde: Michael Madsen
Mr. Brown: Quentin Tarantino
Mr. Blue: Eddie Bunker

"Like A Virgin" is all about a girl who digs a guy with a big dick.

Those are the first words you hear, but isn't this supposed to be an ultra-violent heist movie? Why are they chatting about what's in the charts from years gone by? That's because Tarantino's script for this - and his subsequent films, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, show that even men with guns can talk about the less meaningful things in life. They all have discussions about nothing just like us - it's just that previous films have rarely, if ever, gone at great lengths to make their characters seem more human and it's all the better for that.

Note though that this isn't a film for those who take offence to characters using a constant stream of strong or racist language.

The film is a part rip-off, er.. I mean "homage", to John Woo's City on Fire which starred Chow Yun Fat, including the final four-way confrontation, but here it takes place over a weekend on which the local radio station is having a "K-Billy's Super Sounds of the 70s weekend" - and all those tracks make the soundtrack, including Stealer's Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle with You" during the infamous torture scene, which was aped in an episode of The Simpsons' "Itchy and Scratchy" cartoon "with guest director Quentin Tarantino".

In another homage to another heist film, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, all the characters have the names of colours to protect their own identity.

Nice Guy Eddie: "Well, no-one told ME it was a black-tie do!"

Told in flashback, six men are recruited to pull off a heist at a jeweller's shop with a brilliant cast: the thoughtful Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), the shit-scared Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), the fast-talking Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) most-knowned for the fact that "I don't tip.", the psychopath Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), Madonna fan Mr. Brown (Quentin Tarantino) and the man for whom we know little Mr. Blue (Eddie Bunker).

Managing the job is Mr. White's friend Joe (Lawrence Tierney) and there's back up from his son "Nice Guy" Eddie (Chris Penn).

What makes this different from other films is not only the flashback sequences telling you what went on, since the post-opening-credits-sequence opens with Mr. Orange bleeding over the back seat of a car and Mr. White panicking like hell, but the links between this and others with which Quentin Tarantino has been involved.

Mr. White also used to go out with Alabama, the girl played by Patricia Arquette in True Romance, which was also written by Tarantino, as was Pulp Fiction and that film's Vincent Vega (John Travolta) is the brother of this film's Mr. Blonde, aka Vic Vega. Tarantino also wrote Natural Born Killers, but its director Oliver Stone rewrote it and Tarantino had his name taken off it.

Also, although not a Tarantino link, it's interesting to know that the woman who put the bullet in Tim Roth's stomach was his dialogue coach. He gets to fire back, but he wanted to have some way of getting back at the person who forced him to perfect his American accent.

The film is presented in its original cinematic ratio of 2.35:1 and is anamorphic. Tarantino uses the full width of the frame very well indeed and it looks gorgeous throughout with no artifacts. It's set during the day so there are no night-time scenes bar occasional flashbacks. It looks excellent.

Last time round we had a Pro Logic soundtrack only, but here we're blessed with Dolby Digital 5.1 and it fills the room with rich sound during the many songs featured, occasional gunfire and plenty of background ambience.

Mr Blonde figured Marvin the cop was behind the catering.

Four years after the original DVD release, we finally get a Special Edition disc with the contents taking up two discs. All of the following are on disc 2, bar the commentary and trailer:

• Trailer (1½ mins): In letterbox 16:9.

• Original Interviews (55 mins): with Chris Penn, Kirk Baltz, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, producer Lawrence Bender and Quentin Tarantino, each of which is introduced with a unique style (Chris Penn in the back of a truck, Tim Roth amongst synchronised swimmers!) before the "Dog" in question gets on with giving their opinions and telling anecdotes about their involvement in the movie.

  Not sure where they get the word "Original" from because these were filmed in 2002. For the technically-minded, they're in 16:9 anamorphic.

• Film Noir Files (19 mins): Author Woody Haut introduces the concept and then comes more interview footage with authors Robert Polito, Donald Westlake, writer/director Mike Hodges and directors John Boorman and Stephen Frears.

• Deleted Scenes (12½ mins): Five here, all in open-matte 16:9 anamorphic, so you can imagine the 2.35:1 bars being applied on top.

  Firstly, Mr Orange does a background check on Mr White - worth a watch but goes on too long to be included in the film; Then another one about planning how far away the cops will be when the operation begins. Thirdly, there's a post-heist in-car scene with Mr White, Mr Pink and Nice Guy Eddie, but since they all end up at the warehouse at different times, this would seem rather out of place.

  Plus, there's two scenes where the ear gets cut off, one of them in close-up, but nothing still works as good as that found in the film where you don't actually see it happening!

• Class of '92 (40 mins): Tarantino and other big-name directors from the time talk about the competition for this movie at the Sundance Festival. First up is a mixture of comments, and then each of them stick their oar in separately.

  Secondly, Sundance Institute Filmmaker's Lab: Scenes from Reservoir Dogs contains rough versions and extended scenes, recording in 1991, in either 4:3 or letterbox 16:9, starting with the re-enacting of Mr White's meeting with Joe Cabot, with Steve Buscemi as White and another actor as Joe; then Buscemi as Pink running through his arrival at the warehouse with Tarantino as White.

  I remember the interviews that took place around this film's release and when some of these clips were shown, and how everyone was impressed by Tarantino's intriguing style of direction, often leaving the camera in one position while the actors do everything in one take. Seeing this again today, it's still a welcome antidote to all the fucking about student directors do today on the BBC and ITV, thinking they're showing emotion by zooming in on someone's mouth while they're eating, or going for the 'clasped hands' shot. Idiots.

• Securing the Shot: Location Scouting with Billy Fox (4 mins): How to turn a mortuary into a warehouse, where to find an apartment for Mr Orange, the fast food restaurant, the club and the outside area where Orange practices his routine.

• Tributes and Dedications (52 mins): Tarantino lists his influences, then there's more back-slapping to come from - and about - some of them too.

• Audio Commentary: featuring writer/director Quentin Tarantino, producer Lawrence Bender, editor Sally Menke, exective producer Monte Hellman, director of photography Andrzej Sekula and actors Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Michael Madsen and Kirk Baltz.

  It's announced here that this is the commentary for the 10th Anniversary DVD release (Region 1), so basically it's taken nearly two years for the UK DVD to come out.

The only subtitles come in English (no Dutch like the original release, but that's no great loss) and the main menu features a mock-up of the warehouse with one character in extreme distress - and who was so since the start, a cop who looks a bit unwell, White and Pink pointing their guns at each other and Mr Blonde looking on at the whole scene, all slightly moving from side to side.

One oddity - the original DVD release had 20 chapters. This one has just 18. How does that work?!

This a film I could watch a million times, but for the rest of you who are new to it, after you've seen it for the first time and know who the rat in the house is you can watch it again and see how the others reacted to the rat at any particular point in the film.

For those who want to waste their money, editions have been released covering one each of most of the men in the heist, but the covers just single out the 'dog' in question from the usual line-up. At least these are better than the grotesque multi-coloured Region 1 DVDs from 2002.

And why is it called Reservoir Dogs? According to Tarantino, "Because they're DOGS man.. and they're like, from the RESERVOIR, man!". Hmm...

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2004.

The following is a list of all the Quentin Tarantino movies online to date (region 2, except where specified) :

2004	Kill Bill Vol.2
2004	Kill Bill Vol.1
2004	Kill Bill Vol.1 (R1 DVD)
2004	Reservoir Dogs: Special Edition
2002	Jackie Brown: Collector's Edition (R1 DVD)
2002	Pulp Fiction: Classic Collection Box Set
2000	Reservoir Dogs

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

PC games reviewed by the editor are on: