The Big Picture
Quentin Tarantino’s
Reservoir Dogs
encapsulates his style of mixing violence and profanity without forgetting about character development.
The infamous torture scene, led by Mr. Blonde, caused a shocking number of walkouts.
Michael Madsen’s portrayal was so chilling that horror legend Wes Craven left the screening.
Quentin Tarantino, known for movies like Pulp Fiction and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is famous for pushing boundaries with his filmmaking, with an instantly recognizable style of cinema filled with violence and profanity. His movies feature graphic violence and often have high body counts. However, there is often a focus on the mundane nature of the characters’ conversation, and care is taken in the dialogue between them. All of this was present right from his first feature, Reservoir Dogs. Much of the runtime focuses on the interactions between the so-called Dogs — a cast which includes Steve Buschemi, Tim Roth and Harvey Keitel — both before and after a botched robbery, and the unraveling of the characters trying to grapple with the consequences. Each character has a distinct persona, and it is Mr. Blonde’s (Michael Madsen) instability that makes a Reservoir Dogs scene so disturbing that it made horror legend Wes Craven walk out.
Reservoir Dogs
Release Date September 2, 1992
Runtime 99
Main Genre Crime
Studio Artisan Entertainment
‘Reservoir Dogs’ Is a Blueprint for Characterization
Considering its short runtime, especially compared to some of Tarantino’s later movies, and its extensive cast, Reservoir Dogs is hugely successful in its ability to show the distinct personalities of its titular ‘dogs’. Despite the fact the group are largely referred to by their color aliases, Tarantino takes time to introduce each member and give enough information, either through flashbacks or their actions and mannerisms, to give a thorough understanding of who they are and what they add to the group. Mr. Pink (Steve Buschemi) is skittish and anxious. He is the first to be concrete in his belief that the whole job was a set-up and this reflects his distrusting, nervous nature. This is contrasted by Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) whose major qualities are his protectiveness and his loyalty, evidenced in the way he protects Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) and shows genuine remorse for his fate, even in the movie’s final moments when Orange reveals he has broken that trust. Initiating the aftermath of the heist with these two immediately shows the distinction between the men on the job and the clashing personalities they have.
The juxtaposition of personnel is only heightened by the arrival of Mr Blonde (Michael Madsen), a member of the group who White and Pink had previously discussed as psychotic due to his decision to shoot several civilians in the heist. Unlike Buscemi and Keitel, Madsen is calmer in his mannerisms, creating a much more blasé persona. Blonde saunters in, leisurely about the situation and immediately polarizes the panic presented by White, Orange and Pink. Madsen plays up to the subtle mania of Blonde, he is not over-the-top with his delivery, and it is the understated nature of his persona that makes his later actions so chilling.
The Torture Scene in ‘Reservoir Dogs’ Caused Walkouts
After the arrival of ‘Nice-Guy’ Eddie (Chris Penn), Mr. Blonde is left alone with a dying Mr. Orange and a police officer he kidnapped earlier. Played to the soundtrack of “Stuck in the Middle With You”, Blonde dances towards the officer before hacking his ear off. Most of the physical torture happens off-screen, with the camera panning to the ceiling when Blonde makes the chop. However, it is the way Madsen calmly sings along to the radio with such detachment contrasted with the officer’s bloodied face of fear that makes the scene so difficult to stomach. Mr. Blonde is so casual about his actions, even talking to the severed ear for his own amusement. The whole scene even starts with Blonde explaining he doesn’t really care about getting information from the officer. From the offset, there is no hope for the officer and that hopelessness is what makes the scene so unsettling.
The scene is not overly graphic or gory, aside from the depiction of what is left of the ear. Even the ear-less side of the officer’s head is extremely clean, much like Mr. Blonde’s spotless white shirt. This furthers his characterization; he is methodical and measured in his approach, despite the grisly nature of his actions. It adds another dimension because it gives the impression he doesn’t like to get his hands dirty, even though the audience knows Blonde is responsible for killing numerous civilians. It shows he isn’t messy but precise in his methods, which makes him even more dangerous. Madsen’s understanding of Blonde is evident in his execution of the character. The original script has Blonde “manically dancing” but Madsen improvised with a much more subdued move inspired by a “weird little thing Jimmy Cagney did in a movie”. This decision reflects the suave insanity of Mr. Blonde. The scene is disturbing because of how composed the character is.
Related One of Quentin Tarantino’s Best Scenes Doesn’t Have an Ounce of Blood or a Single Swear This montage stands as the most defining sequence of Tarantino’s career.
Michael Madsen Was So Disturbing in ‘Reservoir Dogs’, Even Wes Craven Walked Out
Tarantino was so shocked by the response to the torture scene at advanced screenings that he started counting the walkouts, with 33 being the highest. When introducing his movie at Spain’s Sitges horror movie festival, he was convinced he’d found an audience that could stomach his movie and would have zero walkouts. This was not the case, and five people ended up walking out of the screening. Among those walkouts was horror icon Wes Craven. Although the filmmaker hadn’t yet made Scream, he was still known for his work on A Nightmare on Elm Street and the infamous The Last House on the Left, the latter notorious for its graphic content. Tarantino couldn’t believe his movie was ‘too tough’ for Craven. Credit has to go to Madsen and the way he delivered Mr Blonde’s unsettling persona to the point where it wasn’t just his victim that was horrified, it was the audience as well.
Reservoir Dogs is not flashy, but its low budget allows it to feel extremely grounded. Its violence is not its focus, instead, it shows the violent nature of the criminal world it explores. Madsen even explained that he didn’t think the movie’s violence was overly shocking, and that “he didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about”.Reservoir Dogs isn’t about excessive gore, it’s about the harsh truth of living and the violence within humanity. The brutality of Reservoir Dogs’ realism is what makes it so successful, but it was too much even for one of horror’s most brilliantly twisted directors.
Reservoir Dogs is available to rent on Amazon Prime in the U.S.
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