Presentation Outline

Presentation on Reservoir Dogs

Intro –

Reservoir Dogs is a film about an undercover cop pretending to be a criminal, who is hired on by a gang leader, working side by side with 5 other men to pull off a jewelry heist that in the end turns for the worst.

Elements of Film Noir-

Reservoir Dogs is a film about crime and violence taken place in the1990s with throwbacks to the 60s and early 70s. The ambiguous protagonist a “good guy”pretending to be a criminal hired by the “bad guy “Joe Cabot, along with 5 other men to steal jewels for a reward. The film focuses on paranoia and the distrust the men have with one another, along with the guilt on behalf of the the protagonist.

Mr. Orange the undercover cop kills an innocent woman as he gets away in front of his new criminal buddy Mr. White, in order to steal her car and escape from the police. This shows how he is willing to kill an innocent person to prove he is all in.

Mr. Pink and Mr. White argue in front of Mr. Orange as he bleeds to death about being set up. The men feel there is a rat amongst them, but none of them trust each other enough to talk about whom they are and what they know to prove they are not the rat.

                                 

Elements of Neo- Noir

The film is in color although the men are dressed in black and white suits, the only black character happens to be the man who teaches the white undercover cop how to be a good pretend criminal. Reservoir dogs has no Femme fatale or “good girl “role, the only females mentioned are a waitress in the diner scene and a woman who gets shot, but no speaking female roles. The film is about a heist gone wrong that is never seen, we only see the aftermath of the men killing each other. 

 

Sex and Violence – There are no sex scenes , as well as no female speaking roles, but there is a lot of violence. If the men are not shooting cops they are fighting with each other. Blood is seen throughout the film: Mr. Brown drives the getaway car with a bloody gunshot wound in the head, in the back seat of the car all over Mr. Orange and as Mr., Orange lays in a pool of blood for most of the film. Also the cop's ear bleeding after it gets cut off

Throwback Scenes – There are several elements from the 60s -70s although the film took place in the 90s: the 1965 Cadillac, the music for example “Stuck in the middle with you “and “Little Green bag”

 
 

            Commentaries:

            In 100 Greatest Gangster films: Reservoir Dogs, #15 By George Anastasia he expresses how the film relates to our current time “Turns out, we listen to the same oldies on the radio, crack the same jokes and have the same debates about issues like tipping. In a strange way that prompts you- as the viewer-to feel sympathy for these dark-hearted characters”. This allows the dark criminals to be seen in a realistic point of view , from their clothes to the cars they drive to their conversations, I can relate. All these things make me forget they were bad guys hired to steal. The noir darkness is there but it is almost blurred by the fact that the characters are so real.

 

In Reservoir Dogs By Nandini Godara she discusses how the film was about a diamond heist we never see due to budgetary“I think what came about as a result of this decision was a very human story”we get to see how the men interact  and react with each other after the plan has gone wrong. Not showing the actual heist which is the main focus of the film is like a sex scene not being shown in a classic noir film, we know what happened even though it was not seen based on the following current events.