Let’s Go to Work with The “Reservoir Dogs” (Quentin Tarantino, 1992)

I had to wait until this film premiered on UK television to see it. I had given my mum a list of videos that I desired, New Jack City and Home Alone amongst them…this was back in 1993. Given the furore surrounding the content of Tarantino’s first step towards directorial greatness (he has taken a few steps back since then!), my mum was justified in keeping this video far from my grasp…from her point of view it was the right thing to do, and, I have to admit, when I become a parent I will probably do the same thing. Having already seen Robocop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987), Terminator (James Cameron, 1984) and New Jack City (Mario Van Peebles, 1990) in their true forms, I knew I was ready for pretty much anything. I digressed though and was patient on this occasion.

(Fig.1 – Channel 4’s original logo which ran from 1982-1996. Image via Wikipedia)

Channel 4, the greatest terrestrial tv channel for films in this country, aired Reservoir Dogs in 1995. Boy was it worth the wait! The film is squarely based on the 1987 Asian thriller ‘Lung fu fong wan’ (City on Fire) starring the irrepressible Chow Yun Fat and directed by Ringo Lam. An undercover cop infiltrates a motley crew of gangsters, summoned from their respective quarters of the state to pull off a diamond heist. Things go violently wrong and the crew find themselves having to rely on people they have just met in order to preserve their lives. Littered with iconic scenes and dialogue coupled with explosive and uncomfortable violence, Reservoir Dogs is, for me, an irresistable thriller whose elements make it eternally watchable.

(Fig. 2 – Hit television series ‘The Simpson’s’ spoofs the media reaction to some of Tarantino’s on-screen violence by having him appear and condemn the violence in the ‘Itchy and Scratchy show’. Here they are actually acting out a famous scene from his own film but have titled it ‘Reservoir Cats’ lol. Image via Wikipedia)

9/10