Quentin Tarantino's 'Reservoir Dogs'
Title 1 (0:01-7:36) (7:31) Stop after men leave diner
Summary
The film opens in a diner where 6 men in black suits and black ties are siting around a table discussing Madonna’s song “Like a Virgin.” Mr. Brown says that the song is about a promiscuous woman who finally meets a guy with a dick big enough that makes her feel pain, like the very 1st time, like a virgin. The boss has his a little black book open trying to place the name Toby Wong. Mr. White snatches the book away and Mr. Blonde asks the boss in a playful way if he wants him to shoot Mr. White. The boss’ son, Nice Guy Eddie, asks everybody if they listen to a radio program called K-Billy’s Super Sounds of the Weekend. A couple of them mention their favorite songs. Pink likes the song ‘Heartbeat (It’s a love beat)’
Boss’ son likes ‘The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia.’ The cheating wife singing this song is the 1 who shot Andy (This is an analogy of how Mr. Orange plays Mr. White). Boss gets up to go to take care of the bill and tells the guys to throw in a tip for the waitress. Everybody throws in except for Mr. Pink who doesn’t feel obligated to do so just because society’s norms says he should.
He doesn’t care about how little waitresses earn; they can quit.
Analysis
The colors in this film alternate in meaning according to the different situations. Sometimes the colors refer to race, other times they refer to gender, and at other times they represent virtues like naiveté or innocence, or—as in the discussion in this scene—virginity as the song ‘Like a Virgin’ is describing Mr. White, who, like Madonna's song, is fucked by someone who makes him feel like a virgin according to the explanation given by Mr. Brown.
Like a virgin, Mr. White never got caught on a job, he almost got caught—he tells Mr. Pink— but his instincts told him one of the guys was undercover and he pulled out. In this respect—not ever having been “fucked” by an undercover cop, Mr. White is a virgin. Mr. Orange, in Madonna’s song ‘Like a Virgin,’ is the dude with the giant penis that makes her feel like a virgin. Remember, Mr. White tells Mr. Pink at the beginning of the film that he had to pull out of a job because his instincts told him that one of the guys was a cop. The reason Mr. White doesn’t get this feeling about Mr. Orange is because they had gotten too close after Mr. Orange got shot in the belly. That shot to his belly arouses feminine instincts in Mr. White that blinds him to reason and objectivity. An early hint that Mr. White would become too close to Orange is them sitting next to each other in the diner. It is easy to become subjective being too close to something or someone, any situation. To see things for what they are, we need some distance which is shown in how close White and Orange are sitting together relative to Mr. Pink who is sitting on the other side of the table. Mr. Pink’s objectivity is represented by his coldness and detachment which comes through when he gives his reasons for not being a tipper. His callousness shows that he doesn’t let his emotions override his principles and that he is able to cut off his emotions and think rationally, foreshadowing the tension between he and Mr. White over whether or not Mr. Orange is a cop. Another interesting thing about Mr. Pink not tipping is that a “tipper” is the same thing as a snitch. This explains the sour look on Mr. Orange’s face in this scene, sour not just on account of Mr. Pink being a cheapskate, but sour because he knows that Mr. Pink isn’t naive and he’s been, in the metaphor of Madonna’s song, “fucked” before. In another allusion to sex and the Like a Virgin metaphor, Mr. Pink tells his cop mentor “I’m up his ass,” meaning Joe’s ass.
Also in this scene, Mr. Pink explains his reasons for not tipping, he asks Mr. White why society says he should tip waitresses and not tip a worker at McDonalds when they are both serving food to customers. His view foreshadows the cynical view he has of his fellow robbers after the diamond heist and this also foreshadows Mr. White discounting Mr. Orange as the undercover cop who rats them out.
This banter is significant in why Mr. Pink and Mr. White are opposites when it comes to how they think. Mr. White in this conversation, takes the liberal compassionate view; Mr. Pink is cold and refuses to tip because of what society thinks. His views are conservative and disconnected which is why he doesn’t put snitching past Mr. Orange in the diamond heist
Mr. Orange and Mr. White are sitting next to each other suggesting their closeness. Mr. Orange listens to Mr. Pink with a sneer own his face (Mr. Pink is the wise brother who’s hip to the games and Mr. Orange senses this
footnote (s): from wikipedia
Title 2 (4) (11:09-20:19) (9:10) Stop after Pink says “So I blasted my way out.”
Summary
Mr. White hauls Mr. Orange into an empty warehouse talking to him to keep him awake. He lays Mr. Orange down on a small ramp and lays down beside him. He tells Mr. Orange to say that they’re waiting for Joe. Mr. Orange’s voice is high and effeminate when he asks Mr. White to hold him. Mr. White combs Mr. Orange’s hair. Their faces are close and Mr. White’s face looks like he’s in as much pain as Mr. Orange. They both whimper. Mr. White tells Mr. Orange he’s not going to die. He tells him to relax. Mr. Orange is full of gratitude. “Bless your heart,” he says looking up at Mr. White then asking to be taken to the hospital but Mr. White says no. Mr. Orange begs him, promising not to tell the cops anything. Mr. White tells Mr. Orange that he won’t die from the stomach wound.
Mr. Pink enters the warehouse yelling that they were setup.
Analysis
this is important and shows Mr. White’s weak tendencies of trusting and his weakness for volunteering info. Also, Mr. White is standing by a mirror showing his selection. This means that his alias and identity are separate and in conflict. Mr. Pink doesn’t have a reflection which means that there is no conflict between his alias and true identity. This explains why Mr. White almost reveals his real name to Mr. Pink.
The “gut” plays a big role in this film: 2 Corinthians 5:7-“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Throughout the film, characters refer to their instincts, their gut, their intuition. Following the heist, Mr. Pink kicks himself for not following his gut and pulling out of the heist; Mr. Pink says he avoided getting caught in a previous job by following his instincts; at the end of the film, Joe Cabott kicks himself for ignoring his gut feeling about Mr. Orange. Our instincts are our 6th sense, there to detect what we can’t pick up on the surface. The colors Joe names the robbers have an obvious purpose but the colors also metaphors serve 2 symbolic functions: 1) to put everybody on an even playing field where they all have to rely on their instincts, since Joe orders them not to share any of their personal information; and 2) the colors themselves, within the context of trust, are all races, all demographics—rich, poor, etc.— and how none of us have a monopoly on evil, or in this case, deception. This is why Mr. Pink doesn’t trust anybody because he knows that no man or woman is above evil; and this is also why Mr. White trusts Mr. Orange, discounting even the possibility he could be an undercover cop simply because he is bleeding to death from a gunshot wound to the belly. Being a victim doesn’t make him innocent. Orange, that is.
It is an accepted belief that women possess a special instinct over men known as female intuition. This is why, in the film, Mr. Orange is the only robber who is shot in the “gut” by a WOMAN who points him out as the undercover cop. Backing up this assessment is Mr. Pink, whose color pink is associated with femininity. This is why he suspects Mr. Orange as a cop right off the bat. Women can sense when a man is lying and the man in this equation and Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ song is Mr. Orange. Another thing: at the beginning of the film, Joe has a little black book open trying to figure out a name in it. But it’s not the name that has him puzzled, it’s his “gut” that is bothering him. Mr. Orange is also at the table and this is why at the end of the film, Joe says that he felt something in his gut about Mr. Orange that didn’t feel right. Him looking in his little black book and trying to figure out who Toby Wong is.
footnote (s):
Title 3 (7) (21:49-26:12) (4:25) Stop after Mr. Pink asks where the commode is.
Summary
Mr. White says he’s jinxed. A couple of jobs back on a 4 man job, 1 of the guys turned out to be an undercover cop but luckily they found out in time and canceled that job. If someone did rat them out, who could it be—Mr. Blue, Blonde, Brown, Joe? Joe could have ratted them out because he set the whole thing up, Pink says but White rules Joe out.
Pink says that they can’t trust anybody then tells White that he could be the rat to which White tells Pink that he could be the rat. To this, Mr. Pink compliments Mr. White on finally using his head: “You can’t trust anybody. For all we know, Mr. Orange is the rat.” As he had ruled out Joe as being the rat simply because they were buddies, White rules out Mr. Orange, too, on the strength that he (Orange) had taken a bullet to the belly (but he didn’t take the shot from a cop but a woman; important note).
Analysis
Remember the diner scene at the beginning of the film showing White kidding around with Joe over the old man’s little black book. Their closeness was obvious and this is why White can’t entertain Joe as the potential rat.
Again, White’s objectivity and judgement are clouded by his feelings, the wrong kind of feelings for the business they are in. Mr. Orange is ruled out simply for having taken a shot in the belly, a shot, ironically, fired by a woman and not a cop.
It is an accepted belief that women possess a special instinct over men known as female intuition. This is why, in the film, Mr. Orange is the only robber who is shot in the “gut” by a WOMAN who points him out as the undercover cop. Backing up this assessment is Mr. Pink, whose color pink is associated with femininity. This is why he suspects Mr. Orange as a cop right off the bat. Women can sense when a man is lying and the man in this equation and Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin’ song is Mr. Orange. Another thing: at the beginning of the film, Joe has a little black book open trying to figure out a name in it. But it’s not the name that has him puzzled, it’s his “gut” that is bothering him. Mr. Orange is also at the table and this is why at the end of the film, Joe says that he felt something in his gut about Mr. Orange that didn’t feel right. Him looking in his little black book and trying to figure out who Toby Wong is.
Title 4 (9) (28:13-37:42) (9:29) Stop after robbers take cop out of car.
Summary
Mr. White tells Mr. Pink the-in the heat of the moment after Mr. Orange got shot-he told Mr. Orange his real name and where he’s from. Mr. Blonde shows up with a cop he kidnapped from the heist.
Analysis
Mr. Pink’s statement “They get close to you, they get close to me and that can’t happen,” illustrates how all of our lives are connected; what affects 1 affects all. Matthew 12:25–“But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” Pink and White are the rational and emotional aspects of the human psyche contending with each other. On one hand, Pink is the cold mathematical mind that can discern right from wrong; and on the other hand, White is acting out of his emotions. Pink cannot leave because he and White are 1. If they agreed on Pink’s side, they would have a good chance of salvaging the botched heist. But being that they are in conflict on the emotional side of Mr. White, they wind up losing everything)
Telling Blonde that he wouldn’t have worked with him had he known the type of person he is the very reason he, Mr. White, should not have disclosed his personal information to Mr. Pink.
Title 5 (15) (1:03:00-1:13:45) (10:45) Stop after Freddie dries his hands in commode
Summary
Freddie is trained to go undercover by a fellow undercover cop. He memorizes a script describing a fictitious drug deal that he shares with Joe and the other robbers so they will think that he has a criminal past.
Analysis
Black cop teaches Freddie the art of deception. Everything he tells Freddie not to do like being soft or sympathetic is exactly what White ignores in how he deals with Freddie. The set design in this scene where he reads the script in front of the wall of graffiti shows him disappearing into it as though becoming the lie he is pretending to be as the robber.
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Title 6 (17) (1:16:39-1:26:45) (10:06) Stop after Freddie says he’s going to die.
Summary
Joe, the boss, goes over the diamond heist with the robbers. He gives them colors for their names. Diamond heist goes sour and Mr. Pink is shot in the stomach.
Analysis
The men are in a car and on their way to meet the boss, Joe, to go over the heist. They strike up what seems like a random discussion on Black women and White women and how much the women take off their men. Pink insists that Black women and White women differ in how much abuse and mistreatment they take off men. Black women don’t take the abuse from men that White women take. The Black women who takes no stuff is him and the White women who are passive is Mr. White. This is also why Joe, when naming the robbers, tells them that they don’t get to choose their own names. In the past, everyone wanted to be Mr. Black because Mr. Black, referring to Pink’s assessment of Black women, don’t take any shit. Again, Tarantino uses colorful dialogue exchanges to foreshadow the characters and plot. Also, going back to 1 of the themes in this film, “the gut,” notice that Freddie is shot in the gut to reinforce this theme. And he is also shot by a woman, keeping in line with the so called feminine intuition that is reinforced by the color pink which is associated with femininity and which also explains Mr. Pink’s distrust of Mr. Orange.
footnote (s): from wikipedia
Title 7 (21) (1:21:07-1:34:29) (13:22) Stop after Freddie tells White he’s a cop.
Summary
Eddie, White, and Pink return to the warehouse and finds Blonde dead. Freddie tells them Blonde was going to make off with the diamonds. Joe shoes up and accuses Freddie of being a cop. Joe, White, and Eddie shoot each other. Freddie tells White he’s a cop. The police bust in the warehouse and shoot White.
Analysis
This is why Joe kept looking in his little black book; something bothered him. Again, I refer to 2 Corinthians 5:7-“For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Freddie is the only robber who’s real identity isn’t known to Joe which is why he kept looking at his little black book in the beginning of the film. Seeing the sight of blood on Mr. Pink’s stomach aroused Mr. White’s emotions which, in turn, short circuited his instincts that would have warned him that Freddie was a rat.
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