I recently had the tasteful displeasure (or distasteful pleasure) of watching John Carpenter’s now-classic horror film, “The Thing.” It’s also one of the few films that managed to experience a reversal of fortunes as its audience began to appreciate it over time. In other words, the theme or story motif of a group of men trapped in an unexpected situation while paranoia and uncertainty gradually take over each one of them is undoubtedly better experienced when Tarantino does it while grooving to K-Billy’s amazing 70s sounds and when the protagonists aren’t hacked and slashed by a shape-shifting monster but rather by themselves.
“Reservoir Dogs,” which introduced the world to Quentin Tarantino and his singularly surreal style of filmmaking, is a classic in every way and a standard in independent cinema. All of it is present, including the non-linear narrative, the stylized violence set to the rhythms of classic songs from the 1970s and 1980s, the irreverent dialogue, and the protracted, seemingly normal conversations that only seem to drag on until you find yourself unintentionally drawn into them. (Recall how Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” was discussed at the beginning?) Despite not being his best work, “Reservoir Dogs” will always be his most definitive work in my opinion because the director has surpassed himself on multiple occasions since this one.
The Ending
As regards the classic conclusion of ‘Reservoir Dogs,’ little still does not make sense about it, more than two and a half decades after it was released. There are, however, a few curious points in there that truly deserve discussion, as they have done across various forums on the world wide web over the years. It is these that we want to shed some light on during this discussion. To discuss the ending, let us go back to the far more than iconic Mexican standoff between Mr. White, Joe Cabot, Nice Guy Eddie and Mr. Orange. As it turns out, even now in this film, several people have appeared dead, including Mr. Brown (played by Tarantino himself) who got shot in the head during the robbery, Mr. Blue, who was discovered to have died by Joe Cabot when he appears at the warehouse, appearing for only a short while during the course of the film in the initial conversation, Marvin Nash, the officer that Mr. Blonde had kidnapped as he ran keeping him hostage after torturing him to death’s door, shot dead by Eddie, and Mr. Blonde himself, shot by Mr. Orange who then drops the bombshell to Nash that he indeed, was the undercover officer.
Right from the start of the film, it is clear that White has a soft spot for Orange, as he bleeds to death in his arms having been shot by a female passenger in whose automobile they hijack during the aftermath of the robbery. During the Mexican standoff, White stands up for him and defends Orange, who Joe points a gun at and accuses of being a snitch based on his “instinct”, and his inability to doubt Blonde according to Orange’s made up story, that he was willing to ambush all of them and flee with the diamonds since Blonde is a trusted ally to the Cabots as revealed in his back story when he is offered the job: he doesn’t snitch on Joe once in exchange for a reduced prison sentence. Angered at all this, Eddie, too, pulls a gun on White for humiliating his dad. The Mexican standoff is thus set up, and goes off when Joe kills the already mortally wounded Orange, Edie killing White, and White, falling, kills Joe and Eddie in a matter of seconds. That is when we reach the start of the end.
Grovelling in agony, a shot down White cradles Orange on his lap, still hoping the two will get out of it alive, as he attempts to explain to a struggling Orange that they could have to serve a bit of time, as the hum of police sirens gets near, and he acquiesces to what he thinks is his destiny, before Orange makes good on the surprise reveal of being an undercover cop and having engineered the whole heist. A near-heartbroken White begins crying even as Orange keeps apologizing for having wronged him by trusting him, as seething cops apparently throng the two. In spite of caution, White shoots Orange out of revenge, and is allegedly felled by the cops present. Although for the most part all of this occurs while the camera zooms in on Keitel’s face, most of it is fairly evident through the movements of the body and through the sounds of the shots. White, having obviously been shot, collapses to the floor, as the credits roll.
The Orange Conundrum
A big talk point for film fans on that end is if Mr. Orange meant his sorry to White, as he lay dying in his arms. Most think that since White was so kind to him when he got shot, & they were just strangers before the theft, a dying Orange felt bad & wanted to tell the truth before he died, to a man he felt was good to him. In a way, it also blurs the line of the “good” guys & the “bad” guys at the film’s end, which is a key theme in such films. I, for one, do think Orange felt sorry in all he said & did, or even for his part in the whole mess. He may have been too far gone, but here is a fake cop, who has shot a man, & sees a “good thief” who took a bullet for him. If Orange thought he’d live, he could have just stayed still & let White get caught & go to jail. Under that case, if White would find out who Orange was or not is a new guess in that guess, a path we’d rather not take. But, seeing how things went down, it does seem like a dying Orange did tell all to a man he saw as more than a crook; one can feel a deep link here. Another view could be that since Orange knew cops were near, he told the truth to try to keep White out of jail. As weird as that sounds, even as White gives in to his fate that they’d face jail time, Orange knew his truth would hit White hard & that he would act in a way to set cops off. A stretch, I agree, but worth a talk. Overall, the end of ‘Reservoir Dogs’ hits right as it is so dark yet fills a need. We have a crew of bad guys who meet ends they earned, & in the end, a good guy who isn’t that good, & a bad guy who isn’t that bad.
Mr. Pink’s Fate
Mr. Pink, the talk guy of the group, has an end that Tarantino left not tied up. The last we see him on the film is after the big gun fight. He pops out from a ramp, walks to the door with his gun, & grabs the bag that Joe & the team had. Then he heads out. Orange & White are left to die. It seems clear that the bag held part of the loot Pink sought to take. He might have done it, most like. But, to add to the sad but right end that may not be so vague from the start, you can hear low gun shots if you hear hard. It happens right as Pink steps out. It could mean that Pink met a sad end as he was on the run with the loot, the rich stones. He too was shot in a meet with the cops as he tried to flee, adding to the list of bad ends this steal led to.
Tarantino-esque
Many think ‘Pulp Fiction’ is the best Tarantino film. But for me, it’s ‘Reservoir Dogs’. Give this a thought. Yes, I know my pick may seem odd. ‘Pulp Fiction’ is the more liked & known one. But ‘Reservoir Dogs’ was the start. It holds all the bits that make a film scream Tarantino. This film shows them first. It has a great song list. This list sets the stage for very cool slow moves. For example, the first clip of the film. It goes with ‘little green bag’. Or it plays when there’s big, bold fights, long views, long chats that don’t go far but show who folks are, bits of pop world talk, the dark laughs, & the mix-up, choppy way it tells a tale. It’s all there. Look close.
Final Word
‘Reservoir Dogs’ needs no last word. Some films are more than just hit scores, cash, or big sales. They turn out to be key – they change or touch the way we see films in the years after they come out. With the start of an unknown new film guy, Tarantino, & with his next big hit, ‘Pulp Fiction,’ ‘Reservoir Dogs’ has stood the test of time. It is seen as a fresh & own type of film. It has had an effect on lots of films that came after it – some that are even a bit like it. Tarantino set out to make ‘Reservoir Dogs’ with just $30000. He soon got up to about $2 Mil, all thanks to Harvey Keitel who loved the script. He did not just give cash for it but he took a role in it too. Even then, the film is still seen as one of the top films made on its own. So much so that if you want to make films one day, ‘Reservoir Dogs’ is maybe the one film you must see. I say yes. Read More in Explainers: The Notebook | 47 Meters Down | Fight Club
