Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth and Michael Madsen in the Quentin Tarantino movie ‘Reservoir Dogs’

It is nearly 30-years since Reservoir Dogs (1992), the first feature-length movie directed by Quentin Tarantino, was released in movie theatres. The film depicts events before and after a planned diamond heist from a jewelry store goes terribly wrong. The movie looks into the robbery team, the suspicions among members that ensued, and ultimately a resolution for the team along the way. An impactful point of the story is the stress responses in the points in between.

(In the backseat, Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink. From left in front, Harvey Keitel as Mr. White/Larry and Chris Penn as Nice Guy Eddie in the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs).

An early scene in the narrative for Reservoir Dogs includes introducing members of the team in the period before the heist. A notion for the protection of the members of the team seeking to perform the heist is for nobody to know the names of the other criminals involved. Thus, we meet Mr. Pink as portrayed by Steve Buscemi. We meet Mr. White, whom we later learn to be Larry, as portrayed by Harvey Keitel. We also meet Nice Guy Eddie, as portrayed by Chris Penn, whose role in the larger criminal enterprise allows him to not be named with a color. The film does include some off-color humor that gratuitously disparages African Americans.

(From left, Tim Roth as Mr. Orange/Freddy and Harvey Keitel as Mr. White/Larry in the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs).

Tim Roth portrayed Mr. Orange, who we later learn to be named Freddy. We see these two up-close from the beginning of the movie. Reservoir Dogs is not presented chronologically, which is to say that the background information for characters within the story gets shown in flashbacks to earlier points in time that suggest motivations and depth for the individual characters. That the stories of Mr. Orange and Mr. White are strongly connected and emotionally relevant is clear from the earliest parts of the movie.

(From left, Quentin Tarantino as Mr. Brown, Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde aka Vic and Edward Bunker as Mr. Blue in the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs).

Parts of the heist, including the plans for the getaway after the heist, include Mr. Blue, Mr. Brown and Mr. Blonde / Vic. Edward Bunker portrayed Mr. Blue. The film’s director, Quentin Tarantino, portrayed Mr. Brown. Michael Madsen portrayed Mr. Blonde, who we later learn to be Vic. Arguments ensue after the heist among Mr. Pink and Mr. White about getting medical care for Mr. Orange, who injuries are explained in the course the movie. Distrust runs rampant, yet transforms into something else altogether when Mr. Blonde arrives with kidnapped policeman Marvin Nash.

(From left, Tim Roth as Mr. Orange/Freddy and Kirk Baltz as Marvin Nash in the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs).

Marvin Nash is portrayed by Kirk Baltz. An interesting and brutal scene set to the song Stuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheels sees Mr. Blonde confronting a sadistic point-of-view in confronting a bound and immobile Marvin Nash. The commentary of place for Mr. Blonde mixed in among the other criminals participating in the heist gives the scene legs.

(From left, Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink, Chris Penn as Nice Guy Eddie and Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde/Vic in the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs).

It’s a conversation among Mr. Pink, Mr. Blonde, Mr. White, Mr. Orange and Nice Guy Eddie that precedes that planned confrontation of Mr. Blonde and Marvin Nash. It’s Nice Guy Eddie that ultimately brings his father and ringleader, Joe Cabot, into the dance for addressing the crews getaway after the heist. Joe Cabot, as portrayed by Lawrence Tierney, sees the heist at its clearest level as the mastermind of the theft coupled with the criminal with the fullest awareness of the moving parts of the robbery.

(From left and standing are Tim Roth as Mr. Orange/Freddy, Steve Buscemi as Mr. Pink and Edward Bunker as Mr. Blue. From left and sitting are Harvey Keitel as Mr. White/Larry, Quentin Tarantino as Mr. Brown, Lawrence Tierney as Joe Cabot, Michael Madsen as Mr. Blonde/Vic and Chris Penn as Nice Guy Eddie in the Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs).

The larger story of the outcome of the heist, the disposition of the thieves are supporting characters, and the degree of loyalty and trust that were merited in the situation at hand are revealed. Was one of the robbers a police informant or cop? Were loyalties properly laid? Were the outcomes meted out just or satisfying? The positive reception for the film is best rooted in these questions. I grant Reservoir Dogs as directed by Quentin Tarantino 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Kevin Costner and seven time Academy Award winning movie ‘Dances with Wolves’

Winning Academy Awards for best picture, director, cinematography, film editing, adapted screenplay, original musical score and sound mixing, Kevin Costner‘s directorial debut was a commercial and mostly critical success. (For criticism on cultural grounds, read point sixteen here). Dances with Wolves (1990) ran for approximately three-hours in theatres and nearly four-hours with the extended cut intended for home viewing.

(From left, Robert Pastorelli as Timmons and Kevin Costner as Lieutenant John Dunbar in the movie Dances with Wolves).

Kevin Costner stars as the character Lieutenant John Dunbar of the American Civil War‘s Union Army whose perspective both narrates and interprets the experience of Dances with Wolves. The film, clearly a western, offers some colorful history for Dunbar that allows the film to unfurl in some form of context that offers a view into the lives of Sioux peoples. The film gets into the serious storytelling of the Sioux culture after arriving at Fort Sedgewick with Timmons, as portrayed by Robert Pastorelli.

(From left, Rodney A. Grant as Wind In His Hair and Graham Greene as Kicking Bird in the movie Dances with Wolves).

The story of Dancing with Wolves revolves largely around getting to understand the lifestyle that was that of the Sioux peoples that lives in part of the Great Plains region of North America. The beginning of that tale in the movie involves the prejudice and stereotypes of the native and emerging United States national culture that will brings with it conflict. Dunbar keeps a diary of the initial perceptions of contact from the perspective of a Union solider. Wind In His Hair, as portrayed by Rodney A. Grant, and Kicking Bird as portrayed by Graham Greene are part of the Sioux perspective.

(From left, Tantoo Cardinal as Black Shawl, Mary McDonnell as Stands With A Fist and Otakuye Conroy as Kicking Bird’s Daughter in the movie Dances with Wolves).

A significant portion of making the larger narrative of the interpersonal, non-historical story of Dances with Wolves emotionally work was a story of romance and physical communication. This placed Stands With A Fist, as portrayed by Mary McDonnell, at the center of two important pieces of that achievement. Getting to know Stands With A Fist at first took interaction with Kicking Bear and Wind In His Hair and Kicking Bird. Kicking Bird’s wife Black Shawl, as portrayed by Tantoo Cardinal, became central to building that story.

(Teddy and Buck as Two Socks – a Wolf in Dances with Wolves).

It took a fair amount of movie time for the notion of why the wolf, a character we came to know as Two Socks, developed some emotional feet. As the backstory for John Dunbar began to lose its meaning, the role of what it meant to be Union soldier gave way to what the day-to-day lifestyle of being Sioux in the community that John Dunbar had found. In a bit of a spoiler, Dunbar had been granted a Sioux name the revealed the budding relationship Dunbar had with the wolf and with the larger Sioux community. After all, Dunbar’s emotional conversion, along with the social meaning of that conversion that is a sore subject of cultural identity and portrayal for some, gets its emotional legs.

(From left, Floyd ‘Red Crow’ Westerman as Ten Bears and Doris Leader Charge as Pretty Shield in the movie Dances with Wolves).

Leadership with the Sioux community that Dunbar took to heart in Dances with Wolves included Chief Ten Bears, as portrayed by Floyd ‘Red Crow’ Westerman and his wife, Pretty Shield, as portrayed by Doris Leader Charge. When the larger narrative for returning the movie to the opening backstory that started the revelation of the Sioux culture had come to pass, know that Ten Bears and his wife and Pretty Shield, along with others, played their part.

(Tony Pierce as Corporal Spivey in the movie Dances with Wolves).

I briefly touched on the Dances with Wolves story of John Dunbar had come to Fort Sedgewick, near modern day Julesburg, Colorado in the northeast part of the state. Corporal Spivey, as portrayed by Tony Pierce, offers something meaningful for the broader brushstrokes of the movie directed by Kevin Costner that were meant to be felt. Michael Blake‘s screenplay and novel helped lead us here. I for one appreciated the story for the lifestyle of the Sioux that was shared. Acknowledging the cultural critique (read point sixteen here) that comes with the Hollywood story, our rating for Dances with Wolves is 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 stars.

Matt – Saturday, January 2, 2021