Osiel Meza - Reservoir Dogs
Film Research
The men behind the jewelry heist meet up at a diner to have brunch.
The gang heads out to their cars where the title scene of the movie rises from the bottom to top in orange type. its 8 of these men.
Freddy, a.k.a. Mr. Orange, sits in the back of a stolen car with Mr. White driving to the hideout warehouse. He tries to comfort a panicked Freddy by holding his hand and telling him it's going to be okay.
Mr. Pink arrives to the hideout minutes after Mr. Orange and White arrival. He comes in talking about the whole job was a set up and is trying to figure out how the plan could've went wrong. Trust between all men is slim since nobody knows who ratted them out.
Scene cuts to Mr. Pink running down the street with the diamonds prior to getting to the hideout. Cops are chasing him, and Mr. Pink is pushing past pedestrians and gets hit by a car. He steals the car and shoots at the cops chasing him before driving off.
Cuts back the present moment. Mr. White and Pink are talking about what they seen Mr. Blond do at the scene of the job: kill innocent people. They stress about how they didn't know where him or the rest of the team was at after leaving the scene.
Their frustration gets to them and they start arguing about the future and what they're going to do with Mr. Orange. Moreover, Mr. White tells Mr. Pink that he told Mr. Orange his name since he trusts Mr. Orange. Pressure builds a lot on Mr. White since he is the reason why Mr. Orange got shot. Mr. Pink brings up that they should just leave him dead, and that remark leads to them shoving each other and drawing their guns at each other.
Mr. Blond shows up to the hideout and Mr. White and Pink have questions for him. Mr. Blond is really nonchalant after everything that happened. Mr. Blond mentions he has something to show them, and that's a cop held hostage.
Eddie shows up to the warehouse and sees that the guys have a cop held hostage at the hideout. Mr. Pink mentions that he stashed the diamonds, so Eddie, Mr. White, and him go for them while Mr. Blond babysits the cop and Mr. Orange.
Mr. Blond begins to torture the cop for no reason. He cuts off his ear and drowns him in gasoline. As Mr. White is stepping back leaving a trail of gas, Mr. Orange shoots and kills him right before lighting the cop on fire.
Scene cuts to previous days before getting the job with Joe. Mr. Orange is being informed about an undercover cop position. In order to be an undercover cop, you have to be good at acting, so Freddy is [practicing a story he has to tell to Joe and the guys to make it look like he's been a criminal to begin with.
While telling the made up story to Joe and the guys, the scene cuts to Freddy walking into a bathroom with a group of cops and a K9. This is just a visualization of what the story he's telling would look like.
Days after telling them the story and gaining their trust, Mr. Orange gets invited to drive with the guys. Before leaving his house, he seems hesitant and tells himself not to chicken out.
The movie goes back to the day of the job but at the scene before Mr. Orange gets shot. Mr. Brown, the get away driver dies on the wheel, so Mr. White and Orange bail from the car. They try stealing this lady's car but before hauling her out of the car, she takes a gun and shoots Mr. Orange right in the stomach. This leads to them on the pursuit to the warehouse.
Present moment of the movie, and Joe, Eddie, Mr. Pink, and White get back to the hideout. They ask about the death of Mr. Blond, and Joe mentions that Mr. Orange was the one who tipped off the cops. Mr. White is defending Mr. Orange on not being a snitch, and that leads to everyone drawing their guns at each other.
Shots are fired, and everyone drops to the floor. Mr. Pink flees from the scene. Mr. White, surprisingly still alive, crawls to Mr. Orange and holds him in his lap. Mr. Orange confesses to White about being a cop, and Mr. White holds his gun at Mr. Orange's head. Mr. White in disbelief starts wailing emotionally and in pain. The cops bust in the scene and kill Mr. White right after shooting Mr. Orange.
Essay
Reservoir Dogs, directed by Quentin Tarantino, casts a story of a group of 8 middle aged men that are all part of a jewelry store robbery job lead by the boss man, Joe. The characters are as followed: Joe, Nice Guy Eddie (Joe’s son), Mr. White, Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink, Mr. Blond, Mr. Blue, and Mr. Brown. Joe brought together the team through acquaintances that he has known throughout the years. The only “new-guy” on the team as one of the guys would say is Mr. Orange also known as Freddy. However, the thing about Freddy is that he is an undercover cop that has made his way into Joe’s scheme. The way the movie is made is patchy and almost everywhere with the storyline, a common style of directing done by Tarantino. While the present moment of the movie is happening, the movie cuts back to scenes that happened either earlier of that of the robbery or previous days before that.
The movie introduces the attitude and personalities of the men through a scene taken place at a diner. The men are all eating their brunch and are having a conversation with each other. These personalities are all similar with each other due to all the men being harsh to each other with teasing cruel jokes. Quentin promotes everyone’s harsh but playful tone along the movie though catchy punchlines and responses.
Mr. Orange is seriously wounded in the beginning of the movie by a gunshot to the stomach. Mr. White is desperately trying to save Mr. Orange by comforting him with words. He doesn’t want to take him to a hospital since they’re already wanted men for fleeing from a violent shoot out at the scene of the robbery. In that case, Mr. White, already known as Larry due to how Mr. Orange and Mr. White exchanged names when told not to, takes him to Joe’s warehouse where everyone met up before the robbery.
Mr. Pink comes in a couple minutes after and comes in blabbering that the whole job was a set up since the cops have showed up to the scene prior to the alarm going off. To them, that was super fishy so this idea of being set up floats through out the movie.
Things get hectic when Mr. Blonde arrives to the scene with a cop in the back of his car’s trunk. He holds him as hostage at the warehouse to see if he can give any word about the set-up. Nice Guy Eddie shows up after trying to calm everyone down about the rumors of the set-up. Mr. Pink mentions he stashed the diamonds, so Mr. White, Eddie, and him go get them; leaving Mr. Blonde in charge of the cop and Mr. Orange. On the contrary to the rest of the guys, Mr. Blonde came fresh out of jail not so long ago before the plotting of the job. Another thing is that he is violent but subtle with his actions.
Mr. Blond goes along to torturing the cop by cutting off his ear and nearly burning him by splashing gas on him while he is tied up to a seat in the middle of the warehouse. At the perfect moment, before Mr. Blond lets go of his lit lighter, Mr. Orange comes back from unconsciousness and kills Mr. Blonde with 6 shots to the chest.
The movie falls off the present moment and goes back to before the plotting of the job happened. Freddy, before gaining his alias of Mr. Orange, gets cool with Joe and the guys, gaining their trust. He does this by simply acting out his character of being a “bad-guy” in society. He gets close with Mr. White.
The movie cuts back to the present moment with Mr. Pink, Mr. White, and Eddie coming back to the scene of Mr. Blond dead. Minutes later, Joe shows up and states that Mr. Orange was the one who did the set-up, but Mr. White defends Mr. Orange by pointing a gun at Joe. Everyone has their guns up: Eddie pointing at Mr. White, Mr. White aiming at Joe, and Joe at Mr. Orange. In a second, everyone goes down after firing at each other. Mr. White is still alive and crawls to Mr. Orange. The sounds of distant cop sirens come closer and closer as Mr. Orange confesses to Mr. White that he’s a cop. The scene ends with Mr. White holding a gun to Mr. Orange’s head and the cops blasting him away right after he shoots Mr. Orange.
Words to Idea + Thesis Statement
Macho, Frustrating, Suspect, Trust, Eliminating
The Reservoir Dogs is about the mishap of a set-up jewelry shop robbery that builds suspense and pressure towards the main character whom is a undercover cop.
Visual Research (Inspiration Board/Collection)
Exploration/Formulation (Style Board/Examples/Studies)
Story Board
