50 Fun Facts About Reservoir Dogs

What kind of business do the crew rob in Reservoir Dogs?

The target was a diamond shipment. Tarantino never shows the robbery itself, partly for budget reasons and partly to keep the details ambiguous.

Which color alias belongs to the undercover police officer?

He is shot in the stomach hijacking a getaway car and spends most of the film bleeding out on the warehouse floor.

Who played Mr. White?

He also signed on as co-producer, which made funding easier, and paid for casting sessions in New York.

Which actor played the razor-wielding Mr. Blonde?

He had auditioned for Mr. Pink, but Tarantino insisted on Blonde. Madsen later played Budd in Kill Bill: Volume 2.

Steve Buscemi's role as Mr. Pink was originally written by Tarantino for whom?

In the original $30,000 plan, Tarantino would play Pink and producer Lawrence Bender would play Joe's son. Buscemi won an Independent Spirit Award for the part.

Tim Roth's agents wanted him to play Pink or Blonde. Why did he prefer the role he ended up with?

Roth was born in Dulwich, London, and had wanted to be a sculptor before acting.

Which character does Tarantino himself play?

Jeffrey Dean Morgan had read successfully for the part before Tarantino decided to keep it. Brown is the crew's 'pseudo philosopher'.

Who plays crime boss Joe Cabot?

The 1940s Dillinger star was so volatile that Tarantino fired him after a shoving match at the end of the first week; the crew applauded.

Chris Penn plays Joe's son. What is the character's nickname?

Penn, younger brother of Sean, died in 2006 at 40. His character is killed in the closing Mexican standoff.

Mr. Blue is played by which real-life ex-convict turned novelist?

Bunker had been San Quentin's youngest-ever inmate at 17. He dropped out of school in seventh grade and read five books a week inside.

Which song plays on the radio while Mr. Blonde tortures the captive policeman?

The 1973 hit was written by Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan and sold more than a million copies.

What is the name of the kidnapped police officer whose ear is cut off?

Kirk Baltz's ad-libbed plea reportedly made the scene very hard for Madsen to finish.

Which band recorded the song that plays during the ear scene?

It reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 8 in the UK. Producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller were behind it.

Whose style were the lyrics of the ear-scene song written to parody?

Rafferty's song lampoons a music-industry cocktail party. The vocal impression was so close that many listeners credited the wrong singer.

Who provides the deadpan voice of the K-Billy radio DJ?

The fictional station's 'Super Sounds of the Seventies Weekend' frames the whole soundtrack, which was the first for a Tarantino film.

Where was Tarantino working when he wrote the film?

Video Archives in Manhattan Beach, California. He planned to shoot the film with friends for $30,000 in 16 mm black and white.

According to Tarantino, the title came from a video store customer mishearing which film's name?

Louis Malle's 1987 film became 'reservoir dogs' in a patron's ear. Tarantino also liked that the title sounded like something out of a Melville film.

How much money did the production raise once its Mr. White signed on as co-producer?

The script had reached Keitel via producer Lawrence Bender's acting teacher, whose wife passed it along.

Which actor's agent turned down the role of Mr. Pink without telling him?

Woods was among many considered; Viggo Mortensen, George Clooney, Samuel L. Jackson and David Duchovny also read for parts.

Where was the warehouse hideout actually filmed?

The building was still full of caskets, embalming fluid and a hearse. The wounded thief's apartment set was a second-floor room in the same building.

At which festival did Reservoir Dogs premiere in January 1992?

It became the festival's most talked-about film and was picked up by Miramax. In 2024 a survey ranked it second among Sundance's all-time top ten.

Before the feature, Tarantino directed a short proof-of-concept version of the film in June 1991 where?

The lab version helped him refine the material before shooting the real thing that summer.

Which 1987 Hong Kong film has Tarantino cited as a major influence, prompting plagiarism accusations?

Ringo Lam said he was not bothered by the similarities. Tarantino's answer at Cannes: 'I steal from every movie.'

Tarantino described Reservoir Dogs as his take on which 1956 Stanley Kubrick heist film?

He also cited Kansas City Confidential and Ulu Grosbard's 1979 film about an ex-con.

The device of naming criminals by colors was first seen in which 1974 film?

Mr. Blue, Mr. Green and company hijacked a New York subway train in that thriller.

Which two horror-industry figures famously walked out of a screening at the Sitges festival?

Fifteen people left. Baker later told Tarantino to take it as a compliment on the realism of the violence.

What did Kirk Baltz ad-lib during the torture scene that reportedly made it hard for Madsen to finish?

Tarantino said walkouts happened at every screening and that he wanted the scene to be disturbing.

How much did Reservoir Dogs gross at the US box office on its original run?

It opened in just 19 theaters in October 1992 and was not heavily promoted; its reputation grew after Pulp Fiction.

Which British film magazine named Reservoir Dogs the greatest independent film of all time?

The same magazine placed it 97th on its 500 greatest films list in 2008.

Why was the UK home video release delayed until 1995?

UK films are certified separately for cinema and home viewing. The film even returned to British cinemas in 1994 while it was unavailable on tape.

Roger Ebert gave the film how many stars out of four?

He said it 'feels like it's going to be terrific' but that the script lacked curiosity about the characters: 'I liked what I saw, but I wanted more.'

For its nonlinear storytelling, the film has often been compared to which Kurosawa classic?

Critic John Hartl compared the ear scene to the Psycho shower murder, and others linked the film to Glengarry Glen Ross.

What was Steve Buscemi's job for four years before his acting career took off?

He joined Engine Company 55 in 1977 and briefly rejoined it after the September 11 attacks to work at the World Trade Center site.

What did Steve Buscemi win for Reservoir Dogs?

It was his second Spirit nomination. Kenneth Turan of the LA Times singled out Buscemi, Tierney and Madsen for praise.

The actor who played Joe Cabot had his 1945 breakthrough playing which real gangster?

The film was initially banned in Chicago and other cities where the gangster had operated. Tierney was still menacing people on set five decades later.

What happened to the actor playing Joe Cabot in July 1991, during filming?

He was jailed for firing at his nephew during a drunken rage at his Hollywood apartment; Tarantino later called him a nightmare.

The ex-convict who plays Mr. Blue wrote the novel behind which Dustin Hoffman film Tarantino cites as an influence?

The 1978 film came from Bunker's debut novel No Beast So Fierce; he also wrote Runaway Train.

Which 2002 Bollywood remake of Reservoir Dogs did Tarantino call his favorite film inspired by his work?

He screened it at his New Beverly Cinema alongside Reservoir Dogs and its Hong Kong influence.

The 2006 Reservoir Dogs video game featured only one returning cast member. Who?

The game was banned in Australia, Germany and New Zealand for its violence. A second game, Bloody Days, followed in 2017.

In Jason Reitman's 2012 live script reading with an all-Black cast, who read Mr. White?

Randy Brooks, who played the mentor cop Holdaway, had been the only Black actor in the original film.

Which character is the only one to walk out of the warehouse uninjured, diamonds in hand?

He does not get far: he is apprehended by police outside while shots ring out inside.

What is Eddie's unseen phone accomplice, named after a My Best Friend's Birthday sound editor, called?

My Best Friend's Birthday was Tarantino's unfinished 1987 amateur feature.

What was Tarantino's original plan for shooting Reservoir Dogs before Harvey Keitel came aboard?

He would have played Mr. Pink himself, with producer Lawrence Bender as Nice Guy Eddie and a cop.

In how many US theaters did Reservoir Dogs open on October 9, 1992?

Its first week brought in $147,839; the film grossed more than double its US total in the United Kingdom.

Which actor was fired by Tarantino at the breakfast table for being 'completely insane' on set?

Tarantino said everybody hated him by the end of the first week; the Joe Cabot role was still completed.

Which company picked up Reservoir Dogs for distribution after its Sundance premiere?

It became the festival's most talked-about film and then toured Cannes, Sitges and Toronto before opening in October.

What is the name of the fictional radio show whose 1970s songs make up the soundtrack?

Tarantino reasoned the film spans a weekend, so a themed weekend show fitted; only the band Bedlam recorded original songs.

At which Japanese festival did Reservoir Dogs win the Critic's Award in February 1993?

Tarantino attended in person; the film had screened out of competition at Cannes the previous year.

Who played Holdaway, the mentor cop who coaches Mr. Orange on his undercover story?

In Jason Reitman's 2012 all-Black live reading the part went to Patton Oswalt.

Which 1895 film did critic Jami Bernard invoke to describe the shock at the Sundance premiere?

Legend says early viewers ducked as the train approached; Bernard argued people simply were not ready for Tarantino either.