Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs is Quentin Tarantino's 1992 debut as a feature film director. It introduced many of the themes and aesthetics that have become Tarantino's hallmarks -- violent crime; pop culture references; memorable dialogue; and complex, nonlinear stories.

Trivia

• One role (purportedly Mr. Orange; Tarantino won't confirm or deny) was written for James Woods but his agent threw the script in the bin without showing it to him. When Woods later learned of this he fired the agent.
• During the scene where Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) tortures Officer Nash, the young cop begs for his life, saying he has a child at home. Madsen, who himself had just become a father in real life, was so upset by this line - the concept of leaving a young child without a father - that he had difficulty finishing the scene. (Actor Kirk Baltz, who played Nash, had ad-libbed the line during filming.)
• In the original concept for Pulp Fiction, the diamonds from this heist were to be the contents of Marcellus Wallace's briefcase. Also, this movie's Vic Vega and Pulp Fictions Vincent Vega were supposed to be brothers.
• For the European release the distributor used one sheet posters of each of the main characters. This marketing strategy has since become widespread.
• According to Quentin Tarantino, Mr. Pink survives but is arrested by the police - in the background, policemen can be heard ordering Pink to put his hands on the ground, then Pink says "I give up" after a brief firefight in which he is wounded but not killed.
• The makers had so little to work with that many of the costumes used in the film belonged to the actors themselves.
• The title is a combination of the film Straw Dogs and a corruption of Au revoir, les enfants, a film by Louis Malle.
• The plot of the movie was a huge influence in the music video for the band Rammstein's song Du Hast
• The woman who shoots Mr. Orange in the stomach (and who Orange shoots in return) is played by Tim Roth's dialogue coach.
• Samuel L. Jackson was originally up for the role of Mr. Orange