reservoir-dogs

Watch Reservoir Dogs on AUX Box Office

by Allan Tong

July 29, 2010

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Watch Reservoir Dogs Tonight at 9:30 pm and July 30 at 12:30 am and 1:30 pm.

Nearly 20 years later, Quentin Tarantino’s debut remains fresh and bold. I’m talking about its audacious flashback structure, rambling dialogue, pop culture references, shrewd casting and deadpan black humour.

As we all know by know, Reservoir Dogs is about a heist gone wrong. The dogs call themselves Messrs. Black, Brown, Orange, White, Pink, Blonde and Blue to protect their identities, but they suspect an undercover cop in their midsts.

That’s the plot, and the rest is all clever storytelling in which music plays a crucial part.  A masterstroke was having comedian Steven Wright unify the film as the unseen DJ from K-Billy’s Super Sounds of the Seventies, spinning hits from the 70s.  From the moment the opening credits hit the screen and The George Baker Selection whispers the opening lyrics to Little Green Bag, you know you’re in for a ride.  The sequence with the black screen intercutting with the dogs walking in slow-mo down an L.A. street owes as much to MTV as directors Ringo Lam and Stanley Kubrick.

Note that Tarantino doesn’t include any anthems, like Fleetwood Mac, Zeppelin or Queen, but picks one-hit wonders, such as Blue Swede’s Hooked on a Feeling which makes their impact even greater.  However, the most memorable and infamous choice is Stuck in the Middle sung by the Dylan-soundalikes, Stealers Wheel which fills the soundtrack during the memorable ear-cutting scene. The irony of that song played while a cop is tied to a chair and tortured is grotesque, tasteless and brilliant.

It’s become a cliche to pepper a film soundtrack with hip retro songs and contemporary tunes to turn otherwise dull scenes into quasi-music videos. Arguably, the master, Scorsese, was there first with 1973’s Mean Streets and later with 1990’s Goodfellas. However, Reservoir Dogs had great impact on the under-30 generation, setting the tone for 90s cinema with its nihilistic cool irony, much like Nirvana’s Nevermind would establish the sound of 90s rock.

Decades later, Reservoir Dogs reamins a timeless film.

Youtube trailer:

Tags: Music, Blue Swede, Fleetwood Mac, Goodfellas, MTV, Nirvana, Stanley Kubrick, The George Baker Selection

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