In ‘Reservoir Dogs’, why is the robbery not shown on screen?
Few filmmakers put quite as much effort into their work as Quentin Tarantino, with the director being known for his remarkable attention to detail. Such can be seen throughout his filmography, with his 1994 Palme d’Or winner Pulp Fiction being scattered with multiple tributes to cinema history, whilst his ninth movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, was teeming with 1970s iconography.
Such is evident from the director’s debut film, with 1992’s Reservoir Dogs being constructed as a love letter to crime movies of the 20th century whilst also simmering with its own unique style. Starring the likes of Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Steve Buscemi and Chris Penn, the film tells the story of a jewellery heist that goes wrong and the efforts of the criminals to evade the police and find the informant among them.
Considering that the film is all about a robbery, it’s a curious decision from Tarantino that the inciting incident isn’t even shown on screen. Still, seeing as the filmmaker is meticulous in his craft, there is a very simple reason why the pivotal scene doesn’t appear in the movie.
Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs is seen as one of the most important independent films of the 1990s, created with a distinct style on a strict budget. Much of the film, therefore, takes place in a warehouse in order to keep the cost of the production down, with the surviving members of the heist reuniting in the location for a tense eruption of violence, toxic dispute and big revelations.
Indeed, budgetary concern this was largely the reason that Tarantino didn’t pursue the creation of the scene, with the robbery needing multiple props, a unique setting and a few days of intense production time. This wasn’t the only reason the director chose to start the film with a breakfast scene instead of a robbery set piece, however, Tarantino liked the idea of keeping the inciting incident somewhat ambiguous.
Speaking about the movie, the director stated: “I wanted Dogs to be about an event we don’t see. I wanted it all to take place at the rendezvous at the warehouse – what would typically be given ten minutes in a heist film. I wanted the whole movie to be set there and play with a real-time ticking clock, as opposed to a movie clock ticking”.
Although the film may be about the aftermath of a heist, it was never Tarantino’s intention for the movie to follow the events of the robbery itself. For him, the story of the aftermath, where the characters bicker and slowly peel back their true layers, was far more interesting than the spectacle of a set piece, and thankfully, the likes of Buscemi, Roth, Madsen and the like rise to the challenge.
The decision led Tarantino to make one of the most iconic and influential movies of the 1990s, with his debut informing the style of his many films to come. Whilst Reservoir Dogs shares many similarities with Pulp Fiction, its imprint can be found throughout the director’s filmography, with the movie’s snappy style and use of distinctive music becoming a mainstay.
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