One Quentin Tarantino scene was a “big pain in the ass” but ultimately launched his career
1992’s Reservoir Dogs was the movie that announced Quentin Tarantino to the world.
Brimming with wisecracking characters, memorable one-liners, and a sample of the auteur’s trusty stylised violence, the film tells the story of a jewellery heist gone wrong between a group of strangers. It was brutal, boisterous and effortlessly cool, and it all started with one of the greatest opening scenes of all time.
Boasting the first of many glittering casts that the filmmaker would work with in the future, Tim Roth, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen, and even real-life con Edward Bunker all star in what is now hailed as one of the most astounding debuts in cinematic history. The picture has gathered such acclaim because of its ruthless dedication to Tarantino’s vision.
A major critical and commercial success, over 30 years since it first hit theatres, Reservoir Dogs remains one of the definitive moments in 1990s filmmaking. The project set the scene for a career that would see Tarantino hailed as one of the finest living auteurs by the end of the decade. It was only fitting, then, that the masterpiece needed an opening sequence that set the scene appropriately – and Tarantino did this with creative verve.
The lengthy opening is impeccable, from the diner conversation to the arrival of credits as the suited criminals stroll down the street. It’s a piece of cinema which not only helped to define the work of Tarantino, displaying the slick and scything style that would permeate all his work, but arguably a generation of filmmakers too.
Of course, nothing important in life is achieved without effort, and such was the case for the diner scene of Reservoir Dogs. When looking back at the segment in 1994 with Film Comment Magazine, Tarantino explained how it was a “big pain in the ass to shoot”.
He said: “[The diner scene] has one of the most pronounced camera moves in the whole movie, that slow-moving 360 where people get lost, and then you find them again. But while I’ve got this big camera thing happening — and believe me, it was a big pain in the ass to shoot that — at the same time, the camera is just catching whoever it happens to catch at the time.”
A complex scene in the sense that Tarantino wanted to convey a naturalistic environemnt, as well as the dynamic between a group of strangers, the director explained how he accomplished his goal: “It’s not choreographed so that it’s on Mr Orange, and it hits Mr Pink as he says his line and then finds itself on Mr. Blonde as he says his line — no, it’s not doing that at all, people are talking offscreen, and the camera’s just doing its own independent thing.”
Notably, in the diner segment, Tarantino used a mix of shooting styles to reach his vision. For the close-ups utilised in the third section, he revealed that there was no real reason behind using them. It just felt right. He concluded, “Whenever you do a scene that long, you have it break down into sections. Ten minutes for your opening sequence is a real long fucking time, especially if they’re doing nothing but sitting down talking. Why did I shoot the third section in close-ups? I don’t really have an answer—it just felt right.”
Whether it is Taranitno’s greatest opening scene is up for debate. Few can have such an argument without considering his contribution to the cause with Inglorious Basterds, but there’s no doubt that Reservoir Dogs began a rich vein of cinematic work. It may have been a “pain in the ass”, but as the old adage goes: no pain, no gain. And Taranitno has certainly gained.
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