Quentin Tarantino once named his favourite heist film of all time
Quentin Tarantino is no stranger to heist films. He started his career with an exciting reinvention of the genre, where he deconstructed the fundamental genre structures and utilised post-modern narrative techniques to examine existential questions about the nature of crime and violence.
A milestone in the trajectory of American independent cinema, Reservoir Dogs discarded the cheap thrill of the heist in favour of the events and the emotions that preceded and succeeded the heist itself. While some critics had a problem with Tarantino’s inclination toward cinematic violence, it soon became a significant element in his directorial style.
At the time of its release, Tarantino compared Reservoir Dogs to many classics because those were the films he had drawn upon while doing his first proper directorial project. “This movie is my The Killing,” he had declared, referring to Stanley Kubrick’s 1956 film noir gem, which changed the genre forever.
However, many media outlets misinterpreted this quote, claiming that Tarantino had merely made a revisionist piece based on Kubrick’s masterpiece. At the Cannes premiere of Reservoir Dogs in 1992, Tarantino clarified his comments and declared that The Killing was very close to his heart.
“The Killing is my favourite heist film, and I was definitely influenced by it,” Tarantino admitted while maintaining that Reservoir Dogs sought inspiration from various sources ranging from John Boorman’s Point Blank to Richard Stark’s Parker novels. According to Tarantino, Reservoir Dogs and The Killing were two separate entities.
Critics and fans fondly remember Kubrick’s film for multiple reasons, including the iconic use of the clown mask by a criminal during a heist. Through its examination of capitalism, crime and American sexuality, Kubrick showed audiences that he had a firm grasp on different genre frameworks and social undercurrents.
While talking about the respective narrative structures of the two films, Tarantino explained: “The big difference is that The Killing is done in the format of a news-reel or documentary: ‘At 5:15 on the last day of his life, so-and-so wakes up and…’ I do mine in the style of a novel. I’ve always considered Reservoir Dogs as the pulp novel I’ll never write.”
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