Analysis: Reservoir Dogs

Analysis: Reservoir Dogs

via the characters

Various characters from the Tarantino movies

As a huge fan of Tarantino (especially the early-Tarantino) I think the greatest aspect of his movies is the characters. In addition to the excellent cinematography and smooth story flow of Tarantino movies, they have deep, consistent, well-written and developing colourful characters.

And Reservoir Dogs is the peak for excellence of Tarantino characters.

Therefore, my analysis of Reservoir Dogs will be through it's characters. I am going to explore the each personality with their paradoxes, which makes them great characters. 

Lawrence 'Larry' Dimick a.k.a. 'Mr. White'

The deleted scene where Larry's background is revealed

Mr. White's an experienced thief from Milwaukee. It's known that he had done time in prison. 

In the deleted scene (Can be seen below) a lot of information is given about Mr.White's/Larry's background. As told, Larry's a very skillful armed robber, he uses aliases and had done time in prison. There are more informations in where Larry's police record is being printed, as in the images below. The other details are: He prefers using semi-auto Smith & Wesson 9mm, he lost his mother in his eight, he always carries a back-up pistol that's why he's called 'Two Guns' and he has aversion to cats.

Larry's (Mr. White) Criminal Record and Background Information

So what this part tells us is, even if Tarantino didn't include these parts in his film, still he has hearty background for his character, which makes the character great. Because even if we don't see this part, the actor Harvey Keitel and Tarantino knew these informations and that probably carried the performance in the movie to a very high level.

Larry (Mr. White) in Joe Cabot's office

During his flashback scene with Joe, where Larry (Mr. White) gets recruited by Joe Cabot for the robbery, Joe asks him about a female partner named 'Alabama' (probably related to Alabama in True Romance within the Tarantino Universe) and Larry replies they split due to 'man-woman thing' after they did four jobs together. In addition, Larry tells Mr. Pink when they are in the depot that two jobs before, they discovered one of the team was a cop and therefore after when Joe's robbery also got messed up, Larry starts believing he is 'jinxed'.

Harvey Keitel during the set of the breakfast scene

To talk about Larry's personality traits: Above all, Larry is a strong figure. He has teeth amongst the robbery crew. Still, his power doesn't come from his swagger or being bully. Instead, it's based on Larry's fatherliness and charisma. Apart from these, Larry has some balls and he is definitely a stand-up guy. And again, this toughness isn't inclined to psychopathy or triger-happiness (At least that's what he says during his dialogue with Mr. Pink about Mr. Blonde's psychopathy). With his own words, Larry drops down only those who are standing in his way, so this makes him a career criminal still with code.

Larry is shooting at incoming patrol car, killing the two cops in it

Even though Larry knows what takes to be a professional, nevertheless he is not a guy that can control his emotions to a certain extent. That's where comes Larry's emotional side. He is so dependent on his momentary emotion swings that he can stick a gun in the faces of his long time friends and cooperators Joe Cabot and his son Nice Guy Eddie Cabot, for sake of the guy he had met only for a week, Mr. Orange (Tim Roth). With whom, Larry has a relationship suchlike one between father and son, older and younger brothers or gay lovers. His confrontation with Joe and Eddie for Mr. Orange also shows Larry's boldness for pursuing his own truths, as well as his sensational personality.

So Larry's a man that can handle himself. He can act very cold-bloodedly as occasions requires, knows what to do and how to handle a situation he is facing (Remember how he motivated Mr. Orange when he was shot, how he riddled the incoming cops with holes or when he did not give a single shit about Mr. Blonde's (Michael Madsen) bad-assness and called him to account for his actions without hesitation).

                                   Mr. White - Mr. Blonde Confrontation

Mr. White listening Joe's briefing for the job

 Here Larry's paradox shows up: Even if Larry knows what takes to be a professional, still makes very fatal mistakes during the story. Before the robbery, in the depot while Joe gives his last instructions for the job, he makes it clear:

 "With the exception of Eddie and myself, who you already know, we're gonna be using aliases on this job. Under no circumstances do we want any one of you to relate to each other by your Christian names. And I don't want any talk about yourself personally. That includes where you been, your wife's name, where you might've done time or a bank maybe you robbed in St. Petersburg." - Joe Cabot

And a career-criminal and professional armed robber as Larry simply gives out to Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) that his first name is Larry and he's from Milwaukee, he bets for the team of Milwaukee which gives Mr. Orange the idea Larry's fan of the team and therefore gives him where might Larry is actually from. These informations had already enabled the police team backing Mr. Orange to sort out who's Larry indeed and his background etc (remember the meeting between Mr. Orange and his cop friend in a hamburger restaurant).

The scene where the undercover cop Mr. Orange (Freddy Newandyke) conveys the information he got from Mr. White to Detective Holdaway

 When he is asked by Mr. Pink, Larry says the reason for revealing his first name to Mr. Orange is because he was shot. So this shows even if Larry kills cops without blinking an eye which makes him look like a complete merciless killer, yet he's a very caring indeed that he doesn't hesitate insisting on Mr. Pink and Eddie for taking Mr. Orange to a hospital.

Larry is taking care of bleeding Mr. Orange

All these point out Larry's a very human character with his strengths and weaknesses or ups and downs, which's a hard thing to achieve in fiction, to create a natural character not by making it dull or flat.

The scene where Larry instructs Mr. Orange

Larry's task during the robbery is to take the manager with Mr. Pink during the robbery and make him give the diamonds to himself and Mr. Pink. As Larry instructs Mr. Orange about how to handle a manager thinks he is Charles Bronson, it turns out this part of robberies is Larry's profession and he is experienced about crowd control and possible hostage behaviours.

 About Larry's value system: to him, it is not a wrong thing to kill the cops who are chasing him, or it isn't problematic for Larry pointing a gun at two old friends for thinking they are wrong. He is aware of he supposed to be a professional, yet his compassionate and responsible personality, also with his sentimentality, don't allow Larry to fit the description 'professional'.

 Speaking against Mr. Pink on tipping and it's importance for waitresses is another point shows Larry's sensitive part.

Larry (Left) and Mr. Orange (Right) in the breakfast scene

 There are many details in the breakfast scene about the point Larry stands amongst the crew. If wee look closely, the other members of the group are mostly framed lonely in the breakfast scene, while Larry (Mr. White) is always seen in the same frame with Mr. Orange. This detail tells two things: One, they are close. Two, Larry is sitting bossy, relaxedly, while Mr. Orange's position is more timid and passive, which both tells about their relationship and their positions within Joe's group.

Joe (Left), Larry (Middle) and Mr. Orange (Right)

 Larry is also the only Reservoir Dog sitting so close to Joe Cabot. This is another detail about Larry's being the strongest character with Joe Cabot, or at least he is the beta wolf if Joe's the alpha. Larry is the only character can mock Joe Cabot (Joe's notebook argument and 'Toby' joke) which is a hard thing to do for the other members of the team. Even if Joe wants the notebook back, Larry first refuses him and then, gives the notebook yet after a while, which tells Larry is the second authority after Joe Cabot and he is the only Reservoir Dog that can oppose Joe Cabot.

Larry (right), Joe Cabot (middle) and Nice Guy Eddie Cabot (right) are in a nightclub, they are listening Mr. Orange's story

 Flashbacks tell about Larry and Cabot Family relationship, as seen while Mr. Orange is telling his 'fake story about dealing marijuana' in the nightclub (possibly owned by Cabots). There, we can see Larry is with Joe Cabot and Eddie Cabot, listening to Mr. Orange as them and sharing the same table and position. Another detail, Larry's sitting beside Nice Guy Eddie and is very comfortable in Eddie's car while Eddie drives them to the depot for Joe Cabot's instructions. Thus we can understand he is quite close with Cabots.

Mr. Pink -  The Only Dog Who Knows How To Act Like a 'Professional'

Mr. Pink points his gun at Mr. White 

"I known Joe since I was a kid." tells Mr. Pink to Mr. White while they were discussing about who set them up. Therefore, their relationship have to be going back many years. And as we have seen in the tipping argument Mr. Pink is a one piece of a nitpicky, rogatory, finicking and hard-to-convince character. 

Mr. White (left) and Mr. Pink (right) discussing the set up

Mr. Pink is the first one talks about there is a set up. Furthermore, while thinking about how the things got messed, Mr. Pink tells most of the details about what happened during the robbery and corrects Mr. White's memory about it. Mr. White believes the cops showed up at the moment that alarm went off, but Mr. Pink is pretty sure that the cops showed up not before Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) started his shooting spree.

"The cops didn't show up after the alarm went off. They didn't show till after Mr. Blonde started shooting everyone." - Mr. Pink

 This is one clue about Mr. Pink's meticulous character, he remembers every incident in details. Another aspect of Mr. Pink is he is a rule-bound personality who believes it's best to stick up for the rules, as he refuses to hear Mr.White's real name nor wants to tell his own. Because Mr. Pink is always suspicious about almost everyone, that's why he's never so relaxed or cool during the depot period and doesn't want to trust anyone hundred percent.

Mr. Pink (right) with Mr. Orange (left) in Nice Guy Eddie's car

 About his past experiences, Mr. Pink tells once he worked with 'niggers' as he describes and puts forward that they talk about killing each other all the time during these jobs. Also, Mr. Pink tells after the alarm went off, the average response time by the cops is four minutes, another detail gives Mr. Pink had been to robberies before. This is a strongest clue in Mr. Pink's mind that one of them was a rat.

"Okay, when an alarm goes off, you got an average of four minutes response time.  Unless a patrol car is cruising that street, at that particular moment, you got four minutes before they can realistically respond." - Mr. Pink

Mr. Pink, smoking in the toilet of the depot

Mr. Pink is the one that could grab the bag full of items and bring it to the depot, so he had done the most important part of the job and even if he didn't trust in the plan anymore, still he made it to the depot with the bag instead of just getting lost.

So considering all of these, it appears like Mr. Pink is the closest Reservoir Dog to acting like a professional. However, Mr. Pink has a very big paradox about this. Which is nothing but his lack of self-confidence. Even if he knows how to act like a professional, he doesn't have any balls to execute this knowledge.

 This means, Mr. Pink gets overwhelmed by the authorities of the other characters. Even if he knows what's the most reasonable to do, what's the surest way to handle the situation, he is always the compromising side during his conflicts with the others. Like when he is sure there is a set up and the best to do is just to take off, he obeys what Mr. Blonde says and stays in the depot. Or he tells Mr. White that because of his psychopathy, he thought shooting Mr. Blonde but when Mr. Blonde arrives at the depot, Mr. Pink changes his tune and says Mr. Blonde is the only one he is hundred-percent positive about. (See the video Mr. White vs. Mr. Blonde Confrontation in Mr. White part) 

 "Right now, Mr. Blonde is the only one I completely trust. He's too fuckin homicidal to be workin' with the cops." - Mr. Pink

Mr. Pink (middle) acts the peacemaker between Mr. White and Mr. Blonde

Bu if you'd ask me, Mr. Pink's ideas about Mr. Blonde are changed because of both this evidence and his fear of Mr. Blonde. Because there isn't any solid reason for Mr. Pink to stay in the depot while he's aware the robbery was set up, it's only his lack of self-confidence and Mr. Blonde's persistence about strictly following Joe's plan.  

 In the end of the movie, it's audible when Mr. Pink runs out after the Mexican standoff, the cops shout and then a shootout begins. This tells what happened to Mr. Pink after he left the depot -to me he is dead. This is because that was %100 the plan of the cops and as Mr. Orange (Freddy Newandyke) says to the hostage cop (Marvin Nash), the cops would show up and seize the robbers not until Joe Cabot's appearance in the depot. So Joe was there and the cops were ready, Mr. Pink wouldn't survive that if you'd ask me (but still, who knows ...).

So this is his paradox. Mr. Pink knew the rightest thing to do was leaving the depot, Mr. White also believed that and he was ready to go. But on Mr. Blonde's insistence and Mr. Pink's concerns about not following Joe Cabot's plan brought his own destruction.

 Comparing him with Mr. White, I can tell these two complete one another in those aspects. Even if Mr. Pink was more rational and reasonable than Mr. White (Larry) he is not brave as Mr. White to execute his rational decisions.  

Mr. Pink is running away from the cops

 But this cowardice of Mr. Pink that I am speaking of is more of moral courage. Because Mr. Pink is bold enough to shoot his way out against the cops chasing him or he doesn't hesitate fighting Mr. White. 

                           Mr. Pink shoots his escape route out, fights the cops

So Mr. Pink has courage for battling or fighting in action, but his cowardice shows up during personal relations and power balances within people. He can't oppose the authority. That's why both Joe Cabot and Mr. Blonde easily maintained authority on Mr. Pink.

Mr. Pink is shooting the cops chasing him

Mr. Pink, shooting at the cops

Mr. Pink's position in the breakfast scene is against Mr. White; which gives the clue that the two will argue in the following period. Mr. Pink strongly opposes paying tip, but when Joe Cabot straightly commands him to do so, Mr. Pink doesn't insist anymore, unlike Larry (Mr. White) who -even if jokingly- refused to give the notebook back to Joe. Nice Guy Eddie grabs him by the back of his neck, another clue Cabot Family has authority over Mr. Pink.

Mr. Pink uses the metaphor 'the world's smallest violin' to describe
what is tip for waitresses

 Another example of moral cowardice shown by Mr. Pink is when Joe Cabot gives the nicknames. Yes, Mr. Pink is probably the softest nickname given to any armed robber so naturally Mr. Pink objects but when Joe Cabot tells "My way or the highway" Mr. Pink easily comes around.

                  The nicknames scene - Mr. Pink argues with Joe over his nickname

 This point is a paradox for a professional. This is just a robbery along a day, the nicknames are not big deal. But our Mr. Pink who's so determined about 'acting like a pro' makes a big problem out of his nickname and objects almost childishly.

 So these are Mr. Pink's dilemmas, as he is just a human with a lot of paradoxes and inconsistence with some strong personal attributes. That's why Mr. Pink is a great character.

Mr. Pink during Joe Cabot's instructions for the heist

 Finally, his role during the robbery is to take the manager with Mr. White and make him give up the diamonds.

Mr. Blonde a.k.a. 'Toothpick' Vic Vega - 'A stone-cold psycho'

Vic Vega a.k.a. Mr. Blonde

 Unlike the rest of the reservoir dogs, Mr. Blonde is not just a hired thief. He is one of the soldiers of Joe Cabot's criminal organisation. 

"Dad, I got an idea. Just hear me out. I know you don't like usin' the boys on these jobs ..."     - Nice Guy Eddie

 So, Mr. Blonde (Vic Vega) is a gangster that officially belongs to the Cabot Family mob. This detail allows suspicion if Vic Vega is an experienced thief as Mr. Pink or Mr. White is, or might he had been a foot soldier e.g. a debt collector for all of his criminal past. 

As Nice Guy Eddie explains to Mr. Orange, Vic Vega was arrested during a police raid on a depot full of stolen items, owned by Joe Cabot. Then Vic Vega has done four years in prison without mentioning Joe's name to get his sentence reduced, as it was offered to him according to Nice Guy Eddie's quote:

"... in four years, never made a deal, no matter what they offered him ..."

                       Nice Guy Eddie talks about Mr. Blonde after Blonde gets killed by Mr. Orange


 About the depth of the character, from the beginning Mr. Blonde is an excessively cold-blooded man whose eyes are glaring with anger at life behind his calm expression. Probably Vic Vega owes this anger to his four years wasted behind the bars or might it is just Vega's nature. However, it is obvious that Vic Vega is very close to both Eddie and Joe Cabot. 

Vic Vega visits Joe Cabot's office right after his release

 Right after his release from the can, Vic tells Joe: "I want you to know I appreciate all the packages you sent me on the inside." This reveals Vic's gratitude for Joe who had been taking care of him while Vic was in jail, rather than just forgetting about him.

 Now Vega is out and he has got a problem: his parole officer Seymour Scagnetti, a real pain-in-the-ass type of a guy (Scagnetti was portrayed by Tom Sizemore in True Romance 1993, as the script was written by Tarantino). So to get Scagnetti off his back, Vic Vega needs a no-show job and Nice Guy Eddie tells him they can set him to the docks, at which Vic Vega responds furiously by stating he doesn't want to lift any crates. 

 This hint gives Vic Vega has no patience left. He doesn't like the idea of becoming a regular worker and obeying to the chain of command. This is parallel to Vic Vega's reaction to Marvin Nash, as he slaps Nash when Nash mentions Nice Guy Eddie as 'your boss'. Vega tells him he doesn't have a boss. Then what's Joe to him ? 

         The part where Mr. Blonde slaps the cop and tells him he doesn't have a boss


 Certainly Vega has got problems with authority. He refuses the idea of having a boss, yet he obeys Joe and does as Joe tells, this is being his biggest dilemma.

Nice Guy Eddie and Vic Vega are wrestling in Joe's office

Another thing about Vega: There is an intense bond between him and Eddie, loosely similar to the one between Mr. White and Mr. Orange. Vic and Eddie can go to extremes in the matter of adult and practical jokes. This extremes can cross the line so much they dare to wrestle inside the office of a bossy man like Joe Cabot. What's more, the heist needs to be taken care of by the guys who are not labelled as Joe's own soldiers. Joe and Eddie know this rule, still they easily add Vic Vega to the heist plan, relying on Vic Vega more than anything.

Mr. Blonde, mockingly shoots Mr. White

 Later on, irony of fate shows herself: Mr. Blonde, their most trusted man, becomes the main Reservoir Dog who screws up (apart from the fact Mr. Orange is a cop). Owing completely to his psychopathy the robbery turns into a blood bath. According to the dialogues in the depot, the checkout girl (in her twenties) pushed to the button and turned the alarm on in despite of Mr. Blonde's warning, herein Mr. Blonde goes on the shooting rampage, killing the checkout girl with other possible victims. This incident underlines Mr. Blonde's problem with being a boss and authority:

"I told 'em not to touch the fuckin' alarm, they did. If they hadn't have done what I told 'em not to do, they'd still be alive."  

                                                          

                                                         - Mr. Blonde explains his shooting spree.

 Mr. Blonde makes his way out of the police ambush by taking a police officer as an hostage. But he doesn't hesitate buying hamburger, fries and soda while there is a hostage in the trunk of his car, highlights a character that is extremely reckless, excessively calm and certainly unpredictable. He tortures a police officer only for fun, even wants to burn the man, thus probably would burn out the depot too. Even if it's an irritating idea that torturing someone for fun, but the idea of starting a fire is a clue of Mr. Blonde's carelessness. Residents or police could notice such fire and the depot would definitely become an obvious target.

 Here comes another paradox. Let's forget Mr. Orange was a cop, wouldn't a reasonable thief shoot Mr. Blonde, a man that was about to start a fire ? But what's Nice Guy Eddie's reaction ? He directly blames Mr. Orange and states Mr. Blonde was a hundred percent trustworthy guy. Eddie never doubts the loyalty of Mr. Blonde, yet Mr. Blonde is one of the main reasons this heist had terribly gone wrong. And if he'd burn the cop, the story would probably have a disastrous ending (Yes it still has).

Mr. Blonde listening to Joe's instructions

 My conclusion about Mr. Blonde is that he indeed hates the Cabot Family and holds them responsible for his wasted four years. According to his recklessness, his anger towards the idea of 'having a boss', his mood of giving commands, his looking over his shoulder at the other Reservoir Dogs ... These details are telling Mr. Blonde has a huge problem with authority, this includes the Cabot Family, but out of thankfulness and maybe even his fear, Mr. Blonde couldn't take a stand against the Cabots and instead took revenge on everybody else he encountered.

Couple of trivia infos: Mr. Blonde is the only Reservoir Dog in the depot that doesn't have any on-screen killings despite of his sadism. And the name 'Vic Vega' related to Tarantino's idea that in the Tarantino world he can be a twin brother to Vincent Vega (John Travolta) of Pulp Fiction.

 During the breakfast, he mocks Mr. White and sits against him, shows the two will have arguments, also Mr. Blonde is almost isolated from the rest of the main characters. 

His role during the robbery was to control the crowd with Mr. Blue.

Freddy Newandyke a.k.a. Mr. Orange

Mr. Orange motivates himself before getting in Eddie's car

 Our lovely undercover cop. He is the most law-abiding character of the movie. The cop part of him, meaning Freddy, seems like an ambitious policeman. He takes a risk that other cops consider as madness and becomes undercover. First he gets close to Nice Guy Eddie via an informant. Freddy shows sempathy for this informant guy but his colleague Detective Holdaway reminds him the informant guy is just another asshole who sells his friends out. Then Freddy changes his attitude accordingly.

 Freddy is a wise and cold-blooded guy. He is very good at what he does and pulls out the role of Mr. Orange very well. He summarises and puts on an act of the four pages of the fake story of marijuana trade in front of Joe, Eddie and Mr. White, and he manages to impress them all, shows Freddy is quite skilled, confident man with some balls.

Freddy (Mr. Orange) summarises and tells the marijuana story to get accepted by Cabots

Tim Roth during the set of the breakfast scene

 To talk about the other part of his personality, Mr. Orange: in the beginning (The breakfast and in Eddie's car before Joe's instructions) Mr. Orange is pretty shy. He is in the mood of obedient rookie, as in the position of Mr. White's young disciple.

 In the breakfast scene he sits next to Mr. White, as a silent listener who mostly agrees with Mr. White's opinions. On Mr. Pink's tipping speech, Mr. Orange gets convinced and attempts to take his money back, but gets stopped by Nice Guy Eddie who tells him to "Leave the dollars there." Then, Mr. Orange simply steps back, doesn't argue and leans back.

 There is a very excellent detail in Reservoir Dogs which reveals the fact Mr. Orange is the rat: it's when Joe Cabot comes back to the table after paying the bill. Joe asks who didn't throw in and it's Mr. Orange that tips off it's Mr. Pink. A sign of ratting out a friend.

Mr. Orange watches Mr. White shooting at the policemen

His face expressions while Mr. White shoots at the windshield of the police car tells about his true feelings at the moment. It's indeed madness to go undercover. Besides, out of the blue he gets shot by one of those 'law-abiding innocent citizens' that he wants to protect. Reflexively Mr. Orange shoots back and kills the woman who shot him, the woman with an infant car seat in her backseat.

Mr. Orange, right after shooting the woman who shot him in the belly

 So here comes the breaking point of his character, his paradox. Freddy Newandyke wants to stop crime and risks his life by going undercover, yet in the end Freddy himself truly becomes Mr. Orange, a criminal who killed an innocent person. He really loves Larry (Mr. White) and becomes close friends with him. Furthermore, Mr. Orange really starts learning from Mr. White about life of crime.

 But no matter what, we know Freddy remained loyal to his duty till the end and tried to sustain his goal of getting the whole robbery team arrested to secure the justice. He shot Mr. Blonde instead of letting him kill the cop even if this didn't do any good for Mr. Orange, yet he rather risked his own life to save the cop, Marvin Nash. 

Mr. Orange, holding the hand of Mr. White (Larry) who's bringing him to the depot

 After finding out Mr. Orange is a cop, one could think the relationship between him and Larry was fake. Actually, it will remain as an obscurity to what extent their relationship was real, but this bond between two men gets thicker and thicker when Larry helps out bleeding Mr. Orange, motivates him along the road to the depot and tries to make sure Mr. Orange will receive a medical treatment.

 The greatest breaking point of the film comes in the end. Mr. Orange knew that the cops were about to raid on the depot and Mr. White would get arrested. He knew Mr. White killed his two close friends and associates to protect him. Now only thing Mr. Orange should do is to remain cool and wait for at most a minute for the cops to get in. But Mr. Orange couldn't ignore his debt of gratitude for Mr. White and gives up he is a cop. Mr. Orange gives it up at the cost of his own life.

Mr. Orange listening to Joe's instructions in the depot

 At this moment, a hurricane of chaos devastates Mr. Orange's mind: his duty, his will for securing the justice gets bested by his gratitude, loyalty and love for Mr. White (Larry).

 His role in the heist was to stand outside and guard the door not to let anybody go in our out.

 'Nice Guy Eddie' Cabot

Nice Guy Eddie during Joe's instructions in the depot

 Eddie the son of the boss. Nice Gu Ed. The guy who promises a potential for running his father's organisation one day, at least appears so. Eddie is close to Vic Vega. And he is also intimate with Larry (Mr. White), to whom he respects for Larry's relationship with his father Joe. Not as much as Joe, but still Eddie has some kind of authority over the Reservoir Dogs, as he dominates the conversation during the breakfast scene. But Eddie has a bad temper which causes him troubles during times of crisis (see the video in Mr. Orange section where Eddie talks about Mr. Blonde)

      Nice Guy Eddie tells a funny story to Mr. White, Pink and Orange

 Mostly, he is an outgoing personality. With regard to the story of Elois he tells to Mr. White, Orange and Pink, Eddie is pretty humorous yet he goes bananas when appropriate. But one thing Eddie lacks is compassion. He doesn't hesitate shooting Marvin Nash who he didn't know anything about. However, Eddie knows to calm down as he easily gets upset. Remember when he warns Mr. White:

  "Larry, we have been friends. You respect my dad and I respect you... but I'll put bullets in you. You put that fuckin' gun down now. "                         - Eddie warns Mr. White

 Also he tells Mr. White:

  "Larry, look. It's been quite a long time. A lot of jobs. There's no need for this, man. Let's just put our guns down... and let's settle this... with a fucking conversation."

Nice Guy Eddie is upset for the robbery being screwed up

 His quotes show Eddie's calm side. Although Eddie has a bad temper, yet he doesn't turn his back to negotiation. Eddie is not reckless as his sidekick Mr. Blonde, but he is almost as unscrupulous as Mr. Blonde. In addition, loyalty is important for Nice Guy Eddie, thus his reaction for Mr. Blonde's death could be understood in this case.

 Eddie is pissed off when he arrives at the depot. On Larry's insists, Eddie says he will try to set a doctor to take care of Mr. Orange. So even if he's not so compassionate, he has got somehow a sense of responsibility. And before the depot, Mr. Blonde is the only person Nice Guy Eddie personally talked to (as Mr. Blonde mentions to Pink and White). At the depot, Nice Guy Eddie tells the crew need to remove the cars in front of the depot not to add to Joe's anger. This detail tells satisfying his fathers demands is Eddie's first priority.

Eddie drives the crew to the depot for Joe's instructions

 Eddie however, remains indifferent to the warnings from the others (Mr. White and Mr. Pink) about Mr. Blonde's psychopathic behavior and leaves the depot to the craziest member of the crew, Mr. Blonde while removing the cars with White and Pink. So considering this, Eddie could be held responsible for messing things up in the post-robbery part of the job as relying on Mr. Blonde too much no matter what the others tell about him.

 And remember: Eddie was the reason Mr. Blonde had got involved in the job from the beginning. 

Nice Guy Eddie in the breakfast scene

 Another detail: his sidekick Mr. Blonde comes out of the jail and Eddie doesn't go there to welcome him. And Eddie's excuse is he was busy. The picture might give the superior-subordinate relationship between two even if they are buddies. So this can also tell about Mr. Blonde's hatred and fury, might he wanted to take the place of Eddie and to become Joe's son.

 Joe Cabot

Nice Guy Eddie (left), Joe Cabot (middle) and Mr. Blonde (right) in Joe's office

 Joe is a cool guy with a sense of humour yet when it comes to business, Joe turns a drill instructor. The story he tells during his introductions for the robbery summarises Joe's concerns about heists:

"Five guys sittin' in a bullpen...San Quentin... wonderin' how the fuck

they got there. "What did we do wrong? What shouldn't we have done?

It's your fault, his fault--"All that bullshit. Finally somebody says... "Wait a minute. While we were planning this caper... we just sat around

tellin' fuckin' jokes. Got the message?"

Joe instructs the crew for the heist, giving the nicknames

 Here comes Joe Cabot's paradox: along the heist, his crew had always been telling jokes but nothing else. Remember Eddie's Elois story, the breakfast scene and Madonna, Mr. Orange's marijuana story (even if it's on a purpose for the cops). This is Joe Cabot's paradox, he knows these jokes will bring their destruction but can't avoid his crew doing the very same mistake.

 There are more to add Joe Cabot's mistakes. First, he allows Mr. Orange into the business, a guy he doesn't know at all. Second, he allows Mr. Blonde in, a guy that's just out of prison (under the surveillance of the police), a guy without much robbery experiences as Mr. White or Mr. Pink have. Third and the most obvious: the robbery turns to Vietnam, Joe senses Mr. Orange is a rat but still Joe comes to the depot. Yet, we know Joe's careful and focused. That's Joe's paradox.

Joe is about to shoot Mr. Orange for being the rat

 Despite his old age and experience in crime, Joe does very obvious mistakes such as the ones mentioned. Probably the motivation behind Joe's decision to go to the depot was to kill Mr. Orange. Herein Joe gets defeated by his passion for revenge maybe. He felt away from professionalism and he ended up overwhelmed by the avalanche of the mistakes he had been doing from the beginning.

 Marvin Nash

Marvin Nash (the police hostage) in the trunk of Mr. Blonde's Cadillac, with the gasoline

Marvin gets tortured by Mr. Blonde

 A 'blue boy'. Marvin is a police officer in uniform. Albeit the brutal torture he exposed to, Marvin kept his mouth shut and didn't give Mr. Orange in (A reminder: Marvin tells Mr. Orange's name when Orange asks 'Freddy something ..." and tells Mr. Orange that they were introduced to each other five months ago). He was a minor character, one with courage.

Mr. Blue

Mr. Blue during Joe's instruction

All we know what happened to Mr. Blue after the robbery is what Joe told about him, "Dead as Dillinger." He was the oldest of the six Reservoir Dogs, probably the most experienced too. The most significant detail about him, he tuned out from Madonna after "Papa, Don't preach," phase. As we understand from the fact only Joe knew Mr. Blue was dead, Joe had been watching the whole thing during the robbery. And who knows how would be his attitude if he could make it to the depot. 

For the heist, he was tasked with crowd control, as Mr. Blonde was.

Mr. Blue in the breakfast scene

Mr. Brown

Mr. Brown tells his ideas about Madonna's 'Like a Virgin'

He is a fierce chatter whose jokes has many details and even with some philosophical approaches to them.

He was to wait in the car until Mr. Orange's signal, then he'd pull up in front of the store.

Conclusion 

Personally, these aspects and more of what the movie consists are the reason I believe Reservoir Dogs is one of the best movies ever made. Of course this idea of mine has got something to do with the fact I watched Reservoir Dogs for the first time in my early teens. So this film has huge influence on me.

Reservoir Dogs is one of the main reasons that I love cinema that much, I love dialogues and character development so much as well.

And Harvet Keitel's Mr. White has been a role model for me in my early teens. The most of the fans love either Mr. Blonde or Mr. Pink but I always go with Mr. White, who I believe is the main reason Reservoir Dogs is such an epic movie. Because Larry (Mr. White) is the center of the humanistic struggle during the process of the whole film.

Deniz Taylan Sağır

12 April 2016