Reservoir Dogs

1992 · Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Crime90s

A heist movie that doesn't show the heist. Tarantino's debut is leaner and meaner than anything that came after.

Why It's Cult

Reservoir Dogs is the thesis before Pulp Fiction's book. All the Tarantino hallmarks are already here in prototype: structural play, pop-culture digressions, violence that's either cartoonish or devastating and never in between. The ear scene still makes people leave the room.

The Plot, Officially

Six thugs, who are strangers to each other, are hired by a crime boss, Joe Cabot, to carry out a diamond robbery. Right at the outset, they are given false names with the intention that they won't get too close and will concentrate on the job instead. They are completely sure that the robbery is going to be a success. But, when the police show up right at the time and the site of the robbery, panic spreads amongst the group members, and two of them are killed in the subsequent shootout, along with a few policemen and civilians. When the remaining people assemble at the premeditated rendezvous point (a warehouse), they begin to suspect that one of them is an undercover cop.