FAQ

It can only be speculated. But no more than an hour or two. Most of the events are seen in real time with an occasional flashback. There are some small time jumps in between each flashback. The biggest time jump occurs after Mr. Orange's interlude chapter. While they wait for the group to return to the warehouse. Which likely took close to an hour to dump their stolen vehicles and retrieve the diamonds and making sure they weren't followed.

It's possible that Harvey Keitel did accidentally miss the cigarette when going to light it. But it's more likely that Mr. White decided he didn't want to smoke at that particular moment. If you watch the scene carefully, Mr. White brings the lighter towards the cigarette, pauses then closes the lighter and then pulls the cigarette from his mouth to brainstorm with Mr. Pink. A few moments later, Mr. White properly lights the cigarette and begins to smoke it.

Because there isn't much more Mr. White could have done. The plan was to rendezvous at the warehouse and see about getting a doctor for Mr. Orange. As Mr. White says, time was on Orange's side. Even if he was saying this to simply calm Orange, it's likely Orange had a few hours. We see the warehouse was fairly barren as well, so there likely wasn't much in the way of medical supplies.

Crime boss Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney) hires six criminals, all of whom are given false names-Mr White (Harvey Keitel), Mr Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr Orange (Tim Roth), Mr Blue (Edward Bunker), Mr Pink (Steve Buscemi), and Mr Brown (Quentin Tarantino)-to pull off a diamond heist. When the police show up within moments to thwart the robbery, the remaining thieves must contend with the possibility that someone in the group is an undercover cop.

Reservoir Dogs is taken from a script by director Quentin Tarantino, although Tarantino has admitted that he was influenced by Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1956) in terms of them both being "heist" movies.

We never learn the real names of Mr. Brown, Mr. Blue, or Mr. Pink. Mr. Blonde's name is revealed to be Vic Vega in one flashback scene, and Mr. Orange is heard saying that his real name is Freddy Newandyke. While only Mr. White's first name, "Larry," is revealed in the film's final cut, his full name, "Laurence Dimmick," is included in deleted scenes and in the original screenplay.

There is no clear answer to this one, and fans love to debate about it. The leading theories are that the ring is a good luck charm, or that it is a prop for Orange's cover story about his life. Film critic Peter Travers cited the song that plays over the scene, Sandy Rogers's "Fool for Love", as a possible hint that the ring is linked to a current or former wife of Orange. Perhaps if he felt he could die on the mission, so he wanted to have the ring on him as a reminder to fight to live. With no formal explanation, the ring remains a tantalizing mystery.

There is an unclear bit of dialogue from Mr. Orange as Mr. White drags him into the warehouse. He seems to be saying, "She had a baby, man! She had a baby!" This is likely in reference to the woman that Orange shot, as there is a noticeable child's car seat in the back of the woman's car where the terrified Orange lies after he has been wounded. He kicks the car seat multiple times in that scene. The baby obviously isn't in it and didn't seem to be in the car, so Orange is probably feeling guilty about shooting a woman who might have been a mother.

Sharp-eyed fans have spotted the coffins standing in the warehouse where the thieves have their rendezvous. Given that the robbers are all wearing typical funeral attire (black suits, white shirts and black ties), it's possible that the hearse and coffins were intended as a cover to allow them to escape later on as part of a fake funeral procession. Because the warehouse used as a major shooting location for the film was once an actual mortuary, the set designers decided to run with it, adding the coffins as well as a hearse, which Mr. Blonde can be seen sitting on. The morbid decor can easily be interpreted as foreshadowing.

The graffiti visible in the film's famous torture scene reads, "Watch your head," appropriate given that Marvin's ear is being hacked off. There seems to be another word above "watch your head." Though it isn't clear if it is or not, it looks like it reads, "Tony." So the whole saying could be "Tony, watch your head." Assuming this is true, we can assume there is a person who works in the warehouse who is unusually taller than everyone else, because the archway is pretty tall, and most people wouldn't need to watch their heads.

Following the incredible critical and popular success of Tarantino's movies in the mid-1990's, it was rumored that Reservoir Dogs was actually an uncredited remake of Ringo Lam's Hong Kong actioner City on Fire (1987) (City On Fire). The rumor was fueled by Who Do You Think You're Fooling? (1994), a short film by Mike White that spliced together clips of Reservoir Dogs and Lung foo fong wan to reveal their similarities. And there are clear similarities. Both films deal with a robbery, and feature a warehouse rendez-vous spot, a climactic Mexican stand-off, and the relationship between a veteran thief and an undercover cop, but Lung foo fong wan deals mostly with events leading to the robbery, while Reservoir Dogs is about the aftermath of an unseen heist gone wrong. Also, the Mexican stand-off in Lung foo fong wan does not end with all the guns going off and all the gunmen hitting the floor. The poetic justice and irony of Reservoir Dogs at the end of the movie is also absent from Lung foo fong wan. Instead, the police officer character bleeds to death. There are similar elements between the two films, but much of what makes Reservoir Dogs a classic—pacing, style, and some famous plot twists—is not present in Lung foo fong wan. Nevertheless, the debate has continued among some film fans. Also, Quentin Tarantino has always drawn inspiration from some of his favorite films, foreign or Hollywood and he's never tried to hide that fact. He'll often even mention what movies he drew inspiration from in interviews.

People often have questions about the music in the film. The following is a list of the songs that are used in the film and their artists, as well as what part of the film the each song is associated with.

Song: "Little Green Bag". Performer: The George Baker Selection. Scene: This song plays during opening credits sequence, when the entire cast walks iconically in slow motion.

Song: "I Gotcha". Performer: Joe Tex. Scene: This song plays while Nice Guy Eddie is on the phone en route to the warehouse ("I don't know who's dead, I don't know who's alive...") while at the same time Mr. White and Mr. Pink are brutally interrogating Marvin.

Song: "Stuck in the Middle with You". Performer: Stealers Wheel. Scene: This song infamously plays when Mr. Blonde is sadistically torturing Marvin, eventually cutting off his ear in one of the movie's most talked-about sequences.

Song: "Magic Carpet Ride". Performer: Bedlam. Scene: This Steppenwolf cover can be heard during the bar scene when Mr. Orange tells the others his "commode story."

Song: "Harvest Moon". Performer: Bedlam. Scene: This song can be heard faintly when Freddy meets with Holdaway at the diner.

Song: "Fool for Love". Performer: Sandy Rogers. Scene: This unlikely bit of country music is heard playing in Freddy's apartment just before he gives himself a pep talk in the mirror and gets into the car with Nice Guy Eddie, Mr. White, and Mr. Pink.

Song: "Hooked on a Feeling". Performer: Blue Swede. Scene: This Swedish cover of the B.J. Thomas pop hit can be heard on the radio of the pair of cops tailing Freddy ("Let's get a bearclaw.") as well as in the car with Nice Guy Eddie, Mr. White, Mr. Orange, and Mr. Pink as they discuss E. Lois and Pam Grier.

Song: "Coconut". Performer: Harry Nilsson. Scene: This quiet song plays jarringly over the film's end credits, immediately following the final shoot-out.

Tarantino has said that there is no place in this claustrophobic and testosterone-fueled film for wives or girlfriends. However, his original script did include the female cop McKlusky. McKlusky's scenes were shot with Nina Siemaszko in the role, but they were ultimately cut, primarily for pacing reasons. The deleted scenes have become available on DVD. Tarantino would later direct the female-dominated Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), and Death Proof. Also in the original script, there was another small role of a woman playing a waitress (glimpsed in the background) during the opening scene at the diner which had the waitress walking up to the table with the check to give to Joe Cabot, thanking them for eating at the place which is 'Uncle Bob's Pancake House' and to pay the bill at the cash register when ready to leave.

The most commonly cited connection between characters in Reservoir Dogs and another Quentin Tarantino film is that Mr. Blonde (aka Vic Vega) is the brother of Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction (1994). Tarantino has often discussed the possibility of creating a prequel to both films called "The Vega Brothers." As years pass, the likelihood of the film materializing seems to grow slimmer. It has nevertheless been a popular source of Internet rumors. Mr. White also shares the last name "Dimmick" with Pulp Fiction's Jimmy Dimmick. There is also a link to the Tarantino-penned True Romance (1993). Mr. White talks to Joe about his former partnership with a woman named Alabama. Alabama was the name of the call girl-turned-fugitive in True Romance. Other less obvious connections include the fact that both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction feature unfortunate characters named Marvin and Marcellus. Fans also point out that Steve Buscemi's Reservoir Dogs character Mr. Pink famously spoke about his refusal to tip waitresses - and then Buscemi played a waiter in Pulp Fiction. There's also a colorful connection between the names of Tim Roth's reservoir dog Mr. Orange and his Pulp Fiction character, Pumpkin. Finally, when Joe and Mr. White are talking, Joe mentions "Marsellus Spivey." In True Romance, the pimp's name is Drexl Spivey. Mr. Blonde's parole officer's name is Seymour Scagnetti. In Natural Born Killers (1994) (for which Tarantino wrote the story) Tom Sizemore's character is called Jack Scagnetti. Finally, the person Mr. Pink pulls out of her car in this film is the same person that gets shot by Marcellus Wallace after the car wreck in Pulp Fiction.

Vincent Vega (Pulp Fiction) and Victor Vega (Reservoir Dogs) are brothers. Laurence Dimmick a.k.a. Mr. White (Reservoir Dogs) and Jimmy Dimmick (Pulp Fiction) may be related somehow. Jack Scagnetti (Natural Born Killers) and Seymour Scagnetti (mentioned in Reservoir Dogs) could be related. One theory that has been suggested is that they are the same person, that Seymour had changed his name to Jack for unknown reasons. Drexl Spivey (True Romance) and Marsellus Spivey (mentioned in Reservoir Dogs) could be related. Earl McGraw (From Dusk Till Dawn, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Grindhouse: Planet Terror and Grindhouse: Death Proof) and Edgar McGraw (From Dusk till Dawn 2, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Grindhouse: Death Proof) are father and son. Bill and Budd are brothers. Sgt. Donny Donowitz (Inglorious Basterds) and Lee Donowitz (True Romance) might be father and son or Uncle and Nephew. When Mr. White and Joe Cabot are talking in a flashback Joe Cabot mentions that Mr. White worked with a women called Alabama which could be Alabama Whitman (True Romance). Note that the names of the characters somewhat correspond with the "career choice" of the other, an example being that Drexl is a pimp and Marsellus was a diamond fence who was doing 20 years in prison. Jack Scagnetti was a popular detective and Seymour was a parole officer, etc. In a deleted scene from Reservoir Dogs, Nice Guy Eddie talks about getting a nurse to help our Mr. Orange. The nurse is named, Bonnie: the name of the nurse in Pulp Fiction married to Jimmy who is coming home soon thus forcing Jules and Vincent to get Marvin's remains cleaned up on the quick. This could very well be the same Bonnie

As with the stage play and the 1992 film adaptation, Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), the robbery is never shown on camera. Of his decision not to show the heist itself, Tarantino has said that the reason was initially budgetary but that he had always liked the idea of not showing it and stuck with that idea in order to make the details of the heist ambiguous. He has said that the technique allows for the realization that the film is "about other things". Tarantino has compared this to the work of a novelist, and has said that he wanted the film to be about something that is not seen and that he wanted it to "play with a real-time clock as opposed to a movie clock ticking" Ironically, Glengarry Glen Ross also has quite a few similarities to Reservoir Dogs, with having the look and feel of a stage play with an all male cast; salty dialogue with elements of crime featured, but also having many differences as well.