Reservoir Dogs

A jewellery robbery goes wrong and the survivors gather in a warehouse looking for the informant among them. The robbery itself is never shown. Tarantino's first plan was far smaller: 30,000 dollars, 16mm black and white, shot with friends, with himself as Mr. Pink and producer Lawrence Bender playing two roles. Harvey Keitel changed everything. He read the script through his acting teacher's wife, signed on as co-producer, and that made the project credible to financiers, raising 1.5 million dollars. In June 1991 Tarantino shot a short version at the Sundance Institute. The title comes from a mishearing. Working at a video store, Tarantino recommended Au revoir les enfants to a customer who heard it as reservoir dogs. The ear scene provoked people. At the Sitges Film Festival screening around fifteen walked out, including director Wes Craven and makeup artist Rick Baker, who later told Tarantino to take the walkout as a compliment. It opened with 147,839 dollars across 19 theatres and finished at 2.8 million domestically, against a budget between 1.2 and 3 million. Who it is for: viewers who love crime cinema built on dialogue. Who it is not for: anyone who cannot sit with violence held on screen. The ear scene still does exactly what it did then.