I've Seen RESERVOIR DOGS Dozens Of Times But Never Noticed These Caskets Before

I remember seeing QT on "The Tonight Show" in '93 talking about his first independent feature about a diamond heist gone wrong. RESERVOIR DOGS was only in theaters for seven weeks but had tremendous buzz as it was about to hit video stores so the quirky director went on late night TV to plug it. As best I can remember, they aired a clip of from the flick and I was all fucking in right away.

A violent, profane, and funny movie about a stick-up job? With Harvey Keitel? Chris Penn? Lawrence Tierney? I couldn't get my copy from Movies & More quick enough. It blew me away the first time I saw it. The non-linear plot. The blood & violence. The dialogue. The performances. "I got a feeling we'll be hearing from this guy again," I thought.

After watching the store copy a few times, I bought my own VHS tape to watch whenever I wanted. And I did. Dozens of times. Which is why I was shocked to shit when watching it yet again a couple of weeks ago and I noticed, for the very first time, the coffins caskets in the warehouse they were holed up at.

I don't know how I missed them now that I've seen them but I was hardly alone. Actually I do know how I missed them---the characters were so magnetic that I couldn't take my eyes off of them so I missed the background shit. Like the hearse as well. So what's the deal with them? 

Per this, they filmed in an abandoned mortuary and the set designers decided to leave the caskets and hearse. Some viewers think the caskets represent each of the six robbers, though others debate how many caskets are visible (I don't buy the 'they are part of the getaway' theory in same article). 

At the end of the movie, we can not conclusively say that Mr. Pink is dead. So if there are five caskets, maybe Mr. Pink survives? But if there are six caskets, then he's toast like the rest of them. Or maybe Tarantino didn't give a shit and they meant nothing. Regardless, I fucking love discovering shit like this when watching old movies. Or seeing unrecognizable baby-faced versions of actors.

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Here are a couple of other QT blogs I've written…