Top 100 Movies Of The 1990's: #18 Reservoir Dogs

Box Office: $2.8 Million

Oscar Nominations: None

Oscar Wins: None

MovieRankings.Net: 94/100

Available To Stream: Apple TV ($4)

Reservoir Dogs is Quentin Tarentino's shortest and rawest movie by far on both counts. I don't count Death Proof because I love Tarentino and I'd rather live in a world where I pretend it never existed. Even though it's his first movie and he was only 29 when he made it, his brilliance is right there on the screen. The funny/angry elements of the dialogue. The suspenseful ending. The homages to other great movies. The perfect casting. It's all there. 

This is not a movie that people cared about when it came out. It did well at Sundance and got picked up by Miramax but never finished in the top 10 in the box office. The best it ever did was 13th in the box office. But you can understand why it popped at Sundance. It must have been like seeing a prospect hit a towering home run in Single-A. You know this guy is going to be great but he just needs a little more time.

The issue with Reservoir Dogs not being bankable is that it's ahead of its time. It's a chicken and the egg thing. Reservoir Dogs wouldn't be appreciated today without Pulp Fiction. Would Reservoir Dogs have been bigger than Jackie Brown if it was the follow up to Pulp Fiction instead?

Steve Buscemi has had a fantastic career. He's so good as Tony Blundetto in Sopranos and I loved him in Boardwalk Empire and Fargo. But it's his role as Mr. Pink in Reservoir Dogs that I think of first when I think of him. His rant about tipping is both quintessential Buscemi and Tarantino. That's how guys talk. We may not be that articulate but that's the same energy when a bunch of guys are just shooting the shit. 

If Uncut Gems is a non-stop anxiety attack, Reservoir Dogs is a non-stop adrenaline rush. That's so rare for something that's not quite an action movie. This isn't Speed or The Fugitive. It has a ton of dialogue. But it also has the feel that anything could happen at any time. When the cop gets his ear cut off, you realize there truly is no safety net.

Should Michael Madsen have been a bigger star? I really don't know. He's so good in this but is that aura of danger that he carries around also limit him? He's a handsome guy but he's also way too scary to be a leading man. Ray Liotta had a similar energy but seems even less threatening. Michael Madsen is what I imagine every hit man to actually look like.

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Imagine how Tarantino must have felt making this. He's 29 years old and directing a movie with some legit stars like Harvey Keitel and it's pretty fantastic. It must have been such a rewarding feeling having something you're so passionate about be accepted. I'm sure the Oscar love that Pulp Fiction got must have been incredible but it must have been even more special when Miramax bought the rights to distribute Reservoir Dogs.

Quentin Tarantino is my favorite director and I think this is an ideal first film. It's a great movie. It has an edge and rawness that he lost as he became a better storyteller but it fits in perfectly here. How incredible is it that a movie as good as this one is just the beginning of his career?

18. Reservoir Dogs

19. There's Something About Mary

20. Sleepers

21. Schindler's List

22. Rushmore

23. Fight Club

24. Saving Private Ryan

25. True Romance

26. Dumb & Dumber

27. Kingpin

28. Donnie Brasco

29. Heat 

30. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

31. Rounders

32. Unforgiven

33. Trainspotting

34. The Game

35. Out Of Sight

36. Carlito's Way

37. Seven

38. L.A. Confidential

39. Speed

40. Gattaca

41. Misery

42. Tombstone

43. Ransom

44. Wayne's World

45. The Insider

46. Back To The Future Part III

47. A Bronx Tale

48. The People Vs. Larry Flynt

49. Eyes Wide Shut

50. The Sandlot

51. Happy Gilmore

52. Contact

53. The Green Mile

54. Man On The Moon

55. Boyz N The Hood

56. Grosse Pointe Blank

57. Independence Day

58. The Rainmaker

59. Go

60. The Firm

61. Magnolia

62. The Talented Mr. Ripley

63. Tommy Boy

64. The Usual Suspects

65. In The Line Of Fire

66. My Cousin Vinny

67. Awakenings

68. JFK

69. Toy Story

70. Home Alone

71. Jerry Maguire

72. Titanic

73. Billy Madison

74. Apollo 13

75. Braveheart

76. Edward Scissorhands

77. Cape Fear

78. The River Wild

79. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

80. 12 Monkeys

81. Stir Of Echoes

82. Mission: Impossible

83. Total Recall

84. Quiz Show

85. For Love Of The Game

86. Being John Malkovich

87. Men In Black

88. Scream

89. Alive

90. Three Kings

91. Glengarry Glen Ross

92. Die Hard With A Vengeance

93. The Blair Witch Project

94. Twister

95. Dirty Work

96. Election

97. Tremors

98. Any Given Sunday

99. The Wedding Singer

100. Clerks