Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs. 1992 Live America Inc.; distributed to DVD by Artisan Entertainment.
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Chris Penn, Michael Madsen, Lawrence Tierney, Quentin Tarantino, Eddie Bunker, Randy Brooks, Kirk Baltz, Steven Wright (voice only)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
The 15th Anniversary Edition is available at Amazon.

Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut, which he considered his version of Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, has also been compared to Kurosawa's Rashomon by the Los Angeles Times in a 1994 article.

Reservoir Dogs focuses on a team of eight men, organized by veteran L.A. gangster Joe Cabot (Tierney) and his son "Nice Guy" Eddie (Penn), who are planning to rob a jewelry store. The six other men use codenames: Mr. Blonde (Madsen), Mr. Blue (Bunker), Mr. Brown (Tarantino), Mr. Orange (Roth), Mr. Pink (Buscemi), and Mr. White (Keitel). Mr. White has taken a liking to the newcomer Mr. Orange, and enjoys showing him the ropes. Mr. Pink is obsessed with professionalism, whenever he's not justifying his policy of not tipping at restaurants.

After lunch, we find out the robbery went awry, largely due to Mr. Blonde snapping and killing several civilians after the alarm went off, followed by the cops showing up suspiciously early. Mr. Orange has been shot in the abdomen, he's bleeding badly, and he's in hysterics while Mr. White tries hard to comfort him. Mr. Pink is profanely convinced that their heist was a set-up (he has hidden the stolen diamonds in a secure location), and Mr. White is furious with Joe for having Mr. Blonde (who is missing along with Mr. Blue) on their team, and they debate on whether or not to transport Orange to a hospital. Mr. Brown, we learn, was killed by the police.

Mr. Blonde makes his presense known, as he ends the argument by telling them Eddie is on the way, and reveals that he's abducted a cop named Marvin Nash (Baltz). The three men torture Nash until Eddie shows up, furious at how badly things went. He tells Mr. White and Mr. Pink to go with him to find the loot and ditch the hijacked vehicles, while Mr. Blonde stays behind with a dying Mr. Orange and Nash. Blonde gleefully abuses the policeman, slashing his face and cutting off his ear, but is stopped from burning him from death by Mr. Orange, who kills him, then reveals to Nash that he's actually an undercover cop. A large police squadron is in position, waiting for Joe's inevitable arrival.

However, paranoia and anger may see the surviving criminals wipe each other out before the police can take control of the situation.

Highly, highly recommended, but obviously, this isn't intended for family audiences.