mike@projection-booth.com mike@projection-booth.com

February 12, 2013

Episode 101: Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Special Guests: Paul Zimmerman, Monte Hellman
Guest Co-Hosts: Jamie Jenkins

We look at the influences on and of Reservoir Dogs (1992), the seminal crime film, along with other works from director Quentin Tarantino.

We interview journalist Paul Zimmerman who wrote the first U.S. magazine cover story on Quentin Tarantino and Monte Hellman, the Executive Producer of Reservoir Dogs.

Joining us is Jamie Jenkins from Devour the Podcast, Evil Episodes, and The Skeleton Crew.

Listen/Download Now:

Listen to the K-Billy Mix:


Links:
Get all of Jamie Jenkins's podcasts at horrorphilia.com
Get Paul Zimmerman's Virgin Noir
Read How Quentin Tarantino Steals from Other Movies by Nathaniel Lee
Listen to our earlier interview with Monte Hellman
Buy Reservoir Dogs on Blu-Ray
Buy the Reservoir Dogs screenplay
Read more about Mike's short film, Who Do You Think You're Fooling in the Impossibly Funky collection

Watch:



6 comments:

  1. I started listening to your podcast with this episode, and really like what I've heard so far. The K-Billy mix is too good for words. Thanks for all your hard work!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! Glad you like it! Check out the current and past shows. More fun stuff is coming up. So, as we say, "STAY TUNED!"

      CHEERS!

      Rob St. Mary
      co-host of "The Projection Booth"

      Delete
  2. The Foreign ViewerMay 15, 2014, 5:22:00 AM

    Hey Mike & Rob, Andy from Europe (Serbia) here.

    I'm surprised there wasn't more reaction to this episode (from either Mike or Tarantino fans and haters). One f-ing comment? Weird.

    Anyway, I'm with Mike on this one. Love Q.T.'s work (most of the time) and I do believe that if you rip off something it only matters if you did it poorly and lie about it, but Tarantino really should give more spotlight to mr. Lam, even if he can't say officially that he ripped him off for legal reasons. I agree that Lam is a so-so director, but he still is one of the more recognizable directors from the Hong Kong film industry.

    Anyway, I can hardly add anything on the subject, since you' two have thoroughly covered everything here. One of the best episodes of the show, no contest. I do have one thing to add though, since there is one thing you've understandably skipped.

    There was a Reservoir Dogs third person shooter video game. Oh, yeah. And yeah, it had problems.

    You like the fact the the heist isn't shown in the movie? Well, here you get to play out the whole heist, the escape from the cops (where, weirdly enough, you get to take out half of the town's PD that's pursuing you, first in cars, then on foot) and the final showdown between the Dogs. It could easily pass as a "so bad it's good" game if it wasn't dull. Yes, I said dull. Maybe it's because you know the story already, so there's no tension, maybe it's because the game has zero charm, maybe it's because of the lack of variety. I don't know. But hey, at least it's short. About 3 hours in length. If you are curious, I'd actually suggest you try it out even if it is your completely average third person shooter with a Reservoir Dogs skin on. Some people seem to love it, so you never know.

    The game came out in August of 2006 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reservoir_Dogs_(video_game) and was completely overlooked by most people. Now, while I admit the game is not that good, I really don't think it should be overlooked since this is, for the most part, a very fatefully looking adaptation of the game (which ironically enough may be its biggest flaw, but then again, how do you make a good game about a movie like this one).
    btw
    The fact that only mr. Madsen decided to come back to do voice-work for the game does not help.

    Here's one (favorable) video review of the game:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__iIEfsPzpI

    Love PB (Projection Boot, not Playboy, then again, I like Playboy too :), great work guys, we appreciate your effort to promote interesting cinema stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andy,

      Thanks for checking in from Serbia! WOW! Very cool.

      Yeah, I totally forgot about the game. I never played it... and Mike isn't a gamer either. So... I guess we missed that. But glad you dug it and keep on enjoying it.

      ALL THE BEST!

      Rob St. Mary
      co-host of "The Projection Booth"

      Delete
  3. Great discussion. However I disagree with Mike’s point on Tarantino reusing songs from older movie soundtracks. I think Tarantino usually justifies that by using the songs better than they were used in those older movies. In my opinion, Jackie Brown uses the song ‘Across 110th Street’ 10x better than the movie Across 110th Street used it. There’s more emotion behind the song at the end of Tarantino’s film.

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  4. Ola! This is prolly my 30th or so episode of PB podcast. It is turning into a nightly ritual, like Matlock is for old people. Anyway, there was and is a lot of discussion about Tarantino's dialogue and why it works etc, and I have my own theory about that: Tarantino actually KNEW gangsters coming up, whereas I will bet that none of his USC grad imitators ever did. In Pulp, when Jules tells Honeybunny (Roth) that he would ordinarily take his gun away and kill him with it, THAT'S REAL. You point a gun at a bonafide gangster, you better kill him, because...etc. I think that Tarantino's dialogue is real much in the same way Hammett and Jim Thompsons characters have such staying power in that these authors knew these hard people on a very intimate level.

    ReplyDelete