Reservoir Dogs Heism

Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino's inaugural film, centers around the plight of a group of six men who attempt a masterfully planned heist. Except it doesn’t go nearly as smoothly as intended, and 2 of the crew end up dead, with another shot, bleeding slowly to death. The team regroups in an old warehouse, and are immediately at each other's throats. They know there is a cop amongst them, and are wary of trusting anyone. This lack of trust pits them against each other until all but one are dead. The film shifts back and forth from before and after the heist (never actually showing the heist besides brief shots of the team fleeing.) setting up the character’s backstories and their motives. Yet the characters themselves know very little about each other; not even
The opening scene alone could be straight out of Full House, set in a dinner, a large, jovial group joke around, make light conversation about music, and ridicule each other. There’s the typical delinquent who refuses to pay his bill, a father figure who takes care of everyone else, but will not tolerate this act of disrespect, a rambling man talking about random topic, in this case, a Madonna pop song. Even the opening credits parallel that of Family Matters, in their simplicity and style. Of course, the rest of the film has a much darker tone than a sitcom, but that’s the only thing that can really distinguish it. From a scene perspective, almost the entirety of the film was shot in a single set, one room warehouse. Recall old shows such as The Cosby Show, which utilized a single house set, almost entirely shot in a living room, with family members coming and going as the plot took them places, but always centering on the house. This is where our criminal “family” congregate and resolve their conflicts; the warehouse is their living room. Characters in both mediums also share many traits with each other. As already discussed, the leader, Joe Cabot is the father figure in the movie. He is respected,