I love all the mistakes in Reservior Dogs. No one ever shoots Nice Guy Eddie. Mr. White doesn't ever light up his first cigarette. Lawrence Tierney screws up lines and mumbles incoherence (though he occasionally corrects it). One of the coffins falls down (yeah sure it represents Mr. Blond but come on. Also how does Mr. Blond manage to get to his casual sitting position atop the hearse (clue) that is six inches taller than him? How does Brown drive a car with a bully right in the dead center of of his tincan?
Pix - don't go by the marketing. My older Artisan dvd says "Four Perfect Killers, One Perfect Crime" heh, unless thats an intentional joke...
Some of the dialogue is delivered very very badly. and Fly's right. The drive scene with the pop culture references kills the momentum. Though I love the commode bit. QT at this time was not as assured as the fame of this film made him and I think it comes through in some of the performance moments. QT does intertextual semiotic writing and I love it but that in and of itself isn't all that interesting to watch. So when its just driving in the car its terrible. But when it happens at the beginning when he slowly circles the table with camera moves and jump cuts it works brilliantly. He starts the story (much like the a robbery aftermath a bit later) in the pre-gap of the script before "fade in" and we don't even see the face of the person telling the Madonna bit (the writer/director) till 30 second or so after that. When the camera finally stops we get a character moment between Joe, White & Blond. Then its back to movement and the minutia of pop cultural references. Finally the movement stops again when Joe stands up and we get to the tipping section which is character and not culture. But when the referential black/white car scene happens it not very well integrated into the grander scheme of the film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awGkBWTlZPE&fmt=18#I think its said best in the commode montage (easily one of the best montage scenes ever - mostly because the improvement overtime is not set to music but built into the narrative). "You memorize whats important and the rest you make your own... its the details that sell the story... its about you and how you perceived the events that went down." QT doesn't perceive this story as plot but as a great cultural dialogue where its cool to bring in all this other stuff that isn't essential to the plot but it is what makes the greater world more interesting. This is why the fact that there is no back story to these guys means CINECAST! all. There aren't characters. They are pawns.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9ObbvrQxAc&fmt=18#Still, he did this much better in his later films. But how the film deals with violence that is the real winner. Its a pretty sadistic film. it doesn't make you watch the worst aspects of violence but it lingers in the aftermath. It hangs in the back seats of screaming criminal/cops. It keeps gallons of the brightest, oozing, red liquid on screen at most times. It moves you to hope but then snuffs out that light mere minutes later. But at the same time the film is constructed with a disarming cool and a dark humor that makes you both love and hate what you see and sometimes even the man who thought it might be a laugh for him to put you in that situation. Few people can do brain searing moments like QT can. He makes films that stick. I watched Trust 3 months ago and what lingers for me in that film does so because it was goofy (the dad, the football boyfriend). I agree with Sean here. Its a solid film while you are watching it but it doesn't linger in your headspace. Long Island is filled with weird people and ugly spaces. Ok. So what. I like that QT plays with pop but not pop psychology the way HH seems to go in for. Its the difference between a guy who draws his pleasure from therapy sessions and one who finds pleasure at the drive-in.
I'll go ahead, make this fun and tie it up.