Tagarchief: Reservoir Dogs

Dungeon Classics #40: Killing Zoe

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

Killing Zoe (1993, USA, France)

Director: Roger Avary
Cast: Eric Stoltz, Julie Delpy, Jean-Hugues Anglade
Running Time: 96 mins.

Before Tarantino and co-writer Roger Avary struck gold with Pulp Fiction in 1994, both had written and directed a feature. Tarantino made Reservoir Dogs in 1992. While searching for locations for that film, its producer Lawrence Bender found a great bank in downtown Los Angeles which, although not suitable for Reservoir Dogs, seemed perfect for a movie set in a bank. Bender called every screenwriter he knew, asking if they had a script set in a bank. Roger Avary lied and said he did, then furiously wrote the first draft in under two weeks. Although the film is supposed to be set in Paris, it was shot almost entirely in L.A., with only the opening and closing road sequences filmed in the actual city. The story follows a criminal named Zed (Eric Stoltz) – two links to Pulp Fiction right there – who joins his old friend Eric (Jean-Hugues Anglade) and his gang to pull off a robbery during Bastille Day. Beforehand, he orders a prostitute named Zoe (Julie Delpy), and the two immediately click. The night before the robbery, the crew goes out on a binge fueled by booze and heroin. This stretch of the movie drags, but once the robbery begins, the film shifts into the right gear. The heist goes spectacularly wrong, leading to a series of twisted and disturbing turns. Avary, whose filmmaking career never really went very far, proves himself a quite capable director here. Is this on the level of Tarantino? No, it’s too flawed for that, but this is still a memorable, exploitation movie known for its nihilistic tone and merciless violence.

Dungeon Classics #39: True Romance

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

FilmDungeon’s Chief Editor JK sorts through the Dungeon’s DVD-collection to look for old cult favorites….

True Romance (1993, USA, France)

Director: Tony Scott
Cast: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper
Running Time: 119 mins.

In the early nineties, Tarantino wrote a couple of screenplays, including True Romance and Reservoir Dogs. He chose Reservoir Dogs for his directorial debut and was willing to sell True Romance. In 1993, after his debut was released, he took a date to the perfect date movie: True Romance, the film he had written. And boy, did it turn out to be a good movie; great fucking movie. Just looking at the cast members rolling by in the opening credits is astonishing; seeing so many (future) stars in one ensemble cast is rare. Director Tony Scott couldn’t deal with the screenplay’s non-chronological structure, so he changed it to a linear one. But aside from that, it’s a real Tarantino movie: the sharp dialogue, the great characters, the humor, the sudden bursts of violence; it’s all there. And then there’s an amazing sequence, one of the best he ever wrote: the famous Sicilian scene with Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken. Oh man, that is legendary. Also memorable is the brutal confrontation between Alabama and the sadistic Virgil, played by James Gandolfini. The whole movie is basically a rollercoaster in which the two main characters – Clarence (Christian Slater) and Alabama (Patricia Arquette) – fall in love, get married, kill Alabama’s pimp, take off with his coke, and head to Hollywood to sell it, stumbling into one crazy situation after another while always keeping the film’s romantic core intact. True Romance is Scott’s best film and by far the best Tarantino movie not directed by Tarantino. In other words: it’s a must-see.

Reservoir Dykes: Four Times Tarantino Referenced the Netherlands (VIDEO)

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

My first video for Jeppy’s Video Circus in 2025 is another pop culture special.

I’m kicking off the year with another deep dive into pop culture – this time, exploring how Quentin Tarantino has (knowingly or not) woven the Netherlands into his cinematic universe.

Most fans remember the famous Pulp Fiction dialogue about Dutch culture (you know the one). But fewer people realize that Tarantino’s nods to the Netherlands go beyond that. In fact, subtle references pop up in Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown, and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 – and I break them down in this video.

Right after wrapping up the edit, I stumbled upon something fascinating: Tarantino once had an idea for a movie set entirely in Amsterdam. The film, The Vega Brothers, would’ve brought together Vic Vega (Michael Madsen’s character from Reservoir Dogs) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta’s character from Pulp Fiction) in a prequel.

In a ReelBlend podcast, Tarantino explained the concept: the film would follow Vincent Vega as he runs a nightclub for Marcellus Wallace in Amsterdam. His brother Vic comes to visit, and – naturally – chaos ensues. Honestly, it sounds like it could’ve been an instant classic.

Sadly, the idea was shelved. Tarantino felt both actors had aged out of the roles and didn’t want to go The Irishman route with de-aging tech. A real shame, because that setting and those characters could’ve made for something special.

Anyway, check out the video below for all the Dutch connections you might’ve missed in Tarantino’s films. Hope you enjoy it!

Bad Lieutenant

Posted on by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Abel Ferrara
Written by: Zoë Lund, Abel Ferrara
Cast: Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Paul Calderón

Year / Country: 1992, USA
Running Time: 96 mins.

Harvey Keitel is the Bad Lieutenant in Abel Ferrara’s disturbing cop drama. He’s the kind of guy who starts snorting cocaine in his car right after he has dropped his two boys off at school. LT, as he’s credited, is a hopeless addict. He’s addicted to alcohol, crack, smack and gambling. He is also a walking time bomb.

Harvey Keitel was on a roll this year. First he appeared in Reservoir Dogs and then in this, probably the most well known and appreciated movies by New York artist and filmmaker Abel Ferrara. His performance in Bad Lieutenant is very raw, angry and animallike. LT is like a whacked out version of Keitel’s Mean Streets character.

Speaking of that movie, there are some definite links there, and with Scorsese in general. New York plays a big role, and so does religion. In his most desperate moment, LT even hallucinates of Jesus.

So how bad is LT? Pretty bad. He steals illegal drugs from evidence and puts them in the market and he steals money from two guys who just robbed a store owner while he sends the poor guy over to the station to file a report. He uses his badge only to blackmail two underaged girls to perform sexual acts, and his gun is strictly for blowing out his car radio after he lost another basebal bet.

Like Ferrara’s other drug movie The Addiction, Bad Lieutenant is a very effective film about addiction as it shows the constant hunger and the madness of it. LT is just going around frantically feeding the beast, but it’s never going to be enough. We know he is never going to fill that void and his inevitable downfall draws ever nearer. The despair that Keitel expresses is very well acted. The level of self destruction and self hatred is at times hard to watch though.

Rating:

Biography: Abel Ferrara (1951, New York) is a New York artist and filmmaker. He started making amateur films on Super 8 in his teens before making his mark as independent film director with bloody underground films such as The Driller Killer. Ferrara has an independent way of working, uses low budgets, but is still able to attract Hollywood talent for his movies, such as Christopher Walken and Harvey Keitel. His raw, realistic style and controversial content has earned him a position as an important voice in American cult cinema.

Filmography (a selection): Nicky’s Film (1971, short) / 9 Lives of a Wet Pussy (1976) / Not Guilty: For Keith Richards (1977, short doc) / The Driller Killer (1979) / Ms. 45 (1981) / Fear City (1984) / Cat Chaser (1989) / King of New York (1990) / Bad Lieutenant (1992) / Body Snatchers (1993) / The Addiction (1995) / The Funeral (1996) / The Blackout (1997) / New Rose Hotel (1998) / ‘R Xmas (2001) / Mary (2005) / Go Go Tales (2007) / Chelsea on the Rocks (2008, doc) / Napoli, Napoli, Napoli (2009) / Welcome to New York (2014) / Pasolini (2014) / Alive in France (2017, doc) / Piazza Vittorio (2017, doc) / The Projectionist (2019, doc) / Tommaso (2019) / Siberia (2019) / Padre Pio (2022)