Two months ago, I've been reminded of the passing of the late and underappreciative actor Michael Madsen, who's most known for playing the cool and sadistic Mr. Blonde in my latest monthly recommendation Reservoir Dogs. This is Quentin Tarantino's very first movie directed in the early nineties. Back when we never even heard of first-time directors though granted, we never discovered Steven Spielberg's first movie, hell, or even George Lucas's first movie, but when it comes to Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs this is a standout movie with a killer soundtrack and a bunch of well-acted and great appreciative recognition from Michael Madsen himself.
Six criminals with pseudonyms, and each stranger to one another, are hired to carry out a robbery. The heist is ambushed by police, and the gang are forced to shoot their way out. At their warehouse rendezvous, the survivors, realizing that they were set up, try to find the traitor in their midst.
One of the earliest memories and literally has a lot to do with, was Michael Madsen's performance in the movie, sure I loved Harvey Keitel in the movie but to me Michael Madsen's presence on screen as well as his performance was just outstanding that most of the times I couldn't finish the movie mainly because how his time comes unexpectedly, but more importantly he was just a cool looking character from his look to his maniacal laugh you just can't help to love the guy despite him being a true psychopath. During the auditions Madsen actually wanted to play the role of Mr. Pink, as played by Steve Buscemi, mainly because wanted more screen time with Harvey Keitel and Quentin insisted that he'd play Mr. Blonde for which really I would insist him playing Mr. Blonde because Steve Buscemi fit perfect for the role of Mr. Pink and Madsen didn't have that paranoia or basically the Martin Scorsese and Steve Buscemi talk, though I guessing the New York accent but the kind of New Yorker where he talks to much, that kind of guy. And just Madsen has that cool James Dean presents that really feels Mr. Blonde was made for him and Tarantino having Madsen play the role of Mr. Blonde was most certainly the smartest choice, if not one of the many smart choices and he's never made any well, a side from Death Proof. One of the things on why Quentin Tarantino is such an inspirational filmmaker is simply, the man never went to film school he literally worked most of his young adult life at a video store and just watched a ton of movies from classic movies to Japanese films, from film noir to maybe the too even romantic comedies (for which as a hobby maybe?) but he studies from films and just decides to make a movie at an early age as well as taking a leap of faith. But more importantly a lot of his films are inspirations from past movies that he loved and you may think that his films aren't original I think that doesn't really matter when it comes to writing your own movies or directing your own movies an original film is an original film no matter who the director is or what that person's style of filmmaking is. The funny thing is Lawrence Tierney in the movie plays the mob boss in the movie was no doubt a excellent actor in the movie and I'm not going to go into much details about him being difficult to work with and sure the guy was probably difficult to work with as well as a nut job but Chevy Chase is a bigger nut job/egotist throughout Hollywood. Okay getting back to topic, through my teen years that was the one movie I associated him with until I watched a few episodes of Seinfeld and saw him again as Elaine's father and the way he made Jerry and Jason Alexander uncomfortable was the most funniest thing I've ever seen mainly just because of the guy's presence on screen as well as his age of being a gruff grumpy bastard that would most certainly be one of your relatives and after that I stopped but in all fairness I don't have Netflix anymore so, it's best I don't proceed any further after that great episode. There so many great actors in the movie and really if I had to pick two that deserve recognition it would most certainly be Tim Roth and Chris Penn, Roth for example does a great job playing an innocent guy who you feel like he's going to die but through the course of the film you unexpectedly know he's not what he says he is and that's great acting, Penn on the other hand does a great job playing a pissed off mob boss, son who is a great guy to hang around but when we get to the climax of the film, he does an excellent job playing a savage and scary guy and his eyes when you see him at the climax, speaks for itself. The excellent thing about the movie is you don't need a full scene of how the robbery went down the fact that Quentin allows the characters and the actors describe how the job went down really sells it and the aspect that majority of the movie is basically in a warehouse, is so great as well as you can always transition to the movie in a stage play but also allows the film to let the audience imagine how the robbery happen and the great shot of Mr. Blonde torturing a cop and then the camera pans to not show what is going on is another great example of letting the imagination of the viewers find out what is truly happening. If you ever want to have a bro's night out, Reservoir Dogs is that perfect guy movie, that you can love from beginning to the very end with great soundtrack you wish you can mimic some of those scenes, hell I wished I would look good in those suits they wear but I know that's not going to happen. Still to this day Reservoir Dogs, is one of those classics that you can watch and enjoy but has that cool flair that Geto Boys would always say "Damn it feels good to be a Gangsta" The film is on Peacock so if you’re feeling for a great gangster classic Quentin Tarantino's very first movie I would highly recommend to watch this September as well as paying tribute to the Late Michael Madsen for delivering an iconic performance in cinema history.
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