Quentin Tarantino’s debut feature, Reservoir Dogs, established all his strengths as a writer: sharp nonlinear storytelling, idiosyncratic dialogue, and well-rounded characters. The latter, in particular, has proven to be one of the most timeless aspects of Tarantino’s first movie.
The cast of Reservoir Dogs introduced audiences to Tarantino’s style of characterization. He makes classical genre archetypes feel fresh with new personality quirks or a relatable familiarity with popular culture. From Mr. Blonde to Joe Cabot, some of the characters from Reservoir Dogs still rank among the most iconic in the Tarantino-verse.
Mr. Blue
Out of all the other diamond thieves in Reservoir Dogs, Mr. Blue has the distinction of being played by a real ex-career criminal, Edward Bunker. The other actors are just pretending, but Bunker knows what it’s like to be in a high-stakes situation like this.
Mr. Blue only has speaking lines in the opening diner scene, but he still has a few memorable quotes like, “What’s special, take you in the back and suck your d***?”
Marvin Nash
Played by Kirk Baltz, Marvin Nash is the cop who gets kidnapped, beaten, and tortured by Mr. Blonde. Baltz really chews the scenery – and rounds out his character’s backstory – as Marvin begs for his life and tells his torturers that he’s a father. Unfortunately, they don’t care. Fortunately, Mr. Orange does.
Orange shoots Mr. Blonde dead right before he burns the cop alive, sparing Marvin’s life for a few hours (before the ironically named Nice Guy Eddie gets there). Marvin might not have a huge role in the plot of Reservoir Dogs, but it is crucial. After he’s saved by Mr. Orange, the ensuing cop-on-cop conversation reveals the movie’s big twist: Mr. Orange is the rat.
Mr. Brown
The role that Tarantino gave himself, Mr. Brown, is as small as Mr. Blue’s role. But, like Blue, Brown still has a couple of memorable moments. He initially protests his nickname in the color-coding scene because, in his words, “Mr. Brown” is a little too close to “Mr. S***.”
In the opening scene, Mr. Brown presents his interesting take on Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.” With this monologue, Tarantino established his own unique dialogue style: typical genre characters being grounded in reality by mundane conversations about pop culture.
Detective Holdaway
Detective Holdaway is Mr. Orange’s partner, played by Randy Brooks, who teaches him how to go undercover before he adopts his first disguise.
Holdaway is more like an acting teacher than a detective. He tells Mr. Orange that an undercover cop needs to be “Marlon f****** Brando” to convince the other gangsters he’s one of them. This character established Tarantino’s trope of linking undercover work to acting.
Nice Guy Eddie
The boss’ son, “Nice Guy” Eddie Cabot, is an entitled, privileged jerk played hysterically by Chris Penn. He’s initially presented as a goofy character, but turns out to be pretty sinister.
Eddie shows himself to be just as ruthless as Mr. Blonde, his closest friend on the crew, when he doesn’t hesitate to shoot a cop dead to avenge him.
Mr. Pink
Mr. Pink is easily the funniest character in the movie. As an ancillary role unburdened with any dramatic heft, he’s free to be the comic relief character who cracks wise from the sidelines. In a star-making turn, Steve Buscemi nails the rapid-fire comedic deliveries.
He’s characterized like a gun-toting George Costanza. A few minutes before finding himself in a blood-soaked police shootout, Mr. Pink was protesting “automatic tipping” and refusing to chip in a buck for a waitress’ tip.
Mr. Blonde
The most ruthless and psychotic of the jewel thieves, Mr. Blonde, takes center stage in the most iconic (and most disturbing) scene from the film, in which he dances around the warehouse while torturing a cop for fun.
Brought to life by Michael Madsen’s ice-cool charisma and deadpan humor, Mr. Blonde was the first of many hateable yet oddly charming Tarantino villains. Mr. Blonde’s sadistic streak could later be seen in Zed, Bill, Calvin Candie, and Col. Hans Landa.
Joe Cabot
The mob boss behind the off-screen heist, Joe Cabot, is a typically stone-faced capo commanding respect from everybody around him. He’s played brilliantly by Lawrence Tierney, one of the meanest, gruffest screen presences of all time.
What makes Joe truly memorable – and makes him stand out from similar kingpin characters – is Tierney’s hilariously dry line deliveries: “You’re not Mr. Purple. Some guy on some other job is Mr. Purple. You’re Mr. Pink!”
Mr. Orange
Mr. Orange is (spoiler alert!) the undercover cop whose identity forms the crux of the entire narrative. This twist is subtly foreshadowed in the opening scene when Mr. Orange rats out Mr. Pink to Joe for not tipping. The character is played brilliantly by Tim Roth, who captures both the Godard-ian coolness of the character and the dramatic nuance of a cop among crooks.
Roth spends the first half of the movie bleeding out from a gunshot, but gets to shine with Mr. Orange’s eager preparation for the ultimately tragic undercover operation in a series of flashbacks in the second half.
Mr. White
Reservoir Dogs’ Mr. White was the first of many great Tarantino antiheroes. He’s not necessarily a good guy; he’s just surrounded by even worse guys, so the audience roots for him. Like Roth opposite him, Harvey Keitel brings plenty of pathos to this genre role.
Mr. White isn’t a straightforward antihero, because he does have likable qualities. He develops a heartwarming father-son dynamic with Mr. Orange that makes him sympathetic and relatable. But this dynamic ends in tragedy in the blood-soaked final scene as Mr. White realizes his trust was misplaced and his surrogate son has betrayed him.
