QIs this film a remake of 'Lung fu fong wan'?
AFollowing the incredible critical and popular success of Tarantino's movies in the mid-1990's, it was rumored that Reservoir Dogs was actually an uncredited remake of Ringo Lam's Hong Kong actioner Lung fu fong wan City On Fire. The rumor was fueled by Who Do You Think You're Fooling?, a short film by Mike White that spliced together clips of Reservoir Dogs and Lung fu fong wan to reveal their similarities. And there are clear similarities. Both films deal with a robbery, and feature a warehouse rendez-vous spot, a climactic Mexican stand-off, and the relationship between a veteran thief and an undercover cop, but Lung fu fong wan deals mostly with events leading to the robbery, while Reservoir Dogs is about the aftermath of an unseen heist gone wrong. Also, the Mexican stand-off in Lung fu fong wan does not end with all the guns going off and all the gunmen hitting the floor. The poetic justice and irony of Reservoir Dogs at the end of the movie is also absent from Lung fu fong wan. Instead, the police officer character bleeds to death. There are similar elements between the two films, but much of what makes Reservoir Dogs a classic - pacing, style, and some famous plot twists - is not present in Lung fu fong wan. Nevertheless, the debate has continued among some film fans.
QWhy does Mr. Orange tell Mr. White the truth?
AOn the commentary track for the 2002 10th Anniversary Edition DVD of Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino insists that viewers who don't understand why Mr. Orange tells Mr. White that he is an undercover cop (knowing full well that Mr. White is likely to kill him upon finding out) have not understood the film. Mr. Orange tells Mr. White, who has acted as his protector throughout the film, the truth because he feels that he owes it to him as a matter of honor. Tarantino actually described it as something beyond honor, best summed up by the Japanese word "jingi" that has no English equivalent. Having witnessed White sacrifice everything for him; White kills two very good friends of his to protect Orange, taking a bullet and willing to stay behind and lose out on the diamonds and go to prison rather than leave Orange for dead...Orange feels compelled to do likewise.
Orange does not reveal the truth until the final moment because it is only then that he is free to do so without forsaking his duty as a police officer. Now that Joe Cabot - the man he was sent in to get - is dead, Orange's mission is over.
QIs "Reservoir Dogs" based on a book?
ANo. Reservoir Dogs is taken from a script by director Quentin Tarantino, although Tarantino has admitted that he was influenced by Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1956) in terms of them both being "heist" movies.
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