Script vs. Film

            While they both follow the same basic idea, Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs script features several differences from the final film. It’s clear that the movie went through a lot of changes before being complete. When you actually read an early draft of the movie’s script, it becomes much more clear.

            As I said before, the movie and the script are pretty similar. One key difference that I noticed was the camera angles. In the original script, Tarantino included numerous point of view shots. Having written a script myself, I can perfectly understand this. When writing a script, if you have not done a storyboard, it’s very easy to imagine the appearance of the film unrealistically. When getting to actually film things, you may find that certain ideas do not transfer to actually being possible. It’s probable that many of the point of view shots were just too hard to do. It’s also possible that they merely looked bad.

            I also noticed that some sequences were performed a little differently. An early scene in the script features Mr. Pink running down the sidewalk with a bag of diamonds. While running, he collides with a girl who is roller skating backwards and listening to music. He then falls into the street, in front of a moving car. The moving car stops before hitting him, and he then gets up and steals the car at gunpoint. In the actual film, there is no roller skating girl. Instead, Mr. Pink jumps into the road and allows himself to be hit by the moving car, smashing the windshield. He then proceeds to steal the car at gunpoint. It is not a huge difference, but it is different enough that I noticed it, as I was looking for the girl on roller skates. When she did not appear, I was surprised and caught off guard. I can assume that the reason for her being left out was to simplify the sequence. It also made things a little bit more exciting, with the car actually hitting Mr. Pink instead of merely stopping in front of him.

            Another sequence that is different occurs when Eddie is on his way to the warehouse while talking on the phone to an associate. In the script, there are two cuts between this scene and another scene with Mr. Pink, Mr. White, and Mr. Blonde. The first cut is to the men pulling him out of the trunk before cutting back to Eddie. It then cuts back to them stomping on the policeman, before, again, returning to Eddie, who then arrives at the warehouse. In the final film, this whole sequence is done as more of a montage. We see the men beating the cop in numerous fashions all during Eddie’s conversation. Eddie arrives at the warehouse while they are beating up the policeman, as opposed to the viewer being with him while he arrives. Again, this was likely changed to make the sequence more exciting. A montage is more interesting than 4 cuts.

            A final difference that is present throughout the film is the presence of gore. The script is much more visual with what is shown. The scene where the policeman’s ear is cut off is in first person in the script, whereas in the film, the camera tilts up to the ceiling and we hear what happens. There are other instances of this, with the film not showing what the script describes. This was likely done for two reasons: to keep the audiences lunches inside their stomachs, and it was also likely to please the MPAA.

            Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs is somewhat different from an earlier draft. Scenes were cut, sequences rearranged, and the whole thing was made less gory. The whole film is still extremely entertaining.

Sources: netflix.com, imsdb.com

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