On December 4th, Reservoir Dogs gets a one-night only screening in theaters across the country, celebrating the 20th (!!) anniversary of its release. (For screening locations, check www.fathomevents.com.)
The now-classic violent crime film catapulted writer/director Quentin Tarantino to fame. Reservoir Dogs is now considered a classic heist-gone-wrong film; Empire Magazine once named it the best independent film ever made. Here are some behind-the-scene facts behind one of the most influential films of the past 20 years:
1. James Woods was wanted by Tarantino for the film. The filmmaker, who was looking to cast the intense actor as "Mr. Orange" (played by Tim Roth), called Woods' agent with five offers. The agent never even alerted Woods--the offers were way below what the actor normally commanded. A few years later, Tarantino met Woods at a party, and he told the actor how he tried to hire him. Woods fired his agent the next day.
2. Shooting and final editing came very close to derailing the film's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The film's final version was completed a mere three days before it unspooled at Sundance.
3. There are no women in the movie. Not one speaking part. In the DVD extras, however, Nina Siemaszko has some scenes as "McClusky."
4. It's a typical Tarantino film: the "f bomb" is dropped over 270 times.
5. The film's budget was so long that in many scenes the actors raided their closets and wore their own clothes.
6. Michael Madsen has that unforgettable sequence where he tortures a cop and cuts off his ear, all to the soundtrack of "Stuck in the Middle." But Madsen had grave concerns about the scene, and was so disturbed by the violence that he couldn't finish it in one take. He missed take after take because he would get too choked up to continue.
7. The film was originally set for a down-and-dirty 2 1/2 week shoot with a budget of $30,000. One day Tarantino came home and got a voicemail from Harvey Keitel, asking if he could be in the film. On Keitel's name alone the director was able to raise $1.5 million in less than a few weeks.
8. The film was a modest hit in the U.S., grossing $2.9 million. But in Europe it was huge, including a whopping $12 million dollar (U.S.) take in Great Britain.
John Frankenheimer was responsible for one of the greatest political thrillers ever made--The Manchurian Candidate. But, just in time for election day, you should watch another one of his great thrillers, Seven Days in May. And this one is scary, because it's just plausible enough to happen.
Questioning the checks-and-balance system of American government, Seven Days in May asks the unthinkable: Could there be a political coup coming from in the Pentagon?
Veteran actor Fredric March plays the President, who is on the verge of signing a total nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia. But there are numerous naysayers in the Pentagon, suspecting the country is leaving itself open to a nuclear attack. One of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General James Scott (Burt Lancaster), plots to overthrow the President. When Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey (Kirk Douglas) stumbles onto the plot, he alerts the President...and the game's afoot.
Seven Days has a brilliant script by Rod Serling, who made it a point to show that real power occurs behind closed doors, in the shadows, away from the public and the press. It's another great teaming of Douglas and Lancaster, although Frankeheimer butted heads with Lancaster while making The Birdman of Alcatraz. Douglas eventually convinced the director that no one else could portray General Scott.
The film has a dazzling supporting cast, led by Ava Gardner, who plays the General's ex-mistress--a woman with a lot of secrets to hide. Also in the film are Martin Balsam, who got annoyed when the director would shoot off a gun during his scenes, just to make him more jittery. And Edmond O'Brien won a well-deserved Oscar nod as an alcoholic Senator who stands on the President's side.
How realistic is the film? The Pentagon wouldn't cooperate at all in the making of the film. President Kennedy thought the film had to be made. So whenever Frankenheimer needed to shoot around the White House, the President made sure he was away at Hyannisport on weekends, and the crew was given permission to shoot. Seven Days in May is a thought-provoking thriller that still resonates today...and is still in the realm of possibility.
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