Honor Among Thieves: Professionalism in Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino’s first movie, is well regarded as a very unique and entertaining gangster movie. In the film, everything goes wrong for the jewelry robbers who must flee from the police. The true character of the robbers comes out, as they have to find out which one of them is a police informant. In the movie, Harvey Keitel plays Mr. White, one of the most experienced of the criminals. He is disciplined and true to his code. His trusting nature is surprising and gets him into much trouble.

Mr. White and all the other members of the team are supposed to be professional criminals who understand how to behave. They are all assigned aliases so they don’t know anyone’s true identity. They are supposed to stay focused on the task and to not make rash decisions. Joe Cabot, their employer, tells them that he doesn’t want them talking to each other about anything other than the job. These are the kind of rules that are necessary to work as a professional criminal. Everyone is calm and operating under the same rules so that everyone can trust each other and focus on their own part of the heist.

More than any of the other criminals in the film, Mr. White is a model of professionalism. This even extends to the clothing he wears. Although all of the team members appear to wear the same established uniform, this is not the case. Mr. White is the only one in the group who actually wears a full suit. Many of the other men just wear suit coats with dark pants that don’t actually match.

Keitel was able to acquire his slick agnès b. suit through his relationship with the company. It visibly sets him apart from the other characters. His Lanvin sunglasses, that closely resemble Ray-Ban Wayfarers, also contribute to his signature look. His style of dress makes him look intimidating and professional, qualities that would be important in discouraging the employees and customers in the Jewelry store from trying to stop him.

Mr. White is an experienced criminal who has been in this line of work for a long time. He values loyalty and cares about his fellow criminals. This is best demonstrated through his relationship with Mr. Orange in the film. Mr. Orange, played by Tim Roth, is actually an undercover cop, but becomes very close with Mr. White. The two get to know each other before the job and work as a pair. When the alarm was tripped and the cops started surrounding them, Mr. White and Mr. Orange escape together and fight their way back to the warehouse. Mr. Orange is shot as they escape partly because both of the men let their guards down. Mr. White struggles with feeling guilty about Mr. Orange getting shot and feels more obligated to make sure he survives. Mr. White even tells Mr. Orange that his real name is Larry. Mr. White cares about Mr. Orange and is willing to risk his life to defend him because he believes in protecting his fellow criminals.

Mr. Blonde is in many ways the opposite of Mr. White. He is careless and doesn’t respect or help his fellow criminals. He is brutal and senseless in his violence. This is demonstrated when he tortures the police officer that he has captured for the purpose of enjoyment. During the heist, he goes on a killing spree in the Jewelry store when the employees trip the alarm. This causes the cops waiting outside to attack. Mr. Blonde endangers everyone there without thinking. Mr. White is very worried about him, saying to Mr. Pink, “You can’t work with a psychopath, you never know what those sick assholes are gonna do next”. He is very angry with Mr. Blonde because he doesn’t believe in unnecessary killing. Mr. White has no respect for psychopaths like Mr. Blonde. Mr. Blonde’s reckless actions endanger and frighten the other criminals. At one point Mr. White tells Mr. Pink, “I came this close to taking his ass out myself”. This may be why he is inclined to believe that Mr. Orange killed Mr. Blonde in self-defense.

Mr. White weakness is that he takes his loyalty too far. The code of mutual trust and respect between criminals causes him to endanger himself. This first happens when he tells Mr. Orange his real name to comfort him. At the end of the movie, Mr. White’s loyalty to Mr. Orange causes him to defend Mr. Orange against Joe Cabot and Nice Guy Eddie. The two of them are convinced that Mr. Orange is the rat but Mr. White still trusts him. Mr. White kills Joe and Eddie to protect Mr. Orange. Mr. White has to deal with the consequences of his misplaced trust when Mr. Orange tells him that he is an undercover cop.

Mr. White is the perfect example of Tarantino’s version of the professional criminal. He is well dressed, very good at what he does, and adheres to his own code of ethics. This creates the image of a very cool and professional criminal, who despite being involved in violent crime, ends up appearing likable to the viewer.

Sources:

Reservoir Dogs. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Perf. Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Tim Roth. Miramax. 1992. Film.

luckystrike721. “Reservoir Dogs-Mr. White”. BAMF Style. 15 September 2014. Web. 4 April 2016.