Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
(Background Radio Dialogue: Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avery)
Cast: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Reservoir Dogs is Quentin Tarantino's debut as director, and what a remarkable debut. Pulp Fiction is his masterpiece, but this one doesn't come much short of his epic criminal web.

It's easy to recognize Tarantino's clever dialogues. From the opening scene there's no doubt it's Tarantino's work. No-one writes dialogues like him. Reservoir Dogs are rawer, rougher in the edges and it's most definitely low budget, but it doesn't hurt the movie at all. It actually helps bring out the dialogue even more than it might have in a bigger production with more locations.

Along with Pulp Fiction and True Romance, this is the third of Tarantino's really incredible early script-works. Adding actors like Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Steve Buscemi and Chris Penn in his debut, and you got a movie still as unique almost 20 years later.

A don't miss classic entrance to the director line-up if there ever was one made.

Edited August 16th, 2010: It doesn't quite deserve the 10/10 I gave blinded by my love for Tarantino's handy work, and is now adjusted down to an amazing 9/10.