Line #6 Headscratchers/ReservoirDogs


1	!!Being "anonymous" needs work
2	* Why do Eddie, White and Pink drive up to Orange's house? Isn't anonymity a big part of this deal? I understand Eddie needing to know names/identities, etc, being the son of the boss, but aren't the 6 robbers supposed to be protected from each other? And I know that it's Orange's house, or at least a police-appointed hideout (which makes no difference from the point-of-view of Joe and Eddie) because he's painting a room, has comic posters up (he mentions ComicBook/TheFantasticFour at one point) and he has a change jar with his wedding ring.
3	** Everyone except Vic is supposed to be kind of transient or an out-of-towner. Orange having a random shitty bachelor pad for the duration of his stay doesn't really say that much about him. Even if it was temporary, it's not unreasonable to toss up a couple posters to make your stay a little more pleasant.
4	** It shouldn't matter if the others are transient - if you take Mr Pink, for example, could you imagine his reaction if the others knew where he lived even temporarily? He's the guy who wanted Mr Orange dead simply because Orange knew White's name. If they all knew where the other people in the group were staying even temporarily, it'd pose as a pretty big security risk in an operation that is based around relative anonymity.
5	*** Mr Pink is, all things considered, probably the only one of the group who would think about it that much, or care. Based on what we're shown, the only member whose hiding place is known is Orange, and he's supposed to be a relative rookie who doesn't know anyone else, and gets shot in the gut and starts dying anyway. No skin off anyone else's nose if Orange is the only one who has something to lose should someone else tell.
6	*** But Mr Pink ISN'T the only one to care. Sure, Mr White takes some liberties by giving Mr Orange his first name and sports team, but other than that all of them seem big on anonymity. Even Joe said in the briefing that they weren't to divulge any info on their Christian names or hometowns.
7	*** Since Eddie seems to be a daddy's boy, it's unlikely he, Pink, and White would pick Orange up at his hangout if Joe wasn't okay with it (or if they really thought he wouldn't be okay with it). And I still don't quite see what the problem is; they know where Orange lives and/or is staying, yes, but why should ''they'' worry, since Orange doesn't know anything about ''them'' at that point? It doesn't seem to pose any greater risk than hiring some young guy who doesn't know Joe and Eddie personally would (we don't know anything about Brown and Blue of course, but we can assume they know Joe and Eddie better than Orange, at least).
8	*** The point is they know where Orange lives. If caught, they could divulge that information which would lead to the capture of another gang member. The whole point of the color coded names and anonymity was to eliminate that possibility.
9	*** Could be that part of Orange's cover identity is that he's from out-of-town and he's staying in a temporary apartment until the job is completed. There's less risk in knowing where Orange is currently living if it's just some fleapit dive he's paying for with cash on a weekly/monthly basis.
10	*** Joe could also have arranged temporary accommodation for the robbers in the days leading up to the heist. Concerns about secrecy aside, he needs to have ''some'' idea of where they will be for purposes of coordination if nothing else, it is easier to collect everyone at once and transport them to the central locations rather than relying on everyone making their own way there, and it avoids the concern of the robbers finding out where their fellow robbers live if they all know that they are just living somewhere that Joe has set them up in. I imagine Joe, being a major criminal, has probably invested money in various properties throughout the city as a way of laundering his ill-gotten gains, so it would not be too hard for him to have access to the keys to some safe houses or motel rooms which he could just give each of the robbers and say "This is where you'll be staying for the next week/month/etc."
11	!!WorstAid?
12	* Why didn't any of the criminals have the good sense to at least apply some direct pressure to Mr Orange's gunshot wound? You'd think that if Mr White really cared about him that much he'd improvise a bandage of some sort so Mr Orange wouldn't bleed to death and all that nasty business.
13	** He had other things on his mind.
14	** White thought Orange was dead anyway. All he was doing was comforting the guy.
15	** At first they couldn't because of the getaway occupying them, and after that they took him for a goner.
16	** Abdominal gunshot wounds aren't really something you can apply pressure to. There aren't any convenient pressure-points there, like there are on limbs or the face, and pressing hard on the belly might make the ''internal'' bleeding worse, or spread bacteria from a perforated colon further through the body cavity.
17	!!Immediate silence
18	* Why did the music stop when Mr Orange shot Mr Blonde? Wouldn't the radio still be on.
19	** It was all in Mr Blonde's head. That radio didn't work.
20	** Then why couldn't we hear it when Blonde went out to fetch some gasoline.
21	*** Because if Blondie can't hear it, and we're seeing this part of the movie from his POV, then presumably the radio (in his head) is going to be too far away from him for us to hear it.
22	*** Actually, if you listen closely, it is still playing after Mr Orange shoots Blonde, just very faintly.
23	** In my version, it stopped ''before'' the shots. It stopped when the song ended, right when the cop shouted "STOP! STOP!" [[FridgeBrilliance ...which is actually kinda funny.]]
24	** Maybe a stray bullet hit the radio?
25	!!Shouldn't only one have died?
26	* I'm surprised nobody else brought this one up: Why did three people die in the final standoff? Two of the guns were trained on ''one'' person.
27	** In the original cut, Eddie also got shot, but then after they changed it, they forgot to alter the last couple scenes. It wouldn't really have worked if they had though, because Joe's son would have just finished off White and probably Orange.
28	** There were four people. Mr Pink fired first but wasn't a part of the Mexican Standoff.
29	*** Incorrect, Mr Pink doesn't shoot anyone. Joe fires first, at Mr Orange. Mr White shoots Joe, Nice Guy Eddy shoots Mr White, and Mr White shoots Nice Guy Eddy on the way down. Remember, this movie has already averted InstantDeathBullet by having Mr Orange survive an identical wound long enough to be brought to the warehouse and subsequently shoot Mr Blonde from much further away. Mr White then drags himself to Mr Orange-clearly still alive enough to get off the revenge shot. {{Word of God}} [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105236/faq#.2.1.1 here]].
30	** Before the first shot, Joe is aiming at Orange, Eddie is aiming at White, and White is aiming at Joe. [[http://i51.tinypic.com/30ww2uo.jpg This gif breaks it down nicely.]]
31	!!Taxing tips
32	* In the conversation about tipping at the beginning of the movie, Mr Pink responds to the argument that waitresses are taxed with the assumption that tips are part of their pay ("...but what I won't do is play ball"). The trouble is, the way the scene is edited, no one ever makes the point he's responding to. It has always bugged me not so much that this continuity error is there -- there are lots of continuity errors in the film -- but that no one else seems to notice it (it isn't on the otherwise rather thorough IMDB goofs page as of October 2009, for example).
33	** It's just a continuation of his rant against tipping. He probably already knows that the government taxes their pay, and he's sympathetic, but still doesn't believe in it. No-one makes the point about the tax, but he's already started justifying not tipping, so he's going to continue talking about it, even if it's tangentially related to what people said.
34	** RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic. I have been in several discussions, debates, and arguments where both myself and the other party will bring up a point/counter point that wasn't brought up to counter specifically because we had it prepared in our heads ahead of time, thought it sounded good/convincing, and felt like making the point even though the set up wasn't there.
35	** Welcome to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procatalepsis procatalepsis]].
36	!!Wrong driver
37	* Why did they let the guy who'd been shot in the head (Mr Brown) drive the getaway car?
38	** I'm pretty sure he was shot in the head after they started driving away.
39	** Tarantino is fond of displaying MajorInjuryUnderreaction when acting: here he is indeed driving with a head wound, and in ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn'' he calmly patches his hand with duct tape even with a see-through bullet wound right in his palm.
40	** They probably didn't have much of a choice. By definition, the getaway driver's main role is to sit at the wheel of the getaway car ready to speed away from the job at the very second the job is completed -- he'd be in the driver's seat anyway. By the time he gets shot, there's cops firing at them all over, so they don't have the luxury of switching seats.
41	!!The Rat's Identity
42	* On the {{Foreshadowing}} page, it says the opening scene foreshadows the identity of the rat. Where and how? The best I can think of is Orange being easily swayed by Pink's 'Waitress Tipping' speech, but that's more foreshadowing Orange's easily swayed nature than anything about his identity as a rat.
43	** It's Foreshadowing that Orange is the rat because when Joe comes back from paying he asks who didn't tip. Orange is the one who tells Joe it was Mr Pink.
44	** Ah. I always assumed it was Brown who said that. Fair enough.
45	** Believe it or not, I think the entire speech is a scum-hunt cooked up by the Cabots. If Joe wasn't 100% sure on somebody before the day he'd need a way to make that person trip up - they'd had a rat blow a gig before - so Joe gives Pink a viewpoint, with evidence, to poke reactions. Eddie kick-starts the rant, Blue and Blonde are sceptical while White is out-and-out against the viewpoint. Orange says precisely nothing until Pink's finished, and then immediately retracts it when Joe intervenes. It was too late to cancel the job (the breakfast is on the day of the heist), but the Cabots could've pulled Orange out or eliminated him after the job goes off successful. It doesn't, and things all turn to shit from there.
46	*** While I can fully buy that Joe would eventually consider Orange's willingness to rat Pink out as evidence of him being a rat, it seems a bit too much of a stretch (to me, at least) that Joe would intentionally arm Pink with that particular viewpoint as part of some kind of convoluted test to try and trap someone into exposing themselves a rat -- for all he knows, the actual rat might not like to tip either, or might not think it's worth telling the boss about, and one of the 'honest' crooks might object enough to Pink's cheapness to rat him out himself. Heck, for all he knows, ''Pink'' is actually the rat. There's too many things that could go wrong. Besides which, these aren't exactly subtle guys with minds like intricately designed clockwork we're talking about here; it seems unlikely that they'd plan a fairly blunt and overt caper while playing subtle mind-games like this in order to expose a mole in their midst. If they suspected Orange enough of being a rat, screw trying to trick it out of him over tips for a diner waitress; they'd more likely just try and beat it out of him. It would seem more likely to me that Pink just happens to be a tight-fisted S.O.B and Joe took note of Orange's willingness to squeal on him as being something worth noting, but not suspicious enough to cancel the job over. Then, after everything's gone wrong, he reviews everything and comes to the conclusion that Orange was the rat, and the fact that he ratted Pink out earlier is just icing on the cake.
47	*** Let's be frank here; the tipping conversation in the scheme of things is trivial and easily forgotten at best. No one -- ''no one'' -- no matter how paranoid they are is going to use the fact that Orange told Joe that Pink didn't contribute to the tip as evidence that he's a cop, and Joe certainly isn't going to set up a kind of sting operation involving Pink refusing to tip in order to try and trap Orange out to reveal himself based on this. The tipping conversation is foreshadowing of Orange's true identity for the ''viewer'', not the characters, and Joe's suspicion of Orange is likely based on other factors than the fact that he pointed out that Pink didn't contribute to the tip.
48	*** Hell, if even Mr Pink, one probably closest to ProperlyParanoid out there and the "victim" of Orange's "ratting out", never once brings this one up, then it probably was too trivial a thing even to him.
49	*** Yes, if it was a deliberate plan to out a rat cooked up by Joe, the post-robbery warehouse scenes would have gone completely differently, with Pink immediately fingering Orange and justifying it by explaining said plan. It would make no sense whatsoever to keep it secret by that point. Additionally, if Joe genuinely suspected Orange as a result of what he said at the diner, there is no way - none - that he would have allowed the job to go ahead.
50	!!Going back to the hideout
51	* Why does Joe Cabot go to the hideout, which he knows is compromised?
52	** I've often wondered that myself. The best I can come up with is that he's willing to sacrifice everything else just to make sure that Orange doesn't get out alive.
53	** He needed to convince White that Orange was the rat, and knew he had to be there in person to do it. I guess he figured it'd take a minute, tops, to get White to shoot Orange or to do the job himself, then they could bang out with the diamonds and be home free. Unfortunately, White had something else in mind.
54	** Don't forget his son is in the warehouse with the rat; it's in Joe's interest to make sure Eddie makes it out safely.
55	** Joe probably figures he's screwed anyway. The robbery was a shambles, there was a rat in the crew all along, and his organisation is likely going to not survive. Might as well get even with the rat and go down fighting. RevengeBeforeReason, basically.
56	** I think the answer to this question lies in the original script. Joe was originally written as borderline mental, you can read it at IMSDB. This explains why he'd do something so stupid.
57	!!Pink vs Cops
58	* Mr Pink during the shootout with the cops. Where does the fourth cop (the fat one, who gets shot) come from? There are 3 lean cops running after Pink, he's far away, and in the longer shots you can't see any cop that matches the fourth cop, and you can't see the fat cop over their 3 cops shoulder either. The 3 cops get to the corner after Pink pulls the girl out of the car, the 3 cops that had been running show up, he shoots at them, and then the fourth cop appears from nowhere and gets shot in the stomach.
59	** Cop #4 is presumably lagging just behind the other three cops (out of shot), but manages to catch up just in time to get shot.
60	!!The Wedding Band
61	* Just before Mr White picks him up to do a stake-out of the jewellery store, Mr Orange fetches a wedding band out of loose change tray. Why?
62	** Presumably, it's his wedding band, and he wants to keep it with him. He doesn't wear it, because then some of his 'associates' might want to meet his wife, which he would understandably not want them doing.
63	*** Just to clarify, he does wear the ring as Mr Orange, it just hard to see in most of the shot, since his hands are kinda covered by his blood for most of the movie. It's probably just a detail to make his character more real, like the story, given how he left the wedding band with his bowl of change and he almost forget to wear it. Also, the rest of the crew would not want to meet his wife, the less they knew about each other, the better.
64	** Also, I think the whole point of that particular moment was to hint at the existence of his life outside the police force. As a cop, he automatically becomes an ally to others in his profession and an enemy to White, Pink, Blonde, etc...however, he and White demonstrate that they are more than capable of finding some common ground when these professional labels are either disguised or obscured. The ring hints at a whole different aspect of Orange's life which is never brought up, but infers that there is far more to him than just being a "cop", just as there is more to White than merely being a "criminal". (Note also the song playing throughout this scene - "Fool For Love" by Sandy Rogers. Orange may be acting tough as part of his undercover ruse, but this scene touches upon his sentimental/vulnerable side.)
65	** My guess is that Orange used to be married but decided to wear the ring in this case as part of his "costume". Maybe he's divorced, or maybe his wife died. If he was still married, he wouldn't bury the ring in a bowl of change, and he would have left it behind if he was working undercover. Also, a married man wouldn't be living in such an obvious bachelor apartment.
66	** I always saw it as just another way for Orange to separate his undercover identity with his real self. It doesn't matter if he's ever been married or not; it's just another physical way to remind himself of who he's being at that moment.
67	*** Ho-Yay? But seriously, it seems like it's just another example of how he's putting on a role. Clearly he's not married for real, but for the role of Orange he would apparently like to be considered so. Like in the Departed 'Marriage is an important part of getting ahead: lets people know you're not a homo; married guy seems more stable; people see the ring, they think at least somebody can stand the son of a bitch; ladies see the ring, they know immediately you must have some cash or your cock must work.'
68	** Pretty straightforward film shorthand. The character Freddie is creating as Orange is married (or at least wears a wedding ring). Freddie is not, which is why he keeps the ring in a jar rather than wearing it himself. The fact that he's not accustomed to wearing a ring all the time (as a married man would) is shown when he has to remember to put it on before he goes to his meeting.
69	!!Cutting off his ear.
70	* Here's something that wasn't adequately explained on the main page: if it is so torturous to the cop to have his ear lopped off and loud music blaring into the fresh, gaping hole (which of course it would be), then why does he seem to have no problem hearing all those gunshots ringing out in that confined, echoey warehouse space a moment later?
71	** He was probably in as bad a state as he was going to get, and possibly even relieved that Orange woke up long enough to shoot Blonde.
72	** Me again, I just thought of something: he'd probably already gone deaf in that ear.
73	** Besides the outer part of the ear serves to amplify sound, so if it were cut off, sounds would seem quieter, not excruciatingly loud.
74	** I'm not sure we're supposed to assume it's ''not'' bothering him just because he doesn't pipe up and ask a bunch of criminals to kindly stop shooting. Plus, there's no reason to assume he's deaf. Blonde just lopped off the cartilage; the most important structures are inside.
75	** Said inside structures having been blasted with music through a ''large hole'' left in the side of the head which I'm sure will amplify just fine. But yeah, I'm betting his ear drum nerves are about wasted by now. Too bad about the nerves around the huge hole.
76	** He probably did have a problem with it; however, considering that he was otherwise moments away from being set on fire and burned to death, his relief at the fact that he wasn't going to die horrifically at the hands of a psychopath after all probably helped him cope a bit better.
77	** Having just watched the movie, it's worth noting that he turns his other ear towards Orange as much as he can - at the time, I assumed it was to save on the budget by obscuring the mutilated one, but it could also be that he can't hear through that one anymore and has to turn to pick up what he's saying.
78	!!Cops are useless in this universe
79	* If the police knew in advance there was going to be a robbery and where it was going to happen, how did so many of the robbers get away? And why did they get anything from the robbery?
80	** The plan went smoothly until someone pressed the silent alarm. If that hadn't happened and the street cops showed up, the gang would have gone out and either been quietly arrested, or the cops would have followed them to the warehouse and arrested them there. Then Blonde started shooting and, as Pink notes, everyone else shot their way out.
81	** They weren't expecting Mr Blonde to turn psycho and start shooting up the place, which changed the game-plan somewhat. The original plan was no doubt to wait outside quietly until the robbers complete the job and leave, swoop in, arrest them and then go home for coffee. Blonde starts shooting, they have to go in early, the robbers start shooting their way out. Chaos ensues.
82	*** Very stupid cops. As soon as they know ''where'' the robbery is (which couldn't possibly be any later than when they case the place itself), they should have arrested the lot when they walked out of the diner and charged them with conspiracy to commit.
83	*** They probably didn't know precisely where the robbers were going to be meeting up for breakfast. Besides, conspiracy to commit is a lesser crime than actually committing the crime. The cops expected the robbers to surrender, but didn't expect Mr Blonde's rampage.
84	*** Remember, this is before cell phone use became widespread. Orange can't just call or text them where the group is meeting for breakfast.
85	*** But not before cellphones as such. And they actually could have been useful for Joe's gang to utilize on such an occasion, and he obviously could afford them. But apart from the obvious Doylist low budget, there is probably a Watsonian explanation also, as Joe seems to be a rather old-fashioned guy. Eddie would probably have introduced the cellphone use, but he hadn't quite taken over yet by the time of the plot events.
86	*** You are significantly overestimating how easily available and convenient cellphones were at the time. For purposes of discussion, ''Reservoir Dogs'' was released in 1992, and is presumably set more or less contemporaneously (as in, 1991-92, maybe late eighties depending on how far you want to go back). [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_International_3200 This]] is an example of the kind of cellphone available in 1992. You will notice from the image that the thing is ''massive''; far too large for Mr Orange to conveniently carry on his person without the others noticing and wondering about it, and also far too large for the robbers to carry around while also committing a robbery. (And this is the ''convenient'' model; the ones before this one had to be carried around in a mini-suitcase.) It was also expensive; the example provided above cost about US$2500 in today's money. That's $22,500 if Joe wants one for each robber plus one for himself or Eddie to keep in touch with them; perhaps not nothing for a wealthy crime lord like Joe, but still a pretty hefty chunk out of the budget. In short, the cellphones of the day were completely impractical for the purposes of either Orange keeping in touch with his handlers or the robbers keeping in touch with each other during the robbery. They'd have been much more likely to use payphones or, at most, some kind of shortwave radio.
87	** Also keep in mind, the cops weren't after the robbers. Their job was to capture Joe when he meets-up with the robbers. They only interfered to protect more people from being killed by Mr Blonde.
88	** Right. The goal was to capture Joe red-handed. There were two teams of cops: the store team and the warehouse team. The cops at the store were supposed to remain hidden unless something went wrong, which it did. The warehouse team was supposed to wait until Joe, Eddie, the diamonds and the other thieves were all together. They didn't move in until they knew all the pieces were in place.
89	** In the original screenplay, Holdaway tells Orange that the plan is to arrest the robbers when they finish the heist, and then give them sweet deals in exchange for ratting on Joe and Eddie.
90	*** Just worth pointing out, there were technically ''three'' teams of cops; the cops who were watching the store, the cops who were watching the warehouse, and the cops who were not part of the operation but who responded independently to the store's alarms. It's seeing the latter cops arrive that convinces Mr Pink that it was all a set-up.
91	** Still, the plan should have gone out the window the moment they saw a bound and gagged police officer being carried in the warehouse, and if not then, the moment they saw Blondie carrying a gas can into the warehouse, and if not then, the moment they heard the shots Orange fired.
92	** I kinda thought it was about showing how the cops weren't really morally much better than the robbers. The whole way through, Mr Orange is torn between his loyalties to both because he sees that actually White, at least, is capable of honour and compassion despite being a thief. Likewise, the police, which he's romanticised as being these 'Baretta' tough guys, and who he's risking his life for, are willing to let him and Nash die in order to bring down Cabot. (Iirc, this is touched on in the deleted scenes.)
93	*** The second, fair enough, but the first might make them more hesitant to go in; you barge into a hostage situation all guns blazing without being fully aware of the situation, there's a good chance the hostage ends up dead.
94	*** There was probably a big communications SNAFU going on while this was happening. Once the situation shifted to a hostage scenario, they probably had to radio in the change of plans and then call in SWAT, which would need to be authorized. SWAT, once deployed, would take their time with going in until they were ready (especially if they're hiding in wait). Assuming that they're listening in to Orange's conversation, they'll know he's still alive and they don't need to go in until Joe shows up. The cops only start to close in once they know Joe is in the building and they another round of gunfire.
95	!!Money senses are tingling!
96	* During the first scene, how does Joe know that he's $1 short on tip money almost instantaneously? On top of that the bills are crumpled and in a pile.
97	** He assumes that each guy puts in a dollar and knows how many people there are present. Ergo, there should be X (I forget exactly how many were there) amount of dollar bills in the pile. You could just quickly count them by doing a quick once-over of the pile, and ergo be able to tell if anyone hadn't contributed if the amount of bills in the pile was less than the amount of people present.
98	** Joe presumably has to deal with people taking a little off the top from him on occasion. He might have gotten very good at counting money at a glance.
99	** If he spots six dollars for seven people it's not magic to realize one didn't tip and they did agreed on one dollar each before Joe went paying.
100	!!White and Orange
101	* Why does White care so much about Orange? They don't seem to have interacted all that much except on a professional basis, and Orange comes across as a slightly awkward outsider in all the group scenes. What is it that makes these two buddies?
102	** They bonded while White was teaching Orange the essentials of jewellery store robbery. Ever seen ''Film/DonnieBrasco''?
103	** And perhaps it doesn't really matter whether it's Orange or someone else. White might just be one of those {{AntiVillain}}s who draws a difficult but precise line between collateral damage/work ("just cops") and "real" moral decisions. A bit like Jules in ''Film/PulpFiction'', who deeply respects colleagues who seemed to be just whiny wimps like Vincent Vega and Jimmy. For all we know, if it was Blue or Pink, he'd be protective of them too.
104	** I think Orange's obvious youth in comparison to everyone else (he looks like he's in his late twenties/early thirties) was a big factor - White essentially acted mentor to him. I think he felt protective primarily because Orange was so young, and awkward.
105	** As one of the believers in the HoYay factor, I have to point out the original choice for playing Orange was James Woods, who's only like 4 or 5 years Creator/HarveyKeitel's junior. Tarantino was persistent in his attempts to get Woods to play the part, and he didn't think Creator/TimRoth would be a good choice, so the age diference was definitely not a factor when the script was written.
106	*** There are two other possible reasons. Orange was obviously dying so White probably felt protective of him, and like he should at least try and make his death a little less painful. Or you could take on board the HoYay factor and think that White is a little in love with Orange. Or a combination of all of the above.
107	*** The dying aspect is definitely important, although we see Mr White putting his hand on Mr Orange's shoulder as they run away from the car with the dead Mr Brown, for the most part all of their closest interactions are after Mr Orange has been shot in the gut. Therefore Mr White's emotions and emotional state is increased and far more obvious and less subtle. Which makes sense, no matter what your previous relationship with someone was, if you cared about them at all then you will probably be a lot more caring if they are in the process of dying and if there is a chance to save them.
108	** They clearly bond in the scene (which presumably isn't the only one) where White's taking Orange through the game plan for the robbery, but remember also that White blames himself -- not unreasonably -- for Orange getting shot in the first place. It's pretty clear that White is very strong on 'honor among thieves' and such, is determined to even out this by any means necessary. He also seems to take the younger members of the team under his wing somewhat (and even though James Woods was initially the original choice for Orange, we have to work with what we've got here); there's also the scene where Pink reveals he managed to get away with the loot and White pats his shoulder in a fatherly sort of 'atta boy' way.
109	*** He even says "Good boy."
110	*** The specific line is "That's my boy" So close enough.
111	*** It's important though to point out two things- one, the scene in which they go over the game plan (and then go for tacos) should not be there according to Joe's rules. The thieves are not to fraternize or even see each other outside of the meetings with Joe and the heist itself. That scene right there, while it is bonding, shouldn't be happening if White doesn't have some sort of interest in Orange (and vice-versa). The second thing I have to point out here is that there are examples of their relationship going beyond "anonymous criminals" early on- during the diner scene, if you watch as the camera pans around the table, Orange and White switch off having an arm around the other's chair (and the other's shoulders). Also, the way Orange watches White when White is chiding Joe about the address book is very... interesting. He looks down at White's lips for a couple of seconds, he blushes and laughs at every joke White makes, oh, and White ''winks at him.'' When White is lecturing Pink about tipping the waitresses, Orange backs up every word with a look at Pink. He nods along with White, he grins, he gives Pink a "you're getting your ass handed to you" look. There's a lot of evidence of their closeness even before Orange takes one to the gut. Also, if you really want to get into it, White shouldn't have taken Orange with him at all. It's beyond inefficient. This is also a man who shoots cops without blinking, and who, upon finding Brown dead, just sort of shrugs and pulls Orange away to get a new car. He doesn't care about helping Brown, he doesn't bat an eyelash when he dies, but Orange gets shot and White takes the time to carefully load him up into the car and comforts him the whole ride to the warehouse. If he didn't care for Orange, he would've seen him as the bleeding liability he was and would've left him to die on the ground. For all White knew, Orange was going to die right there (he said so himself later when Pink questioned him), so if he didn't care, why would he take the time to help Orange into the car? One last thing and then I'm done, promise- White, the tough criminal, cries ''twice'' in this movie. The first time is when he's comforting Orange in the warehouse before Pink arrives (he combs his hair, says "you've been brave enough for one day," and then sniffles and wipes his nose), the second is when Orange admits he's a cop (you can see a tear fall and White is actively sobbing at this point). This man kills people without remorse, watches people die without feeling, and even shoots his boss and longtime father figure without hesitation (to protect Orange, no less), but when Orange is concerned, his emotions are powerful and right on his sleeve.
112	** FireForgedFriends.
113	!!The Betrayal Story
114	* Did Mr Orange/Freddy make up that story of Vic will betray the group, or did he sincerely believe it? Granted, he's not exactly in a tip-top condition to think clearly, but there's little to no reason to believe that the latter's going to run away with the goods. On the other hand, why demonise Vic when simply telling the truth — apart from the fact that he's siding with the cop — would suffice? ("He's about to kill the cop and he's going to kill me too!") Surely he knew that Mr White, Mr Pink, and any other operative would back him up.
115	** At this point, he's a little desperate. Not only is he bleeding to death, but he's shot one of the robbers, which considering they're no doubt on the hunt for a rat (and he's probably heard them talking about it) makes him Suspect #1, since none of the other robbers would have given much of a fuck if Blonde killed the cop (or, probably, him -- considering that most of them except White probably think he's a liability who's better off dead in his condition and are ruthless enough to do it as well). He's probably just trying to think of an explanation that's better than "I'm an undercover cop" and / or "I took exception to Blonde torturing a guy for no reason," and figures that since Blonde's clearly not stable it's not entirely unconvincing that he might try to rip the other guys off.
116	*** It's unfortunate really. If Orange had stopped after "Blonde was gonna burn the cop" and used that as the impetus for shooting him (not directly i.e. he was gonna burn the cop and kill me in the process because I was so close to him and couldn't move) it might've worked. Granted Eddie would still be pissed but there was clear evidence that Blonde didn't care much if his team was caught in the crossfire (Orange may have even seen Blonde almost shoot White at the jewellery store) but none that he would kill ''just'' to double-cross them.
117	*** Hell, even if he did it ''directly'' - as in "I didn't want the extremely gruesome scene of seeing a man burned alive to haunt me till my final breath" - it could have worked better.
118	** So he ''did'' make it up?
119	** Yup. Although I don't doubt he probably thought Blonde was capable of it. The 'betrayal' story he cooked up was a handy way of deflecting attention from himself as a potential rat. But Freddy's smart enough to lie his way out of a bad situation, and that's what he tried to do.
120	** It's also worth noting that he doesn't ''know'' that Mr Blonde is a close personal friend and colleague of Joe and Nice Guy Eddie and has all that history with them, including having sacrificed his freedom for them. Given all the anonymity for everyone involved, all he really knows is that Blonde, like everyone, is just a hired gun for the job; maybe one with ties to Joe, but not much more than that. Therefore, he has no reason to expect that they ''won't'' believe that Blonde would try to double cross them. It's just unfortunate that Mr Blonde ''does'' have all that history that makes Nice Guy Eddie question and reject the lie out of hand.
121	** Plus, the movie plays out in 'real time'. There are no cuts to other scenes while Blonde is torturing the cop and we never hear him outline his cunning plan in the way Orange says he did. Orange just came up with that story to explain why he shot Blonde.
122	!!Huh?
123	* I understand that Vic and Eddie are buddies, but his angry defence of Vic doesn't make that much sense. Sure he may have done time out of loyalty (or simply because it's [[CombatSadomasochist fun]]), but ratting out a powerful crime boss isn't exactly wise either. He might, you know, just chose to be silent because it's actually a good option.
124	** Vic's a made guy. It goes a little above and beyond simple loyalty.
125	** Plus, given how close and friendly Vic, Joe and Eddie are in the scene where Joe offers Vic the place on the heist, it's clear that they're all at the very least good friends.
126	** It's beyond that. Mr. Blonde/Vic Vega got caught on a job for the Cabots, as Eddie explains to Orange, and was sentenced to four years for it. He makes it clear during that conversation that while he was serving that sentence, they repeatedly offered him better and better deals to let him out of prison, all he had to do was give up the Cabots. Vega refused all those offers and instead served out the sentence, "like a man," as Eddie puts it. That's why he gets so pissed and defensive when Orange claims Vega snapped, and was going to betray them, because Eddie knows Vega ALREADY had an opportunity to betray them when he was doing time for them, and he didn't. It showed Eddie that no matter what Vega was, he was completely loyal to the Cabots. Therefore, Orange's story doesn't wash with him. Yes, Vega and Eddie were close friends, but what really plays in here is that Eddie knows there's no way Vega would betray them now and steal the diamonds for himself since he didn't betray them during that four year prison stretch when they were offering him every carrot they could think of to get Vega to turn rat on the Cabots.
127	** Notice both Eddie's tone of voice when explaining to Orange who Mr Blonde was to him, and Blonde's tone when thanking Joe for not forgetting him while he was doing time. Eddie described Blonde as his "very good friend" and looked near tears that he was dead. Blonde said in a frank tone to Joe that "it meant a lot" to him that Joe continually sent him things while he was in prison. Clearly these are close people so Eddie's angry defence of Vic was not just professional, it was a friend angry his friend had been killed and someone is now saying that friend would have betrayed him.
128	** Maybe it was a matter of acting on Creator/MichaelMadsen's part, but due to the delivery of the line it always struck me as though Blonde was lying or trying to kiss ass when he said that; it didn't sound genuine. Real psychopaths are masters of deception and manipulation (though we are talking about a "movie" psychopath not a real one), so it's possible all that loyalty was just an act on his part, though that's hard to reconcile with Eddie's description of him willingly doing time when he could have just as easily cut a deal and walked. Either way, it seems as though Blonde doesn't have much concern for the safety of his colleagues or the success of the job itself, even when he has a lot riding on the outcome. He does what he does because he wants to have fun, and doesn't consider the future. I've also always wondered why Blonde trails the gasoline all the way to the door, as if he's trying to burn down the whole warehouse and not just the cop. Was he afraid of getting burned himself if he just pooled it all around the chair?
129	** I think the reason he trailed the gasoline was to further torture the cop, psychologically. So that the cop would actually have to WATCH himself become engulfed in flames.
130	*** Mr Blonde's ''definitely'' a psychopath, and a less-than-stable one at that, but even psychopaths can have senses of self-preservation; Joe is clearly a bigshot in the criminal underworld, meaning it's not going to be very healthy to get on his bad side and is going to be a good idea to stay on his good side. Besides which, Blonde also clearly hates cops, and might just value telling a cop to fuck off more than cutting a good deal for himself. As for the gasoline trail, as well as avoiding getting burned I suspect Blonde made the trail as long as he did to further prolong the cop's fear, torment and (eventual) death; the longer he makes the trail, the longer the flame has to go, which means the longer the cop has to wait and watch as it gets closer to him before he goes up like a candle.
131	** Also consider Vic's utter lack of enthusiasm about an ordinary job suggested to him by Joe and Eddie. He might actually have preferred staying in prison for a while if this meant he could return to his usual occupation after the release to just walking out and presumably having little chance to get his place back without being killed.
132	!!How the gang got their names
133	* In the scene where White, Orange, Pink, and Eddie are driving to warehouse to meet Joe and plan the heist, Eddie refers to Pink as... Pink. This is directly followed by the scene where everyone gets their aliases. Now, granted, non-linear style could suggest this happens after, but given the costumes and the way it's set up it seems to be before hand.
134	** Two explanations come to my mind. 1) Eddie already knows who's going to be assigned which name and just happens to use Pink's codename. 2) "Pink" is actually Pink's name. He might have been so upset about having it as a codename because he already has to put up with being called "Pink" and all subsequent jokes -- why does his nickname have to be the same thing?
135	** I got the impression that Joe had already told everyone their codenames individually, but the planning scene was the first time he shared those names with everyone else. For one reason or another, Pink didn't think Joe was being serious and was surprised that he was really going to be "Mister Pink."
136	** Judging by Pink's quick delivery of the line "why Mister Pink?", I think he already knew, he was just waiting to bring it up, he wanted to do it in front of everyone as some macho bull. Seems very in character.
137	** I also got the feeling that it wasn't the first time Pink had complained about his pseudonym, judging by the fed-up "I've had enough of this shit" way Joe delivers the "because you're a ''fucking faggot'', alright?!"; as if Pink's known about it, has been whining about it ever since finding out about it, and Joe's finally had it up to here with him having explained why once too often.
138	** It's clear everyone had their codenames in advance. When Freddy/Mr Orange first tells his handler about getting in on the job, he had only met Joe, Eddie, and Mr White. At the meeting, he was given Mr White's name as Mr White and already knew he was going to be called Mr Orange. He says as much to his handler. So Orange and White had their aliases already. Why not Brown, Blue, Blonde, and Pink?
139	!!The meaning of the "Commode Story"
140	* Why does Orange's mentor make such a big deal about teaching him the 'Commode Story'. It seems to be the main plank of Orange's cover and he's expected to get every detail right, but it's really just a throwaway anecdote that doesn't deserve the amount of importance and attention that's focussed on it. I get that it's meant to provoke a 'yeah, you were cool under pressure' response but would armed robbers really be that impressed by a story about a small-time pot dealer being in a public toilet while a couple of Sheriff's deputies, who weren't even interested in him, stood and chatted nearby? Surely it would just smell like BS to them, especially if he tells it exactly the same way each time, like he's been coached to do.
141	** Because Orange needs SOME kind of criminal background. He learns it over and over again so that the story comes out naturally. Being a cop, he wouldn't have any truthful shady story to tell. He likely didn't tell the story unprovoked - it was his "job interview", of sorts.
142	** Moreover, it's the kind of story that a criminal ''could'' tell a bunch of guys he's supposed to be concealing his name and origins from. He didn't get caught, and the deputies barely noticed he was there, so it's safe to tell without breaching the robbers' agreed-upon anonymity: if he'd recounted an offence that actually wound up in court, or otherwise documented, he'd be giving away too much about his (adopted) background.
143	** As well as the above, I got the feeling it probably wasn't supposed to be the key plank of Orange's undercover identity's criminal past so much as it was added spice; in any walk of life, you're going to accumulate a series of anecdotes you're going to tell people, and this story is the kind of thing that would come up between a bunch of criminals shooting the shit in a bar when they're getting to know each other; it's funny, it involves him brazenly getting the better of a bunch of dumb cops by breaking the law right under their noses, and so forth. Thing is, even though it seems like a fairly trivial story, Orange still needs to be familiar with it; the more familiar he is, the more natural it's going to sound when he tells it, as if it ''is'' the kind of thing he's brought up at every opportunity he gets to tell a funny story about something that happened to him way back when and not something he's just been coached in that afternoon.
144	** I though the main purpose of that scene was to show how different the criminals are compared to how the cops think criminals are. Contrast the cop going out about the ridiculous amount of details Orange is supposed to know for his story with how Eddie talks about 'Lady E' being fazey on the details and flat out arguing with the other criminals about it.
145	** There's a difference, though, in being hazy on details because it's been a while since they happened and your memory is unreliable and being hazy on details because you only learnt the story an hour ago and have forgotten several of the key details since then because you didn't adequately commit it to memory. One is just being a bit forgetful, the other looks suspiciously like you're just making something up or reciting something someone else told you -- which is not what you want to seem like if you're trying to convince someone this happened to you. The other cop compares it to a joke; you add stuff, you remove stuff, you maybe even forget a few details, but if you've told this story over and over it seems natural in a way that it doesn't if it's something you're reciting second-hand for the first time. Orange doesn't need to recite every single detail flawlessly as if it's a speech; he does, however, need to be familiar enough with the story to recite it ''convincingly''.
146	** Nice Guy Eddie forgot the lyrics and meaning of the song because he hadn't heard it in years; he even says as much. Orange, however, has to learn the details of the story sufficiently well to be able to recite it.
147	!!The mysterious Long Beach Mike
148	* Who is "Long Beach Mike", in relation to the underworld? is he merely the go-between who introduced Orange to the Cabots, or is "Long Beach Mike" an alias of Nice Guy Eddie (Orange's handler retorts that Mike is a scumbag who sells out his charges, and says "that's what kind of a 'nice guy' he is!")
149	** Long Beach Mike is probably a respected mob guy who's secretly become an informant for the government. Part of his duties would include occasionally vouching for whoever he's told to vouch for.
150	** It's made pretty clear that Mike is a police informant who knows Joe's business. Most likely, if Hollywood mafia depiction is correct, he worked for Joe until he was busted for something and the police offered him a deal to become an informant.
151	!!Mr. Blonde's NoodleIncident
152	* Did something happen to Mr Blonde in prison that pushed him over the edge? Despite their close friendship and Joe's appreciation of his loyalty, it seems like very bad business to include an uncontrollable psychopath on a robbery. If he'd been that way before prison, how could he have gained Joe's trust in the first place. Is it a case that he'd gone so long since killing anyone and couldn't control himself?
153	** We can't know for sure if he was this bloody psycho before he did time, but considering how he acts towards Joe and Nice Guy Eddie when he is recruited and just after the heist, he always was this psycho, but hid it well enough so he would still be respected in his job.
154	** It may be that the job shown in the film was the biggest job Blonde had ever done with the Cabots, with his previous jobs being much smaller ones where he could be fairly impulsive without creating too much of a mess. It may also be that up until that point Blonde worked alone and thus had some degree of free reign as to how he did a job. Most of the conflict with his cohorts throughout the movie comes from the fact that he's decidedly not a team player.
155	** On rewatching the scene, Joe actually seems a little hesitant in putting Blonde on the job before Eddie convinces him to do so, but it appears to be a combination of gratitude for Blonde doing time for him and giving Blonde some work. It seems likely that Joe knows that Blonde, who does not seem to work for Joe in a robbery context (most likely given his personality he is actually a hitman), is not the best person to have on such a job, but is willing to swallow his doubts under the circumstances. It also seems to be hinted that Joe is on the verge of retirement and about to hand things over to Eddie, who is also implied to be a bit less meticulous about things. Joe later admits that he was uncertain of the job because of Orange, but perhaps he was also uncertain because of Blonde.
156	** We may never know the answer but perhaps the alarm that was triggered at the jewelry store wasn't silent, and perhaps hearing the alarm triggered Blonde's psychosis to a point he couldn't control it in that instance. While he may be lying, Blonde does say, "I told them not to touch the fucking alarm, and they did. If they hadn't a done, what I told them not to, they would still be alive." That seems to indicate, if Blonde is to be believed, that Blonde's rampage at the store was a direct result of the alarm being triggered, and whatever it was in his memory that was triggered by the alarm going off.
157	!!Eddie vs the Cop
158	* Did Eddie intend on killing the cop from the moment he saw he was there? He speaks very freely about his Daddy, names the associate he called and makes up plans right in front of him. Seems like a stupid thing to do if you intend on letting the guy go.
159	** Yep. He flat out says to Pink, Blonde and White that they're going to have to kill Nash, since he's seen their faces.
160	*** Remember that multiple people from the jewellery store, including several police officers, are dead at this point from being shot as part of an armed robbery gone bad. This means everyone in the crew could be charged with Felony Murder, a death-penalty offence (most Felony Murder statutes state that everyone involved in the underlying crime is responsible for any and all deaths that occur during its commission or aftermath). Why leave someone alive who knows who they are?
161	!!The Significance of their Codenames
162	* They made a pretty big deal about the colour-coded names thing, but was it really so important? They all knew Joe and Eddie who would have been the main targets of an investigation, and conversely, Joe and Eddie knew them all...
163	** Let's say White alone was caught. Joe and Eddie could "lawyer up" and refuse to say anything, and the cops would have no evidence other than White's uncorroborated word that Joe and Eddie were involved. The cops couldn't arrest Pink or Blonde and lean on them because White would have no idea who they were. That's why Pink was so freaked out about Orange having even partial information about White: If Orange (who Pink didn't know was an informant) was caught by the police and could identify White, their combined testimony would be enough to bring charges against Joe and Eddie, who might then give up Pink to the cops as part of a deal.
164	!!How did he know
165	* How did Joe Cabot know that Mr Blue was dead?
166	** Most likely caught it on the news.
167	** Or he had word from another underling who in turn got the news from somewhere else. I imagine that Cabot's organisation made getting information on the failed heist something of a priority.
168	!!Leaving Blonde alone with two helpless people
169	* Why didn't White recoil ''more'' at the notion of Blonde being left to "babysit" Orange and Nash? Considering he's already ranted and elucidated in great, emotive detail to Eddie about what an unstable psychotic the man is, he seems surprisingly resigned about Eddie's final designation of tasks. Hell, he only shoots Blonde a DeathGlare as he walks out, but no worse than that. Yes, he has no respect for the cop's status as a "real person" and grants that they will have to kill him sooner or later, but he should care enough to want to keep him alive at least until they beat the identity of the rat out of him. And his empathy for Orange needs no further introduction, of course. He had already expressed great anger with Joe "for putting me in '''the same room as that bastard'''", so why would he put the very vulnerable men's lives at risk in the same fashion? Why didn't he insist that either himself or Pink be left to guard the wounded parties? I can't really picture Blonde going on another rampage as one of the drivers, because it seems he wants to maintain a facade of sanity around the Cabots and even if they saw some cops on the way, discretion should account for his behaviour unless it's a matter of life and death. Also, White should have enough pull as a friend of the Cabots that his insistence wins out, or at least that he can win an argument if Eddie or Blonde take exception to it. Especially as it might trigger a FridgeHorror reaction in Pink like "Hey ummmm... yeah, maybe I ''should'' hang back with them!" after witnessing the store rampage, thereby backing White's side up. Meanwhile, one of the stable and sane thieves would have been able to keep a safe watch on Nash and comfort Orange through his pain. So, why didn't this line of thinking cross the mind of "Mr Fucking Compassion"? Why did he just roll over in the end?
170	** The simple answer is that Eddie speaks for Joe, and Joe is the boss. White doesn't have to like it, but he also doesn't really have a lot of choice either. Furthermore, since they're trying to keep under the radar as much as possible while outside the warehouse, and since Blonde has clearly demonstrated that he's perfectly willing to go off the reservation and there's not a lot the others can do about it bar shooting him, keeping him inside the warehouse where he's not going to potentially snap again and cause more trouble that would draw more attention to them is probably the more practical thing to do. White is probably willing to concede that, albeit reluctantly. Especially since, let's face it, both of the people Blonde is with are ultimately as good as dead either way.
171	** There's probably quite a lot of merit to that counter-argument, but the wild card is what does Eddie know of Blonde's stability? It's hard to say. I myself go with the theory that Blonde puts on the facade of relative sanity around the Cabots (going by their only scene with just the three of them together), they buy it and that this is part of why he's able to maintain employment with them. Evidence in support of this is that they let him on such a high-stakes heist in the first place. But furthermore, Eddie didn't really comment about the news of the rampage, but internally he could be thinking "well it's not like Blonde just had a psychotic break, he said someone hit the alarm and then the cops showed so he panicked and anyone could have done that in the circumstances", which would go along with his view of Blonde being sane. So in all likelihood he probably doesn't think there's a risk whether Blonde drives or guards, and would only need to be persuaded one way or the other. Pink and White, if they also endorse the theory that he's stable around the Cabots, could write off the threat of him blowing up outside. Also, you say "keeping him inside where he's not going to potentially snap again and cause more trouble"... except that's exactly what happened, and White called it. In fact, it was probably the discretion which the warehouse provided which emboldened him to go that wild.
172	** Considering that Blonde was the one who shot the place up and caused all the chaos in the first place, and both White and Pink make a point of telling this out to Eddie in no uncertain terms, Eddie perhaps has a much better idea of Blonde's level of mental stability than he did, say, the week before. They have no real reason to lie about what went down and Blonde doesn't exactly offer a full-throated defence of himself. Furthermore, friends or no, this is unlikely to be the first time that Blonde has done something to suggest that he's, shall we say, a wee bit volatile. Eddie might not have thought Blonde was "shoot up a jewellers during a heist" crazy, but he probably knows that the guy is at least a little unpredictable. And even if Eddie doesn't know the depths that Blonde will go to or is deluding himself that Blonde isn't a liability, ''White and Pink'' certainly do. They're not going to object too strongly to the idea of leaving Blonde behind where he can't cause them any problems, because the last time they were out in public with Blonde the result was a bloodbath that almost got them killed.
173	** "In fact, it was probably the discretion which the warehouse provided which emboldened him to go that wild" -- there's a point (and a word) being missed here. The potential problem being raised above is Blonde snapping and doing something that ''calls attention to them in public''. If Blonde causes trouble outside the warehouse, it could bring law-enforcement down on top of them or get them killed. If Blonde fucks around in the warehouse, which is almost empty and so far as they know is miles away from anyone else, no one's going to notice. In short, while it's perhaps not White's favourite idea to keep the psycho with two helpless individuals he can torture, it's better than having him out in public where he might do something that gets them all arrested or shot. Again -- White's not exactly blessed with good alternatives or choices here.
174	** Also, remember that "Mr Fucking Compassion" is only such compared to the other hoodlums and mobsters he's surrounded by. He's still a hardened criminal. Orange, okay, he's probably worried about (though Orange is just as likely to bleed out while they're away either way), but ultimately he doesn't care enough about the cop that he's willing to fight the others on behalf of his safety.
175	** Also, at no point does White ever think Orange is in danger from Blonde. And at no point is Orange in any danger from Blonde. In fact, if Orange wasn't an undercover cop, when Eddie, White and Pink had returned to the warehouse they would have found a still-living Blonde, a conscious (though perhaps disgusted) Orange and a burnt-up cop's body. Blonde makes the most sense to leave from Eddie's perspective, too, since he's the only one of the three of them he knows he can trust. As White and Pink both note, either of them could easily be the rat whereas Blonde is both too kill-crazy to be a cop and a close personal friend of the Cabots.
176	** A plausible theory, but remember that we have no way to know that because Blonde fortunately never got past the "torturing the cop" stage. I wouldn't put it past Blonde that he could figure that since Orange was probably going to die anyway and was heavily blood-splattered to begin with, it was pretty easy to have his preferred way with him and cover up all the traces afterwards. Had Orange not been on the verge of dying - yeah, it's unlikely Blonde would have attacked him, no matter the odds.
177	** It's straight up wrong to state "at no point does White ever think Orange is in danger from Blonde". His exact words when Eddie proposes the plan are:
178	--->We can't leave these guys with him.
179	** As the OP, these are all mostly very good points, but I'm still not persuaded that my initial one shouldn't have won over for the characters. Consider that White has such compassion for Orange that by the climax he's going to kill Joe and Eddie, and take near-fatal (and possibly definitively-fatal regardless of the immediate intervention of the other cops) bullet(s) from them on his behalf. So a MutualKill has to rank as considerably more effort, personal cost and evidence of a devotion to the guy than a comparatively-easy argument to win against Eddie. Couple that with the fact that White and Pink still strongly suspect that they can get the ID of the rat from Nash (it ends up being true that he knows it, but they just haven't had the chance to get "persuasive" enough. Perhaps they could have found Nash's own identification and used it as leverage to threaten his family, at which point he may indeed have sang) and White should consider both men as, in their own ways, assets too valuable to risk leaving behind with Blonde. Pink may feel something approaching vaguely positive to neutral about Orange, but he sure wouldn't want Blonde to have free reign over him, albeit he might not be quite so as outspoken about it as compared to White. But the same rationale goes for Pink vis-a-vis Nash as White. The plan with the cars is, first of all, to have one man drive each car (so there are three). So, sandwich Blonde in the middle car with White or Pink in the front one and Eddie in the rear (and according to the script at least, Eddie says he's gonna follow the front cars anyway). During this part of the plan, I dare Blonde to act up. He's boxed in between two stable men and the one behind him is his friend who trusts him to be on his best behaviour, to not further compromise the operation. No way he's gonna, say, randomly take potshots at pedestrians in this context. The next step, after dumping the redundant cars, is for all three men to get in Eddie's car and pick up the diamonds before returning to the warehouse. The same principle applies here - it is decidedly against Blonde's self-preservation instinct to do anything mischievous under this kind of supervision. Put him in shotgun, Pink or White behind him and Eddie obviously keeps driving. And you know what, if he did try and shoot at a passing ambulance regardless, well then the guy behind him is more than justified in summarily putting a bullet in the back of his skull, and not even Eddie (much less you guys debating for the other side) would be able to contest that action. Rewinding back to when they're in the argument in the warehouse about this, Eddie should be figuring (or at least open to persuasion about this) that the operation is unstable enough just with the rat in the house - leaving a liability out of his personal supervision is unacceptable. And he ''knows'' from no less than three witnesses that Blonde went crazy in the store. If I were Eddie, I'd want to take him along myself, just to keep the closest watch possible. Again, after being persuaded about this and as to Orange and Nash's respective worths to the operation by White and Pink. And Blonde might be the one Eddie can trust in terms of having been the one to do four years of time for the criminal organisation, but in terms of being able to entrust with wounded people to look after? No fucking way. Also, Pink is seen in flashback gunning down several cops, as is White, and Orange could vouch for the latter action. So they're stable, but they sure aren't undercovers.
180	** Evidence seen in flashback is convincing for the ''viewer'', not the other characters -- the other characters weren't there. Pink was alone -- for all anyone else knows, he's lying about shooting three cops as part of his cover. And White's only witness is a dying man he's been making a point of treating with compassion; if, hypothetically, he is the cop, how do any of the others know he hasn't said to Orange "I'm an undercover cop, back me up and I'll make sure you get medical attention, which is more than any of these assholes will give you." Heck, the fact that he hasn't just left Orange to bleed out is suspicious enough given the paranoid criminals he's surrounded by.
181	** Also, even the mere threat of Blonde "acting up" in public is reason enough to leave him behind; if he does, say, start shooting at ambulances for the hell of it, then even if he doesn't kill anyone then the others then have to worry about not only any attention he's subsequently brought to them, but also subduing him so he doesn't call any more attention to them, and in turn possibly bringing ''more'' attention to themselves in public through having to subdue him. The point is that Blonde is demonstrably unpredictable and psychotic; sure, he might be sufficiently intimidated the situation and being under the close eye of, say, White and Eddie to behave himself and not do anything irrational -- but then again, ''he might not be''. After all, they all assumed he was stable enough to not start mowing down multiple innocent people during a heist for no real reason, and that turned out to be a demonstrably disastrous assumption. Simply put, they simply cannot rely on Blonde making the rational decisions, because he's clearly not a rational person. So since Blonde being distracted by a cop and a dying man to play with in a warehouse miles (in theory) from anyone won't bring any more attention to himself, and since Pink and White are demonstrably stable enough to keep a low profile under the circumstances, leaving Blonde in the warehouse is, if not a great option, then the best of a bad bunch.
182	!!Shouldn't he already have an alias before joining
183	* Mr Orange is offered to join the heist group before even getting his fake identity.
184	** No he isn't; we don't see it, but the implication is that he has been undercover for months at this point in his fake identity by the time he informs his handler that he's gotten into the heist. We see him meeting with his handler and expanding on his fake identity in order to strengthen his ability to blend in at several points, but that's not him getting his undercover identity before getting into the heist.
185	!!Shouldn't he be dead
186	* Could Orange really have survived as long as he does despite such major blood loss?
187	** Adrenaline sometimes does miracles. Still, by the end of the film it's unlikely he would have survived in the long term anyway regardless of the plot development, so let that be a sweetening pill for his tragic end.
188	*** He survives in his post-shooting state for 52 minutes 16 seconds (yes, I just added it up) of screen time. Obviously he's losing blood for a longer period of time we don't see - call it an hour minimum. Can someone really survive bleeding out for that long?
189	*** If no arteries are injured - why, yes. What ''is'' admittedly implausible though is him regaining consciousness.
190	** This is largely RuleOfDrama; depending on the severity of his injuries he likely would have either bled to death or slipped into a coma well before the end of the movie, but if he did, then there's no dramatic purpose to his being there or the twist reveal, and his role is basically just to be a corpse. So you just gotta politely agree to go along with it for the sake of the narrative.
191	!!Incombustible gasoline
192	* Why doesn't Marvin Nash's corpse catch fire upon being executed by Nice Guy Eddie? Mr Blonde had previously covered Nash with gasoline, and Eddie shot him at the chest.
193	** Don't believe everything you see in movies; in reality, firing bullets at something covered in gasoline doesn't automatically set it alight, especially when fired from a handgun.
194	*** It's the gasoline vapour that's flammable, and by the time Eddie turns up, much of that will have evaporated. Additionally, the bullets won't be hot enough to ignite what's still there. If Eddie was close enough to touch Marvin with the muzzle, the burning gases released as the gun fires might be enough to start a fire.
195	!!Nice breaking it, Boss.
196	* So this PD willingly suffers a cop shot in the belly and another held captive (and mutilated) before being killed... and they expect people to work for them? Orange already could give direct testimony of being hired by the boss.
197	** He could give testimony of being hired for a job, which is probably a misdemeanor if it's a crime at all. The police want Joe Cabot for a serious offence like armed robbery. And in total fairness, the cops almost certainly weren't expecting their undercover officer to get shot in the gut by a random carjack victim, nor for another officer to get kidnapped and mutilated by a psycho. It's not like Orange getting a gut wound and Marvin getting his ear sliced off were part of the plan all along, those were part of the plan getting utterly fucked up by events and going disastrously off the rails as a result.

Context Headscratchers / ReservoirDogs