Reservoir Dogs: WTF Happened to the Iconic Ear Slicing Scene?
Throughout his unparalleled 30-year Hollywood career, cinematic provocateur Quentin Tarantino has delivered a trove of indelible movie scenes that continue to defy the test of time. Whether it’s the playful dance duet between Vince Vega and Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction, The Bride’s gore-sodden House of Blue Leaves massacre in Kill Bill (soon to get a massive re-release), Hans Landa’s white-knuckle interrogation at the start of Inglorious Bastereds, or Rick Dalton flamethrowing the skin off that damn Manson family interloper in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Tarantino punctuates each one of his movies with at least one unforgettable scene that becomes so iconic that it becomes seared in the collective consciousness forever.
Going back to where it all started, it’s hard to single out a more memorable scene in Tarantino’s filmography than Mr. Blonde gleefully singing, dancing, and slicing the ear off LAPD officer Marvin Nash (played by Kirk Baltz) with a straight razor in Reservoir Dogs. Portrayed with perfectly pitched sadistic delight by the late great Michael Madsen, it’s long overdue that we reflect on what went into Mr. Blonde’s evil ear-cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs, including how it was conceived, filmed, edited, and why Tarantino deliberately opted for the less graphic take. All that and more as we pull up a chair, cue Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You,” and find out what the f*ck happened to Reservoir Dogs’ epic ear-severing sequence!
It all starts on the page. In a screenplay draft dated October 1990, Vic Vega, aka Mr. Blonde’s insatiable torture of the LAPD officer simply states, “Then he reaches out and CUTS OFF the cop’s ear.” The script does not specify the graphic severity of the severed appendage. Instead, the generic descriptor allowed for the scene to develop and evolve naturally through a process of collaborative improvisation. More on that in a bit…
Released in 1992, Reservoir Dogs is an unconventional heist film loosely adapted from Ringo Lam’s 1987 film City on Fire. The story of an undercover police officer secretly infiltrating an estranged team of jewel thieves, Reservoir Dogs, was made independently as Tarantino’s first feature. Due to the modest $1.2 million budget, Tarantino held rehearsals before principal photography to save time on filming. However, when it came to the ear-slicing scene, Michael Madsen continually told Tarantino he had no idea what to do during the rehearsals. Unbothered, Tarantino urged Madsen not to worry about it and that they would “shoot it on the day.”
While filming the sequence on location in an abandoned mortuary in Los Angeles, Madsen asked Tarantino what music he planned on playing over the scene. When Tarantino said he wanted to use Stealers Wheel’s Stuck in the Middle With You, Madsen urged Tarantino to play the song for him on the set. One of the reasons why the sequence feels so visceral and hyper-realistic is the diegetic use of the song. Rather than syncing the upbeat ‘70s hit to the ear-slicing in post-production, a real boombox is played throughout the scene, allowing Madsen to play off the vibe and energy of the music in real-time. Notice how the music fades out as Mr. Blonde leaves the warehouse to procure the gas tank from the trunk of his car, and immediately picks up once he reenters the space. The sense of aural realism adds to the scene’s unsettling veracity.
Once he was directed to perform a maniacal dance number while taking great relish in teasing and taunting the police officer, Madsen completely ad-libbed Mr. Blonde’s silly, sinister shuffle without a lick of preplanned choreography while cameras rolled. Of course, as Vincent Vega’s brother (John Travolta in Pulp Fiction), it’s only right that Mr. Blonde cut a rug in a black suit and tie, as if it were a rite of passage that runs in the family. As Madsen stated about Mr. Blonde’s devilish dance:
“I don’t know where it came from. I honestly don’t. I can’t dance, which is obvious. And then I just sort of went with it because I felt like it was working, and I didn’t hear him say ‘cut.’”
Speaking of cuts, when it came time to film the infamous ear-dicing scene, Tarantino had the tremendous foresight to film it two different ways. According to Tarantino, it was one of the only scenes in the entire film that he shot with two different camera set-ups.
First, Tarantino filmed a much more graphically violent version in which Mr. Blonde straddles Officer Nash, grabs his head, and forcefully saws off his ear in full view of the camera. When this version was viewed during dailies, most agreed that it was so powerful and brutally shocking that it had to stay in the movie. For the makeup and practical effects, Tarantino hired the masterful Robert Kurtzman of KNB EFX Group to oversee Marvin’s prosthetic ear, which was provided free of charge. In exchange for Kurtzman’s services, Tarantino agreed to pen the script for From Dusk Till Dawn, which Kurtzman co-produced. However, the special effect done with the prosthetic ear was deemed too corny and unrealistic by Tarantino to use in the final edit.
Fortunately, Tarantino also opted to film the scene as we all know and love it. Rather than show Mr. Blonde physically carving Marvin’s ear onscreen, Tarantino brilliantly pans the camera aside and forces the audience to imagine what happens as we hear Marvin gasp for his life while Stuck in the Middle With You cheerfully belts in the background. In Tarantino’s view, the power of suggestion is far more impactful than any that could have been depicted on screen, and, within the context of the movie, the less violent version was far more unsettling and worked much better dramatically. Akin to Psycho’s iconic shower stabbing, what the viewer imagines is far more subjective and terrifying than what is shown onscreen.
As for the graphic carnage shown, Madsen continued to improvise Mr. Blonde’s baleful behavior once he reenters the frame with the gorily severed ear in tow. As he stood there staring down at the gory appendage, Madsen began wondering what to do next. He heard Tarantino in the background, barking, “Throw it. Throw it. Throw it.” Unwilling to toss the ear aside at first, Madsen completely improvised Mr. Blonde speaking and cracking jokes into Marvin’s excised ear, reinforcing the morbidly dark humor of the character and scene itself.
Proud of his performance and deeply grateful to Tarantino for allowing him to improvise the scene with such violent extremity, Madsen also had some consternation while filming the scene. When Kirk Baltz ad-libbed Marvin’s line, “I’ve got a little kid at home,” Madsen became so unexpectedly upset and moved by the dialogue that he had to pause filming and gather himself. Madsen had recently become a father to his son, Christian, in real life, and the unanticipated improv by Baltz in the moment shook him to his core. By all accounts, Madsen had trouble finishing the scene afterward, understandably so. Madsen’s unnerved reaction made the final film, which only layers his performance.
Of course, Madsen wasn’t the only one rocked to the bone by the infamous ear excision. Believe it or not, horror movie legends, director Wes Craven and make-up artist Rick Baker, were so disturbed by the ear scene that they walked out of the film’s screening at the Sitges Film Festival, joining 13 others who couldn’t stomach the sinister sight (or lack thereof) set to the sweet-sounding music. Baker would later implore Tarantino to take his exit from the screening as a badge of honor, complimenting the scene’s unflinching realism. In response, Tarantino said that either the brutal violence or the explicit language was always intended to be disturbing for audiences, and that people walked out in every single screening that he attended.
As a result of the backlash, Miramax monster Harvey Weinstein wanted to remove the scene from the final cut, believing that it would profoundly scar audiences. Tarantino had to stand his ground and fight to keep the scene in the movie, quite a gallant feat for a first-time filmmaker.
Of course, we’d be remiss not to discuss how brilliantly effective and emotionally unsettling the use of Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle With You” is in the ear-slicing scene. Tarantino was so adamant about using “Stuck in the Middle with You” for the scene that he allocated the entire $30,000 budget set aside for the movie’s music to purchase the rights to the song. According to Tarantino, the price was actually quite a bargain. Had the song been purchased for use in a less violent, mainstream movie, EMI would charge at least double. Weirdly, EMI knew that, by giving the song to Tarantino at a discount, others in the future would avoid using the song that was so heavily associated with torture. Tarantino credits the late EMI executive Pat Lucas for taking a chance on him as an unproven filmmaker by giving him a discount on the song. As for additional ‘70s pop songs and deep cuts heard in the film, they were part of a pre-arranged soundtrack deal made by the producers.
Before securing rights to the hit ditty, Tarantino admitted that he and his music supervisors attempted to replace “Stuck in the Middle With You” with at least four different songs, including “Ballroom Blitz” by The Sweet. None of them remotely had the same contrapuntal impact of sight and sound that the finished product continues to boast. Indeed, the jarring juxtaposition between the horrendous acts of violence and the dulcet tones of the upbeat ‘70s hit creates such a mixed reaction at one’s cellular level that it causes a winless tug-of-war between our deepest sympathies and our instinctive repulsion. As Tarantino wonders himself:
“Imagine that movie without that song, in that scene. It’s not the same movie. It might be the most indelible connection between a scene and a song in my entire filmography. That’s the sequence that really made a mark.”
Indeed, there’s something deliciously ironic about having someone lose their ear forever while listening to such an unforgettable song. A song that, in many ways, describes the action that unfolds. With lyrics like “I got a feeling that something ain’t right” and “I’m so scared in case I fall off my chair” and the haunting refrain itself, “Here I am, stuck in the middle with you,” you’d think Marvin would want to have his ear sliced off to stop from hearing such a song. But it doesn’t stop. The tormenting lyrics continue to taunt Marvin as he listens with his other ear, Mr. Blonde teasing him with a maniacal grin while the music continues to spin.
Despite coming at the beginning of Tarantino’s career, Reservoir Dogs’ intense torture scene and unnerving ear excision will undoubtedly hold up as one of the most memorable and macabre in his filmography once he’s done making movies. By adhering to a more-is-less approach and showing mature restraint as a first-time filmmaker, and by allowing the scene to develop naturally through improvisation and collaboration, Tarantino snatched our ears and held our attention ever since Reservoir Dogs was made 33 years ago.
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