In Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino's career-launching classic, Mr. Blonde's infamous ear-slicing scene was originally intended to be way more graphic. Reservoir Dogs was Tarantino's breakthrough feature and sees a gang of thieves reassemble in an isolated warehouse following a disastrous heist. Some of the gang are dead or missing, and it soon becomes clear an undercover cop in their midst. The movie was a cult sensation thanks to its fantastic screenplay, soundtrack and the performances by an ensemble cast that included Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi and Michael Madsen.
Reservoir Dogs also established Tarantino's trademark ear for dialogue - though it was another scene involving ears that caused controversy. This sequence involved Mr. Blonde (Madsen) merrily dancing to "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Stealers Wheel while he tortures a tied-up cop named Marvin (Kirk Balz) with a razor blade - for no other reason than to pass the time. The most disturbing moment is when he hacks off one of Marvin's ears, and while this moment isn't actually shown onscreen, it's still chilling.
While the camera pans away during this shot, it was so effective that many viewers still felt like they saw the ear being hacked off. It turns out this was the original plan, and Tarantino filmed two other takes of the ear-slicing scene for Reservoir Dogs; one in which Mr. Blonde is shown slicing off the ear but the actual severing is concealed and a graphic close-up of the ear. In comparison with the scene that made the final cut, these two takes are clearly inferior, mostly because of the poor makeup artistry involved. The prosthetic ear looks extremely unrealistic and would have come across as such even after the magic of post-production.
The quality of these effects was certainly due to the movie's financial constraints, and perhaps with more time and money, the graphic ear-slicing would have made the final film. Luckily for Tarantino devotees and the director himself, he opted to omit it and produced one of the most memorable scenes of his career. In Reservoir Dogs' final cut it's only when Mr. Blonde struts back into the frame holding the amputated ear that the audience realizes exactly what he has done. This realization and the juxtaposition of the amputation to the upbeat "Stuck in the Middle with You" is still shockingly effective. It also turned out to be an enduring hallmark of Tarantino's classic thriller and it's amazing to think this scene was almost replaced with an inferior, more graphic version featuring iffy special effects.
Despite not showing the gory auricular amputation, the scene that made the cut was still shocking enough to cause audiences to walk out of screenings at festivals around the world. At one festival even Wes Craven—director of many gory horror greats like Last House on the Left and A Nightmare on Elm Street—walked out on the movie. Tarantino was reportedly thrilled his debut feature was too horrifying for the famed horror movie icon.
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