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Ten years ago, a young filmmaker, just setting out to create his first feature, managed to get his script into the hands of Harvey Keitel. With the actor's support and backing, the film went from a black and white flick starring the director's friends to a full-color, star-studded ensemble piece. The non-linear story and over-the-top violence piqued the interest of the movie-going public, launching the career of Quentin Tarantino.
"You shoot me in a dream, you'd better wake up and apologize."
They were four perfect strangers assembled to pull off the perfect crime. Their simple robbery explodes into a violent ambush. Realizing in the aftermath that one of them is a rat, no one can be trusted.
Despite the film's large following, the only Reservoir Dogs merchandise available until recently were the popular posters. But now, Mezco Toys (the company that gave us the Silent Screamers line of classic silent film monsters) has issued a set of four action figures based on the film. The series is comprises Mr. Blonde, Mr. Pink, Mr. Orange, and Mr. White, and each figure comes with a section of a street-styled base. Lock the four bases together, and you can recreate the film's opening walk.
Harvey Keitel took the role of Mr. White, the gangster most given to
casual violence. Also the most chummy of the Dogs, White was the first to break the rules and reveal his real name (Lawrence Dimmick). In a deleted scene, we catch glimpses of White's criminal record and hear a recount of his propensity for violence. He asks the fewest questions, does what we feels needs to be done, and even acts as a paternal figure to Mr. Orange. A career criminal, Mr. White knows the score and will stand by his partners, no matter what.
While the figures are just four guys in black suits, the detail given to the Dogs is quite impressive - every part of every figure is unique. And we're not just talking about their varied poses, either: though it would have meant cheaper production costs, nothing was reused; they each even have their own style of shoes. Mr. White has his weight resting on his right leg, with the left trailing slightly behind. His jacket is held closed by one button, and he's wearing a pinky ring on his left hand.
The figure stands about 6½" tall, so just about in the same scale as McFarlane Toys' Movie Maniacs,
but if you've seen those new oversized "Marvel Legends" that ToyBiz has coming out, it's close to that, too. Mezco has also chosen to set their movie toys apart by giving them useful articulation. Mr. White moves at the neck, shoulders, lower biceps, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, thighs, knees and shins. The sculpt is more exaggerated than McToys' offerings, slightly cartoony, but but there's still no mistaking who this is meant to be. So now you can re-enact your favorite scenes from The Piano. Or The Bad Lieutenant. With pants.
As mentioned above, Mr. White comes with his section
of parking lot base (identified on the bottom as "W1"), as well as a small disc base to help out with those hard-to-balance poses. He has removable sunglasses, as well; styled after the ones he wore in the film, the glasses actually plug into holes in his hair, and stay securely. He has a pair of alternate hands, shaped to hold the two included pistols, allowing you to re-create the attack on the police car. Finally, as a fun little bonus, he even comes with the Zippo lighter you saw throughout the film.
These figures retail for about $15, but I was fortunate enough to get mine for only $10. I do recommend this figure to fans of the movie, but beware: once you've got one of the Dogs, you'll want to get the rest of the pack. Mr. White (or rather, Harvey Keitel) is half the reason this movie turned out as well as it did, and this action figure does the character justice.
Mr. Blonde | Mr. Brown | Mr. White | Mr. Orange | Mr. Pink
-- 09/09/02
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