Mr. Pink is the tritagonist of Reservoir Dogs. He is played by Steve Buscemi.
Background[]
Not much is revealed in his back story. In the opening scene he tells the other robbers that he was ten years old in 1973 when the DeFranco Family released "Heartbeat is a Love Beat" meaning he was born in 1963, meaning he is 29 years old in 1992 in the movie. He is known for his cynical opinion of tipping waitresses and being a contradictory professional such as being given his name "Mr. Pink", he objects and says how it sounds like "Mr. Pussy", and requests to have his name changed to something less weak like "Mr. Purple", or to trade names with Mr. White. He has known Joe Cabot as a youth and believed that Joe had something to do with the set-up. He recalls one time when he wanted to refuse to do a job but didn't because of the money. He quit smoking, but relapsed during the film.
Role in the film[]
After the heist is sabotaged, he is confident that there was a setup by the cops, although he does not know who tipped them off. He claims that he "blasted his way out of there", and that he escaped with, and stashed, the diamonds. He goes to the hideout after the heist where he and Mr. White talk about who set them up. He then leaves with Mr. White and Nice Guy Eddie, leaving Mr. Blonde alone with Mr. Orange and the cop taken hostage. Upon his return with Eddie and Mr. White, he sees that Mr. Blonde was shot and killed by Mr. Orange. He eventually avoids a possible confrontation by hiding under a ramp, then once everyone has been shot, he leaves. After exiting the warehouse, he is accosted by the police and can be heard yelling "Don't shoot, I've been shot". As no gunshots are heard until Mr. White executes Mr. Orange, it can be safely assumed that he is taken into custody. The Reservoir Dogs video game presents three alternative endings of his fate depending on the player's behavior in the game, with one of the endings being Mr. Pink escaping the warehouse in a car, the other being him getting shot to death by policemen and the last one with him being arrested.
Notes[]
- Tarantino originally wrote the role of Mr. Pink for himself.
- Since Tarantino originally wrote the part for himself, in one draft of the script, Mr. Pink gave the "Like a Virgin" speech. When the role was given to Steve Buscemi, this was changed to it being told by Mr. Brown whom Tarantino went on to play.
- According to Eiichiro Oda the author of the Anime/Manga series One Piece, the character Sanji was modeled after Mr. Pink.
- He is the only main character to not be confirmed dead by the end of the film.
- Mr. Pink's fate was unknown.