| “ | You shoot me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize.
|
„ |
| ― Mr. White to Mr. Blonde |
Lawrence "Larry" Dimmick, better known as Mr. White, is the protagonist of the 1992 crime film Reservoir Dogs. He is a thief who worked on a number of professional robberies with many other associates, with the robberies orchestrated by Los Angeles-based crime boss Joe Cabot and his son "Nice Guy" Eddie Cabot.
He was portrayed by Harvey Keitel, who also played Winston Wolfe in Pulp Fiction and OSS Commander in Inglourious Basterds.
Biography[]
Mr. White originated from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he has a criminal record for armed robbery. He's been a career criminal for a long time, working for crime boss Joe Cabot and his son "Nice Guy" Eddie Cabot in Los Angeles, California. Mr. White worked with Alabama Whitman, wife of Clarence Worley, although he broke off they're relationship due to becoming fed up of the woman-man thing, mentioning that she hooked up with another robber, Frank Migar, a sports bettor on NFL and a big fan of the Milwaukee Brewers. On one of his jobs, Mr. White discovered that one of the team was an undercover cop and had to abandon the job. He would later returned to work for Joe Cabot, who spoke about a diamond heist with five other men. Mr. White, intrigued, took part in the heist.
Becoming Mr. White[]
After meeting the other robbers, Mr. White was treated to a stern lecture from Joe about taking the job seriously. Joe instructs the men that they're not allowed to talk to each other about their personal lives and their first names. He then allocates each member a color-coded name, and Larry was given Mr. White. He was paired with the much younger Mr. Orange (who was, unbeknownst to them, an undercover cop), and took him under his wing.
Before the heist[]
On the morning of the heist, Mr. White along with Joe, Eddie, and his five colleagues are having breakfast in Uncle Bob's Pancake house, a diner in Los Angeles. Mr. White is sitting next to Joe, and became fed up with Joe rambling about trying to remember a name in his address book. He eventually confiscates the book, which annoyed Joe. Mr. Blonde threatens to shoot Mr. White, to which him replies "If you shoot me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize". After breakfast, Mr. White gets into an argument with Mr. Pink, who refuses to tip. Mr. White tries to persuade him that waitresses struggle with money, but Mr. Pink refuses until Joe made him tip, saying he paid for their breakfasts. Mr. White hands Joe his book back, and they go do the heist.
The Heist[]
During the heist, Mr. Blonde started to shoot the hostages after the alarm had been set off. Due to the immediate presence of the police, Mr. White felt there was a setup, but he had too much on his mind to think about. Mr. White and Mr. Orange tried to escape in a car driven by Mr. Brown, but unfortunately Mr. Brown was shot in the head by a cop during the escape and crashed the car. Mr. White fired on two police officers, killing them in revenge for Mr. Brown's death, before hijacking another vehicle with Mr. Orange. However, this caused the driver to shoot Mr. Orange in the stomach, which leads to Mr. Orange shooting her dead in retaliation.
After the Heist[]
Mr. White drives Mr. Orange to a warehouse which acts as the hideout. Mr. Pink arrives and the two get into a fight when it becomes clear someone set them up. Mr. Blonde later arrives and it gets heated between the two men as Mr. White views Mr. Blonde as a stone cold psycho. When Mr. Blonde reveals he has kidnapped a cop, Mr. White shows amusement and along with Mr. Blonde and Mr. Pink beat the man up for information. Eddie arrives and stops them from beating Nash. He orders Mr. White and Mr. Pink to come with him to collect the diamonds that Mr. Pink had hidden, and asks Mr. Blonde to supervise Mr. Orange and Nash.
Mexican Standoff[]
Arriving back at the warehouse later, they find Mr. Blonde dead. Mr. Orange told them about Mr. Blonde torturing the cop and that he was intending to kill the rest of them and make off with the diamonds. Although Mr. White believes him, "Nice Guy" Eddie isn't convinced due to his family's long-time friendship with Mr. Blonde. This caused a conflict, and Joe arrives at the warehouse, revealing that Mr. Orange is a cop. Mr. White doesn't believe them, and a Mexican stand-off ensues. Joe points his gun at Mr. Orange, Mr. White points his gun at Joe, and "Nice Guy" Eddie points his gun at Mr. White. A shootout occurs and Mr. Pink goes for cover. Joe shoots Mr. Orange, Mr. White shoots Joe who, in return, gets shot by Eddie, and Mr. White quickly gets a shot at Eddie. With Joe and Eddie dead and Mr. White and Mr. Orange critically injured, Mr. Pink grabs the diamonds and makes off.
Death[]
Mr. White is devastated at having to kill his two bosses and cradles Mr. Orange, telling him that they're going to jail. Mr. Orange feels his life debt to Mr. White, and confesses he is a police officer. Mr. White, infuriated hearing this, puts his gun to Mr. Orange's head. The police burst in, and demand that Mr. White drops his weapon. After several warnings, an emotional White shoots Orange and is in turn, shot dead by the cops.
Other appearances[]
Mr. White appears as a playable character in the 2006 video game adaptation of the same name. He and the rest of the cast share no likeness to his live-action counterpart, (except Michael Madsen, who played Mr. Blonde), and Harvey Keitel does not reprise the role. His "signature move" (used to make all police in his proximity to surrender) is by cutting off a hostage's finger, a nod to the movie in which Mr. White gives advice to Mr. Orange that to make someone cooperate he should cut off one of their fingers.
Missions depicting Mr. White as a playable character have him escaping the authorities, driving Mr. Orange to the warehouse before he bleeds to death, and disposing of the getaway car.
Personality[]
Mr. White is a fairly moral man, who feels that he has to protect people who have been wounded, such as Mr. Orange. He is willing to sacrifice anything, such as killing two long time friends to protect a new friend and also loses out on the diamond deal. He also believes that waitresses deserve to be tipped. Mr. White, however, despises the police, thinking of them as "real people" and is shown to have mercilessly gunned down two cops for killing Mr. Brown, although he does not like to kill unless necessary, and is disgusted by Mr. Blonde's actions of killing people for fun.
Relationships[]
The Cabots[]
Mr. White has been a long time friend of Joe and his son Eddie. He spends time with them, and is seen enjoying a joke with Eddie. However, Mr. White gets irritated by Joe's senior moments, as witnessed when Joe cannot remember a certain name. Also, Mr. White argues with Eddie over how to deal with Mr Orange, and accuses Eddie of not caring about Mr. Orange. When Joe believes Mr. Orange is the rat, Mr White tries to reason with him, but ends up having to pull his gun on him to stop him shooting Mr. Orange. He is forced to kill Joe, and Eddie, who tries to protect his dad. Mr. White is devastated at having to kill his friends, and is even more upset, when he finds out they were right all along, and he killed them for nothing.
Mr. Orange[]
The relationship between Mr. White and Mr. Orange is the most important relationship in the film, as when they are introduced to each other, they become friends immediately. Mr. White breaks the rules slightly by telling Mr. Orange where he came from. Later on, Mr. White witnesses Mr. Orange being shot in the stomach and has to comfort him. He even breaks the rules further by telling Mr. Orange his first name, as he couldn't bring himself to refuse as the man had just been shot. Mr. White's determination to protect Mr. Orange is strong as he gets into fights with Mr. Pink and Nice Guy Eddie, and kills Joe and Eddie when they accused Mr. Orange of setting them up. When Mr. White learns that Mr. Orange is a cop, he is heartbroken, and kills him.
Mr. Pink[]
Mr. White first met Mr. Pink while being driven by Eddie to the meeting with Joe. On the journey they joked about the difference between white women and black women. At the meeting, Mr. Pink was not happy with his name and Mr. White told him that his name didn't matter. Mr. Pink attempted to trade with Mr. White, but Joe didn't allow this. On the morning of the diamond heist, Mr. White got into an argument with Mr. Pink about his refusal to tip waitresses. After the disastrous heist, Mr. White calmed Mr. Pink down in order to talk to him. They ended up fighting each other over how to deal with the wounded Mr. Orange. During the fight, both men drew their guns on each other, and Mr White referred to Mr. Pink as a "piece of shit". From then on, Mr. Pink kept commented about Mr White's lack of professionalism. After the standoff between Joe, Mr. White, and Eddie, Mr. Pink fled with the diamonds, leaving Mr. White to the mercy of the police.
Fun Quotes[]
- Mr White: "Toby, Toby, Toby, Toby Wong, Toby Wong, Toby Chung, fuckin’ Charlie Chan!..."
- Mr. White (to Mr. Orange): "You're gonna be okay! Say the goddamn words!.."
- Mr. White: "You can't work with a psychopath, you never know what those sick assholes are gonna do next."
- Mr White (to Mr. Pink): "If I have to tell you to back off again you and me are gonna go round and round."
Trivia[]
- Harvey Keitel assisted Quentin Tarantino in making the film happen, co-producing the film and managing to help the Tarantino raise $1.2 million for it to be made.
- Mr. White is the brother of Jimmie Dimmick, Quentin Tarantino's character in Pulp Fiction. This is a funny connection because Harvey Keitel plays The Wolf in Pulp Fiction and seems to treat Jimmie very nice, offering him a new oak furniture set in return for his help.
- Steve Buscemi, despite auditioning for the role of Mr. White, got that of Mr. Pink. An earlier draft of the script had Mr. White refuse to leave a tip in the movie’s first scene and attempt to justify this decision to the others; this part of the scene was ultimately given instead to Mr. Pink.
- In the film, Joe mentions Alabama as Mr. White's partner. He reveals he hasn't worked with her in a year and a half. This is the same Alabama Whitman from True Romance. Originally, in the True Romance script, Clarence would be dead, leaving Alabama to go on to work with Mr. White.
- The suit Harvey Keitel wore was his own. It had been specially made as a gift from French designer Agnès b.