| “ | I don't wanna kill anybody. But if I gotta get out that door, and you're standing in my way, one way or the other, you're gettin' outta my way.
|
„ |
| ― Mr. Pink |
Mr. Pink is the tritagonist in Quentin Tarantino's debut film, Reservoir Dogs. Unlike most of his accomplices, he is more level-headed and doesn't choose violence as a primary option. Like the majority of the other robbers, his real name is never revealed.
He was portrayed by Steve Buscemi, who also played Buddy Holly in Pulp Fiction.
Biography[]
Before the heist[]
Mr. Pink was hired by Joe Cabot and his son, Eddie. He upon meets the other members that Joe hired. When given his codename, he is disliking of the color he is assigned: pink. He is teased and insulted by Joe about the codename and asks if he could be Mr. Purple instead. In the same day of the robbery, the eight men are eating breakfast. Soon as they are about to leave, Mr. Pink reveals that he doesn't tip until Joe forces him to leave some money for the waitresses and the eight men leave for the robbery.
Escape[]
When a civilian triggers an alarm for the police, Mr. Blonde murders several of them. As the police arrives, Pink makes his escape but is pursued by three police officers. He runs into some citizens, with them taunting him. As he crosses the street, a woman crashes into him. Pink angrily orders the woman to get out the car. He drags her out before opening fire at the police officers, hitting one of them. He then drives off as they fire at him.
Arrival at the warehouse[]
Mr. Pink arrives at the warehouse where he finds Mr. White taking care of a wounded Mr. Orange. He angrily comments about Mr. Blonde murdering a lot of civilians during the robbery. White and Pink go to the bathroom to learn their history upon the jewelry store robbery. Pink tells White about his escape. They leave the bathroom and fought over about the wounded Orange. White punches him and Pink falls on the floor as the two both point their guns at each other, with White and Pink explaining about their positions but soon ends when they see Mr. Blonde watching the fight. White begins berating Blonde about his massacre towards civilians but Blonde calmly dismisses the comment. He then shows Pink and White that he has captured a police officer named Marvin Nash. White and Pink then savagely beat Nash into a bloody pulp as Blonde watches and duct tapes him in order to find out who is the rat. Nice Guy Eddie arrives with anger and rage about his father being angered of the robbery going wrong. Pink, White, and Eddie leave to find the diamonds, with Blonde left behind with his enjoyment of torturing Nash and taking care of Orange.
Return[]
The trio returns to the warehouse to find Mr. Blonde dead after Orange wakes up from unconsciousness and shoots Blonde many times in the chest. Orange attempts to convince everyone that Blonde was trying to murder the trio as they came back but Eddie denies this and impulsively shoots Nash in the chest, killing him. As Joe arrives, White defends Orange when Joe learns that Orange is the rat. Then, a Mexican standoff occurs, with Pink trying to stop this but the standoff continues. When Eddie shoots White, Joe shoots Orange and White shoots them both. Pink reveals that he was hidden under the ramp in order to avoid the shooting. He sees a severely wounded White, and Eddie and Joe dead. He then takes the diamonds and abandons White and Orange. He is then arrested outside of the warehouse; when the camera is set on White and Orange, the police can be heard outside yelling "Drop the bag, get out of the car!" and Pink yelling "Don't shoot, don't shoot!".
In the video game, there are three available possibilities of Pink's ending:
- In the Psychopath ending, he gets out of the warehouse calmly, shoves his diamond case onto the passenger seat of the car. As the police unit comes, he takes out his weapon and starts shooting at the unit. One officer is hit and falls down dead, as the other shoots him in the shoulder, his weapon flies away. Mr. Pink falls down, angrily attempting to get his gun back. The police officer gets closer, as Pink is wrapping his fingers throughout the handle of the pistol. He gets gunned down before grasping it completely.
- In the Career Criminal ending, he casually gets out of the warehouse, shoving his diamond case onto the passenger seat of the car. He quickly places his key into the hole, starting the engine. The two officers of the police unit quickly shoot Pink's car, but none of them connects to Pink. A few more bullets penetrate the glass, causing it to smash. Mr. Pink quickly jumps out of the car, as the police unit arrests him.
- In the Professional ending, Pink quickly gets out of the warehouse. On the way to the car he sees the police unit coming, causing him to drop the bag and the diamonds to spill on the pavement. The police officers get out of the cruiser, running their way into the warehouse. In the meantime, Pink crawls under his car, waiting for the officers to pass. As soon as they pass into the warehouse to find Mr. White holding Mr. Orange as a hostage, he simply gets up, runs to the unit's cruiser and gets in. He closes the door and starts the engine. He accelerates, getting away from the scene.
Trivia[]
- Mr. Pink is probably the only known character to survive the events of the movie. Listening closely to background dialogue in the final scene, it appears Mr Pink was shot and apprehended by police if he was not killed by them.
- Mr. Pink is the only one out of all four main characters (the others being Mr. Blonde, Mr. White and Mr. Orange) not to have his true name revealed.
- Many people have found it ironic that Mr. Pink was the only person to survive as Steve Buscemi is known to die in movies a lot.
- Quentin 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 given by Mr. Brown, whom Tarantino went on to play. In the draft where Mr. Pink gives the speech about “Like a Virgin”, it is Mr. White, not Mr. Pink, who refuses to leave a tip and attempts to justify the decision to the others.
- The late Dennis Hopper was offered for the role of Mr. Pink by Quentin Tarantino and Harvey Keitel, but he was unavailable.
- In addition to Hopper, Tom Sizemore was also considered for the role of Mr. Pink.
- According to Eiichiro Oda, the author of the Anime/Manga series One Piece, the character Sanji was modeled after Mr. Pink.