3. Mr. Blonde a.k.a Vic Vega- Reservoir Dogs
Who wouldve thought that the charming guy in the picture above is actually a homicidal maniac? At the beginning of Reservoir Dogs, Mr. Blonde comes across as just another guy in a black suit with a colour for a name, but through the course of the film and the moment Vic Vega turns up to the warehouse hideout with a badly beaten cop in the trunk of his car, its clear theres something not all that stable about this guy, and that his mock gunshot that the picture above depicts, reveals a much darker and unsettling character. This becomes entirely clear when Mr. Blonde reveals his true lunatic tendencies by tying the poor cop up and then proceeding to torture the guy to the song Stuck In The Middle With You, which since being including in such a memorable scene, has become quite the iconic song. When Reservoir dogs was first released it was deemed an incredibly controversial film, mainly due to the extreme violence that Mr. Blonde inflicts on his hostage, which goes from cutting off his ear to dosing him in gasoline, and is only stopped there due to the courageous Mr. Orange stepping in to save the day. Its rather funny that the very act of violence that Reservoir Dogs was criticised so much for and hated so vehemently by up-tight viewers, the cutting of the ear, actually occurs off-camera and has never been seen by human eyes. It is the skill of Tarantino to make an already horrific act that much worse by letting our imagination take over, rather than the camera doing all the work. This scene alone wouldve made Blondie an incredibly memorable character by itself, but Michael Madsens cool, charming and incredibly dangerous and unstable take on Mr. Blonde gives more depth and integrity to a character who otherwise couldve been played as a simple criminal who doesnt like cops or respect the law. With Madsen wearing the cowboy boots, we get insight into an extremely damaged and messed-up guy who does a good job at hiding his incredibly dark and disturbing tendencies of cutting off ears and finding it extremely funny.