I've been getting into 80s hong kong cinema lately, and so I decided to finally watch "City on Fire" after hearing for years that "Reservoir Dogs" is supposedly a blatent rip off of it. Having finished watching it I gotta say I'm very confused, the two movies are extremely different, they really don't feel similar at all besides the basic concept of "conflicted under cover cop". Like yes there is some similarity to the "x gang member, I'm a cop ;_;" endings, but otherwise they flow completely differently. Like I'm sure there are "conflicted under cover cop" movies well before this (1987), so I guess I'm just curious why people so confidently state that "Reservoir Dogs" is some blatent no effort line for line rip off, affer having seen the movie it seems like a massive reach.

Edit: To give more detail, reservoir dogs is this tight intense one day one location set piece built on flashbacks about his training/preparation for the mission. Meanwhile city of fire takes place over what seemed like weeks of learning about this cop and following his life story, dealing with lots of police drama and his relationships, with the gang setting/drama really taking a backseat to all of that. I agree that there could be some inspiration going on with the very endings, but otherwise they really don't play out similarly what so ever.

Comments

Sks44 t1_je3m7f0 wrote on March 29, 2023 at 4:06 AM

#2,438,773

Most people who say Dogs ripped off City on Fire never watched City on Fire.

cbbuntz t1_je3mgvb wrote on March 29, 2023 at 4:08 AM

#2,438,810

Tarantino said Reservoir Dogs was inspired by The Killing (1956)

Mr_Monty_Burns t1_je3n1hf wrote on March 29, 2023 at 4:14 AM

#2,438,906

QT talks about it here:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LXoWJuZ32qo

OneADayMens OP t1_je3nc8p wrote on March 29, 2023 at 4:17 AM

#2,438,958

Replying to Mr_Monty_Burns (#2,438,906)

I mean it seems like he's agreeing with my post, that there's some similarity to the very endings but otherwise they're totally different movies that play out very differently.

shaka_sulu t1_je3njbj wrote on March 29, 2023 at 4:19 AM

#2,438,978

My favorite short film on the subject - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HgbSAL8OKY

[deleted] t1_je3qi5m wrote on March 29, 2023 at 4:49 AM

#2,439,403

Most people who say Tarantino is "ripping off" any film have most likely not seen the films they are accusing him of ripping off.

Does he get inspiration and pay homage to other films? Definitely.

Does that mean he is only ripping them off without creating wholly unique works of his own? Nope.

friction7800 t1_je3su6b wrote on March 29, 2023 at 5:15 AM

#2,439,754

Replying to [deleted] (#2,439,403)

Well to be honest,he does sometimes copy whole scenes completely. For example lady snowblood and kill Bill.

[deleted] t1_je3t6a4 wrote on March 29, 2023 at 5:19 AM

#2,439,809

Replying to friction7800 (#2,439,754)

Sure. But Kill Bill as a whole is nothing like Lady Snowblood. That's why it's a homage, not a rip off.

friction7800 t1_je3ther wrote on March 29, 2023 at 5:22 AM

#2,439,866

Replying to [deleted] (#2,439,809)

I mean it is a revenge story,but that's very wide I guess. He mostly copies visual stuff, that's true.

[deleted] t1_je3tjdm wrote on March 29, 2023 at 5:23 AM

#2,439,879

Replying to friction7800 (#2,439,866)

Yeah he does a lot of visual homages

bludhound t1_je4ink5 wrote on March 29, 2023 at 11:05 AM

#2,443,750

City on Fire and Reservoir Dogs are very different movies but RD does take inspiration from some the elements from City on Fire. I wouldn't call it out and out plagiarism.

TheMelv t1_je4rah3 wrote on March 29, 2023 at 12:30 PM

#2,445,393

It's not a 1:1 remake but I definitely remember them having similarities. It's like Star Wars and Hidden Fortress, the inspiration is obvious but it's not a remake.

djprojexion t1_je4yw9c wrote on March 29, 2023 at 1:31 PM

#2,446,977

Rip off accusation is a slippery slope, nearly every filmmaker drew inspiration from films they grew up watching and incorporated that into their movies and style.

And it's this sort of accusation nonsense that's probably responsible for there not being the next generation of Oliver Stones, John Woos, or even the next Tarantino.

Ramoncin t1_je52907 wrote on March 29, 2023 at 1:56 PM

#2,447,704

Tarantino openly admitted "City on fire" was an inspiration for "Reservoir Dogs", but they are very different films. Tarantino could have mentioned pretty much any other heist-gone-wrong movie out there. When I first saw "Reservoir Dogs" in the 1990s I thought of it as his take on Kubrick's "The Killing".

WorldEaterYoshi t1_je5gpsa wrote on March 29, 2023 at 3:33 PM

#2,450,630

Every good movie is inspired by something else. Whether it be a book, play, or another movie. And almost all of it can be traced back to Shakespeare. A movie isn't defined by the overall plot, it's defined by the execution of cinematography, dialogue, and actors' performances.
TLDR: people are idiots. Artists are always inspired by something. Uninspired artists are how we get absolute shit movies.

Zassolluto711 t1_je70jtr wrote on March 29, 2023 at 9:30 PM

#2,462,051

The most similar part is the robbery itself. The robbery which Reservoir Dogs never even showed. That is it. There was a YT video that was floating around, highlighting this. Obviously the robbery is such a small part of City on Fire, but most people in the West have not seen the film so they assume most of the film is about that when it’s not.

DynamicPJQ t1_je7xb28 wrote on March 30, 2023 at 1:32 AM

#2,469,151

Tarantino is very open about this. He took the last 10 mins of the movie and made it an entire story on its own.

rubberman4life t1_jeb0kee wrote on March 30, 2023 at 6:31 PM

#2,494,889

Avatar is a blatant no effort rip off of Pocahontas by that logic