Stuck in the Middle

Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty were a duo known as Stealers Wheel when

they recorded a Dylanesque pop hit, "Stuck in the Middle With You", in

April of 1974. The single reached number five on the charts - little

did they know that eighteen years later it would become a cult favorite.

In 1992 Quentin Tarantino, a little known writer/director, took the

Cannes film festival and the world by surprise with his motion picture

Reservoir Dogs. The movie is about the difficulties that occur when

five "master" criminals are hired by a crime king pin named Joe to pull

off the biggest diamond heist of the century.

Stuck right in the middle of the movie, the Egan/Rafferty hit is

played as a introduction to one of the best or worst torture seens ever

in the history of movies. It depends on how you look at it.

I'll set-up the scene in the movie where it is being played, try and

follow me... The five criminals hired go by color-coded names . During

the heist the cops show and things got out of control. Two of the

robbers were shot and killed after Mr. Blonde, the "on the edge"

gangster started shooting up the place when an employee triggered the

alarm. Mr. White and Mr. Orange (an undercover cop) escaped the scene

and headed for the hideout where all the men were supposed to meet. On

the way to the hideout Mr. Orange was shot, he was bleeding severely but

the injury was not life threatening. Shortly after their arrival, Mr.

Pink met with them and they all anxiousley waited for Mr. Blonde.

Mr. Blonde, acting cool and unaffected by the mornings events, made his

entrance. After being questioned by Mr. White about why he went psycho

in the store, Mr. Blonde called them out to see a "surprise" he had in

his trunk. Mr. Blonde in an effort to find out how the police heard

about the robbery in advance had kidnapped a police officer. They

carried the man into the warehouse and after tying him to a chair Mr.

White and Mr. Pink commenced beating the hell out of him. They Asked

him to tell how the police knew of the heist, he said he knew nothing

and after beating on him some more, Nice Guy Eddie came in. He was

Joe's son and told Mr. White and Mr. Pink that they would have to come

with him to ditch the cars. Mr. Blonde was told to stay and keep an eye

on the cop and the injured Mr. Orange.

My idea is that the following scene was written by Director Tarantino

choreographed to the song by Stealers Wheel. Rather than the norm where

a scene is written and the music is picked thereafter. As I describe

the scene I will give the lyrics to the song and show how they

correspond to the characters actions in the scene.

Mr. Blonde starts talking to the cop, who still insists he knows

nothing. The lyrics to the song begin; keep in mind that I am

suggesting that the words are what the cop is thinking.

Well I don't know why I came here tonight.

I got the feeling that something ain't right.