Reservoir Dogs / Weller Full Proof

0:00 In 1992 director Quentin Tarantino gave the world. His debut effort a bloody bank heist that has derailed by betrayal in 2021. We return once again to Buffalo Trace for a foolproof product, the film is Reservoir Dogs, the whiskey is Weller foolproof and we'll review them both. This is the film and whiskey podcast.

0:44 Welcome to the film and whiskey podcast, where each week, we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G and this week we are looking at the 1992 Quentin Tarantino classic Reservoir Dogs. Bro, you just gave that like a little bit of like gravel that was yeah. It was like a nice movie trailer guy, Reservoir Dogs. I remember watching the actual movie trailer for this. And at the very end of it was like the old, the old style trailers where they would like the ones that would put on the VHS as previews before your movie that you wanted to watch us. And the guy was saying everyone's names. Harvey, Keitel, Tim Roth, they are the Reservoir Dogs.

1:25 I remember exactly how he said. I think it's a great. In my mind now. Yeah. Oh man. Dude, we should just like professionally make 90s VHS style, previews for modern movies Brie Larson, she's the Captain Marvel, the Captain Marvel, the Captain Marvel. Hey man, how you doing today? I'm good, dude. Just got off work, a little bit ago here, sipping on some whiskey. Talking about his friend, talking about Tarantino, Talking about cutting people's ears off, you know, sometimes you just have a bad day, Brad, what can you say?

2:06 I don't know if that guy was having a bad day, I'm pretty sure he's having the best day of his life. Was enjoying the hell out of that? He sure was. So Brad, this is at least our fourth, Tarantino movie. We've done Inglorious Bastards. We've done Pulp Fiction. We've done Django, we've done this. I think, I think that's right. I forget was Django, chained up. No, he was. He was This was the whole the latter part where Django gets Unchained. Oh, okay. Gotcha. Yeah, it wasn't quite sure I've had the circled on my calendar for a long time now, because I think it's one of the few remaining Tarantino films that you had not seen before watching it for this podcast.

2:46 And I, oh, I knew I could only go so long holding off on it before, you know, eventually you would just cave and watch it. So I'm really glad we got to it while you were still able to you know, contain yourself and wait. To do it for the pile cast. I like that. You make me sound like a 15 year, old virgin, trying to keep himself from Tarantino has just, it's just barely able to keep myself from Tarantino long enough to experience it with you. Bob Reservoir, Dogs is just basically your prom night. Yeah man and it wasn't even like a satisfying prom night. Oh oh shots fired at Reservoir Dogs.

3:29 Brad, lets you know what? Let's just Dive Right In. Then I want to hear your initial thoughts on the movie. Even before we get into Brad, explains you wash it for the first time you've seen enough, Tarantino movies. Now that you can see the blueprint for what a Tarantino movie is going to me? I had an idea. Yeah. Where we were going, how was this different than what you may have been expecting and what was it that let you down? Um, I mean first off it's a lot shorter than almost any other Tarantino film. Much shorter. Yeah, and I honestly like that, like we've watched the we're at the end of season 4. Which means we're at what 100 and over 120 movies.

4:11 Now. Yeah, over 120 movies. Plus some, you know, we've done some moves for bonus episodes. I've watched one or two movies outside the podcast. So like in the past two and a half, almost three years now, I've watched over 150 movies, I'm getting to the point where I value. A succinct movie. Oh yeah, right. Like like I always appreciate, you know, an epic, a Lord of the Rings type of three-and-a-half-hour, just over, you know, overarching, massive story, I love it. It's great, it's fun. But there is something about a movie that tells a story in an hour and a half in a unique fun, interesting way that I can get down with. So, honestly, Bob, I think that what's going to happen is Is something that's a little bit different for this podcast. I feel like a lot of times you and I will speak really poorly of a movie but then still like give it a decent score because like we still like the movie like honestly. Like I think about that with gladiator, we kind of like pooped on Gladiator the whole time but then I still gave it like, you know, an 8 out of 10 because I still like the movie. I think the opposite is going to happen today. Honestly there's a lot that I liked about this movie. There's a lot that I was in.

5:29 Impressed by I think for a rookie director Tarantino established himself right away as somebody who is eccentric unique interesting who's always going to hold your attention. Like I think you see Tarantino's fingerprints all over this movie as you do with every one of his movies. So I'm going to say a lot of nice things today but I don't know if I'm going to come out to a really high score and I think it's because if I had to boil it down, This movie just feels mean, mmm. I don't know like how else to say it? And it's not even like, I don't know, we've talked about the Coen Brothers, right?

6:11 And that a lot of their movies are nihilistic, there is no point to anything. Like death is just a part of our world. Like, it doesn't feel nihilistic and it doesn't remind me of a cone brother movie in that way. But there does seem to be this pointlessness about the movie. And just Just, I don't know. The brutality here. Just feels different than other Tarantino films. I don't know. My like, way off base here. Are you coming from a different angle? No, you're not off base and Brad this time around watching the movie for me. Well, actually, let me just step back and give my kind of personal history with the movie. So I think I watched this movie for the first time right before. High school, I was in, like, 8th grade. I was about 13, 14 years old, and what?

6:55 Don't let your 13 year old. Watch this movie. Yeah. Was a mistake. First of all, just just so, you know, I'm just giving you some friendly parenting advice here. Really appreciate that one, man. Yeah, no, no problem, dude. And and I knew that Tarantino was the cool filmmaker. You know what I mean? Just from having like, older cousins, who were into Tarantino and knowing his reputation, knowing about Pulp Fiction, I saw all his movies too young and I really, really loved this movie as a teenager. And I look back on myself as a teenager. And, honestly, Brad, like, allow me to generalize. Hear about generations of people but I think raising children has taught me that like toddlers are very very selfish because they don't know any better and honestly I think teenagers are very very selfish because they don't know any better and I used to be able to watch movies where people were discarded and human bodies were maimed and things like that and and be completely detached from them.

7:53 And not really put myself in anybody shoes or think about the fact that like even though this is a What their portrayal on screen is real human Carnage. I think as an adult. Now, I can't do that anymore. I don't have that distance anymore. We talked about this a little bit with Saving Private Ryan and I just I can't do it anymore. And I watched this movie this time and I found myself feeling incredibly uncomfortable at parts of this film especially that torture sequence. That mr. Blond has. And you know, I know that the the famous thing about it is they don't show the guys are getting cut off, they pan away. Way. And a lot of it is that kind of hitchcockian thing of like, your mind is filling in the gaps of what's happening.

8:33 But I mean, honestly, there's enough violence on screen that you see him slashes face with a razor. You see him dumped gasoline on him and threatened to burn him alive. It's just, it's too much for me. I think at points. And there's probably people listening to this podcast now that are rolling their eyes and ready to turn it off. I don't want to be the guy that's like moralizing about this movie, but I do think that just personally I'm in Different place in terms of what I can engage with. Then I was when I was a teenager and I just thought it was cool to see violent things on screen. Does that make sense? Oh like 100% for a while. Now, I have just felt very similarly to you.

9:14 I on-screen deaths can affect you and it's not every single one, but the way that he portrays violence in this movie, I don't know, man. I just I just kind of struggled with it. It didn't like, derailed. A movie for me. I'm not going to give it like a four out of ten. It's not like it's a bad movie, honestly. Like I said, I feel like I have a lot of nice things to say about it. I think that the way that Tarantino takes a classic bank robbery film and he cuts the bank robbery part completely out of the movie, is absolutely brilliant. Yeah. It focuses on the important things which is like, how are we going to get away from the cops? How are we going to get away with the money?

9:55 Can we trust each other? Like and it puts them These like super realistic raw, human places of like, who do I trust? How can I survive, how, you know, how can I get out of this with my sanity intact? Like, I really like the human elements that he kind of draws out of this movie and the way he tells the story, honestly, it really makes me think of Dog Day Afternoon. Like if anything, I feel like Dog Day Afternoon is is the exact same movie and yet portrayed, I'd oppositely like in Dog Day Afternoon. The entire movie is The Heist itself. Whereas this movie, it portrays, a lot of the same emotions and like, dilemmas that these robbers are facing just from a different angle. I think it's really good point.

10:44 And I, before I move on, I just want to go back briefly to the point you made before about how this feels different. Even then, Tarantino's, other films in terms of the way portrays its violence, and I was kind of thinking about that as you were talking Brad because I think you're right. Tarantino has found a way in all of his subsequent films to do. I think, one of two things and the first is he either finds a way to make a Redemptive Ark out of it. So think you know, Pulp Fiction you've got Jules as Redemption as opposed to what happens to Vincent Django Unchained. You have him winning back his wife and defeating you know the evil slave master. You America Kappa? Yeah you've got Inglourious Basterds.

11:25 I mean the kill Hitler and shoshana gets her revenge. There is there's some sort of Redemptive Arc there or I think the other tack that he kind of takes is if he is going to be kind of ultra violent, he does it towards people who you really know, deserve it again, Inglourious Basterds like the way they kill the Nazis in that movie is so over-the-top and gratuitous and kind of stomach-churning but at the end of the day you're like well I mean they are Nazis, you know what I mean? And then you the same thing with Django the way Django storms in at the end of the movie and kills everybody in that house. At the end of the day you're like well I mean you guys have discarded humans as things that you own and that you can easily get rid of for years and years and years. You kind of had it coming to you. So I think he's found ways to channel those those impulses in ways that are like a lot more palatable to an audience and this one he hadn't quite figured out that he needed to have that balance yet.

12:21 Yeah, honestly, as you're as you're saying this it made me think about the opening scene for Inglourious Basterds. Words, and I bring it up for two reasons. Number one because it's just a scene that deserves to be talked about and every podcast ever. But secondly, like the the indiscriminate well actually it's not indiscriminate the very specific violence that Christoph Waltz engages in. At the start of that movie, it's born out of a character's Essence. Does that make sense? Like do you spend enough time with Christoph Waltz in that scene as he conversed? Is with the French farmer that you begin to understand who he is as a person.

13:03 What he's trying to do. And I like his violence makes more sense whereas with, you know, with mr. Wasn't a mr. Blond with mr. Blond, you just don't really understand why he is so psychotic, like sure he was in prison for four years. That doesn't make somebody want to. Cut off a cops here. / his face open and then oh, I don't know. Set him on fire while he's alive. Like that is a level of violence that is not explained by the character that Tarantino has given us. And I think that might be at the core of kind of what bothers me about this movie. Well if I can you know Pat both of us on the back here. I think we're making some good points but we have gone a little bit off track from the way.

13:53 Our episodes are normally formatted. So let's pull back a little bit. I want to do. Explains. And then I think we should spend the first part of this episode talking about the things we liked about the movie, because you're right. There is a lot to like here, I was just listening to another podcast a few weeks ago, and they were talking about, what do you look for in a debut film? How do you know if somebody's made a good debut? How do you start kind of championing a new filmmaker? And the person basically said I'm not looking for a perfect film, I'm just looking for indications that this person knows how to handle what they're doing and even if It does even if not everything works. And they're taking big swings, we need to be able to sense that like they're going to come to a place where they can take more on their plate and deliver the goods.

14:40 And I think this movie really is a good representation of that. I think it's a good first film. I don't think it's comparable to Pulp Fiction, like at all, but it's a really good first film. So, there's a lot to talk about that. I like, I think we should kind of focus on that in the first half and then it'll get back into some of our more major issues with it in the second half. And that means that it's time for Brad explains like 15 minutes into the podcast bread. This is a deal, this is the part of the podcast, where Brad breaks down the plot of the movie that he has just seen often for the first time. And this is the first time with Reservoir Dogs. I feel like we kind of did give the plot already but Brad, you have 60 seconds on the clock. To talk about anything else. You might want in this movie, can you break down the plot of Reservoir Dogs, a bunch of criminals.

15:26 Make a plan to Rob. A diamond store, the robbery goes wrong and the majority of the film is focused on the warehouse they're supposed to meet at after the robbery, the different characters, mistrust each other, they feel like they've been set up. They feel like there was a cop in their midst and undercover cop and they're right. One of the characters is an undercover cop but the undercover cop gets one of the other guys to just trust him with his life, which leads to more betrayal and craziness. In the end, a lot of death. All right. That was that was only 35 seconds, nicely done. I mean, just like Tarantino I whittled it down for this one.

16:07 You certainly did, man. All right, Brad, I think a good place to start. Here is to give a little bit of background on Tarantino himself. Bob Bob, we already started like, 15 minutes. Oh, I'm just getting started, man. Okay, that was the warm-up. She's this gonna be gone with you. Gone. With the Wind episode Tarantino's story, you know, as a person. In his origin story has become the stuff of Legend. I mean, he was obsessed with movies, growing up in and around La. He worked at a video store called video archives, where he became the basically, an encyclopedia of all kinds of movies from French, New Wave films to American exploitation, and B movies, and all of that knowledge comes out in his scripts.

16:51 And I think that it's really important for us. Brad as, you know, like, 30 year old guys, to put a movie like this into Do historical context because I watched this movie and it is very obvious that Tarantino wrote this movie, right? You've got guys riding around in cars talking about what was on TV in the 70s and it's like that's a Hallmark, that's a staple of the Tarantino Universe. But I also noticed that the dialogue isn't quite as sharp not quite as directed. There are times where I think he's trying to sound clever, and it doesn't quite work as well as it does in movies like Pulp Fiction. But I think it's important to keep in mind. Hey, this is his first movie and be what he was really introducing with his style of screenwriting was something that was not being done by anybody at all at this time. Like you're coming out of the 1980s where your idea of an action movie, is something that starred either Jean-Claude Van Damme or Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. And the dialogue was much more stilted. You had these like roided-out, guys, and then you have Tarantino, Being in.

17:58 And even though we look at Tarantino's dialogue now, as kind of like heightened language that people don't really use what Tarantino was actually doing, was bringing a realism to the movies that wasn't there before. And I think sometimes it's hard for people our age to look at Tarantino and think realism. But you know, people were asking him about his style of writing and he was essentially saying at the time. I'm so sick of movies where the only thing people talk about is the plot like in our day to day lives, we Don't talk about the plot. We talked about everything else but the plot and so I want I want to give a Vibe. I want to give a sense that these people even though they're committing these acts even though they're, you know, committing a heist, they're just kind of regular people. And they watch all the same things on TV, we do and they're going to talk about those things and I think watching the movie now with 30 years of Tarantino between me and it, I'm so used to a Tarantino style that it kind of reflects Italy on this movie, but I think as kind of a cultural moment as like, a turning point, this is actually a really important movie. Yeah.

19:06 I mean, if you wanted to like reduce Tarantino's dialogue style down to a single scene, I think you could do it with the opening scene of this movie, like it's just a bunch of criminals that are out to breakfast together and they're talking about different things that they care about the one guys, talking about the music that's on the radio. Yo, which is kind of, you know, sets it up for the rest of the movie to have that music playing, you know? But then they get into this long argument about tips that feels kind of inane and meaningless, but that's the important part about it. These are just guys that disagree on whether or not you should tip like, like, yes, they're criminals, but it gives it kind of a, they're just another one of us, type of feel, it forces, the audience to identify. The bad guys in the movie.

20:00 And, you know, that's always a trick that directors can play on the audience of like, really. Like, these are the guys you identify with, but it's true. And I think that Tarantino does a phenomenal job of representing real life in the midst of a very unreal Movie World. Well, and I also think that even from this early stage, he knows when his characters are getting kind of too talky, and he needs to insert some sort of punch line or joke. I'm thinking of the scene, where mr. White, and mr. Orange or kind of sitting in the parking lot outside of the the Diamond wholesaler and their scope in the place out. And they're talking about exactly what they're going to do during the heist and mr. Orange asks like what do you do?

20:43 If somebody gives you crap and he starts talking about the manager and how he's not supposed to stand in your way, and if he gets in your way, cut off his little finger and it's this really horrifying moment of like, oh my God, like I knew this guy was bad, but I didn't think he was capable of doing. Something like that. Now, there's a manager that's different story. The manager is no better than the fuck around. So if you get one that's giving you a static, he probably thinks he's a real cowboys. You got to break that son of a bitch into. You want to know something, he won't tell you cut off one of his fingers, the little one then, tell him his thumbs. Next after that, I'll tell you few years, ladies underwear.

21:25 I'm hungry. Let's get a taco. And right then he inserts the joke of like Harvey Keitel and finishes saying this horrific thing and then he's like I'm hungry, let's go get a taco and then that's that's the end of the scene. And I do think that even from that early stage, Tarantino knows that he can lighten a moment where he can kind of juxtapose the horrific lie violent with the the kind of satirical. Dude. That was a scene that I actually wanted to point out. I there was just something about the way he goes cut off his Is a little finger soon as you threatened to cut off his thumb. He'll do anything you want. I'm hungry. Let's go get a taco.

22:08 Like the the timing like I mean we haven't gotten into performances yet but keitel's timing with that joke and the way it he just throws it away. Oh it's just brilliant. Well let's go ahead, let's get into performances because that's another thing that I think this movie really has working in its favor is that top to bottom These performances are not just good, I think they're all pretty great and some of them are over the top of the characters are over-the-top and there's really nobody for me. I mean there's maybe one that we can nitpick about but no one really stood out to me as being like okay this persons in the wrong movie or this person's just a really bad actor keitel's great.

22:48 I think Tim Roth is just incredible like do you have to play the levels of different, you know just being in immense pain for as long as he was and during The production, he would lay in those fake pools of blood so long that the lights would kind of bake the blood and it would get to him stuck to the floor that have to, like, peel them off the floor. So, just the commitment to the role was, was huge, but then when you find out about him as the undercover cop, and they do his flashback, he's just incredible, man, he's so so good. But you've got early Steve Buscemi in this movie, I think Michael Madsen doing his best. Clint Eastwood is really, really good as well, honestly, Brad I liked everyone in this movie. Yeah, I mean even when when Tim Roth is telling his Handler about what's his name, Joe?

23:39 Acaba de the cabinet. Thank you when he's talking about Joe, Cabot, he goes. Yeah, you know the the Silver Surfer thing and he's like he's the thing. Like as soon as he says that you're like, yeah, he is 100% the thing but the way that they have that conversation, I think it highlights how Tarantino understands how humans communicate and I think that's one of the reasons. He's so effective with his dialogue, with his writing with his movies, is that he understands that humans, don't communicate. That the way that we often do in movies, like we don't all speak like Cary Grant, you know, and so we use metaphors, we use pop culture references to describe our real life because those are the things that we watch and grow up with, and matter to us. And so, it's little moments like that. Where the writing is on point but then you have the actors that are just it's just so believable and it did they give such a sincere performance that I'm just really drawn in by who they are in this movie.

24:42 And and really I think that Harvey Keitel kind of stands out for me in this movie. And for what I've read a lot of people have said that I just for me the way he defends Tim Roth, at the end of the movie and then the anguish on his Face. As he as Tim Roth tells him that he's actually a cop. That was just convincing. It was emotional. It was heartfelt. I just thought that Keitel did a masterful job, especially with that scene. He's so good in this movie. And even when you know, his true, New York accent pops through, I did appreciate like the many points where he tried to do a Wisconsin accent because yeah, because even at the beginning of the movie, I was like, he said that weird and then you find out Either that he's from Milwaukee and I'm like oh that's why okay, that makes a lot more sense now but that actually reminds me to talk a little bit more about Keitel the person because he was known for really being a champion of independent cinema like throughout the 70s 80s 90s. You know he worked with Scorsese when Scorsese was just getting started.

25:48 He found this script by Tarantino helped, pay for the movie and you know basically said an exchange like I want to be in the movie obviously but Tarantino pays him back. With Pulp Fiction where he gets to be the wolf. I just think that that Keitel is sometimes underappreciated for how much he was willing to work for like nothing just because he loves movies and he loves giving people their shot at making something great and Brad, honestly, as I watched this movie, it's been a long time since we've watched a film that was this low budget and I don't just mean like, it didn't cost a lot to make, but also, when you were making an independent film in 1992, it's a lot different. Making a self-financed movie in 2020 where we have 4K you know, 8K cameras that you can get and everything can look cinematic if you just have the right computer program to color grade, it the right way.

26:41 Like there was a there's a Vibe and a rhythm and a feel to True Indie movies of this time period. It's just kind of like it's a little shaggier. Like there's a lot more handheld stuff and you know you talked about how they didn't show the bank heist and that's intentional. In the script. But it's also an extension of the fact that like they didn't have any money. So like of course, they're not going to film this huge Heist, they're just going to film bits and pieces of the Fallout of the heist. I think that Tarantino for having nothing to work with here. Money-wise does a really, really good job of writing around that. See, honestly, that gets me curious. Did this do well at the box office? No, not at all. And it wasn't until I mean, it just wasn't really picked up by anybody. It wasn't released.

27:26 It was it film festivals. It was Carried and, you know, some theaters across the country but it got two thumbs down from Siskel and Ebert and it kind of died and then Pulp Fiction comes out two years later goes, absolutely bananas and Tarantino is the biggest filmmaker on the planet for that year. And then people go ReDiscover Reservoir Dogs and it starts selling, you know, hundreds of thousands of copies on home video, but this was one of those movies that it had like a delayed response. Yeah, I mean, I just looked it up, it made 2.8 million dollars. And I think it cost like two million to make to knit budget was 1.2. There you go. So it doubled its money. And that's that's the mark of a good movie, right? It's a hit it's a hit 2.8 million.

28:08 Yeah. I mean it is fascinating because growing up like I heard about Reservoir Dogs, I heard about Pulp Fiction. I heard about these movies as like, you know, Tarantino Classics, you have to watch them. There's some of the greatest movies ever made and so, you know, and then I saw Pulp Fiction and I was like holy crap. It really Is one of the greatest movies ever made. And so coming into Reservoir Dogs, I think my expectations were I think understandably really, really high. And I like I said, I like a lot of this movie. I'm still just not certain why I don't like the movie. Well, I think we're going to explore that in the second half Brad. And before we hit pause and drink our whiskey, I do want to just mention one more thing that I really loved about the movie. And that was not just the convention. Of of cutting back and showing each character's origin but also the way they do it specifically with mr. Orange, where he is, constructing this entire identity.

29:07 That is bullshit. But he becomes so convincing at it that when he's telling the commode story as they call it in the movie that Tarantino actually films it as if it really happened. And so you've got like a movie within a movie. You've got a character constructing, a fake story Within The fake story that you're watching, so welcoming and who's standing there. For Los Angeles, County Sheriff's and a German Shepherd. They're waiting for you. Most fun stops hanging out of many from talking. My walk through the door. They asked about the talking about me. Look, that that's hard man. That's a hard situation.

29:51 German Shepherd starts barking. I mean obviously he's barking at me. All my senses blood in my veins. Everything I am screaming take off, man, just bail. Just get the fuck out of there and it's an incredibly inventive. I don't know five minutes of screen time, you've got this swirling camera that's going all around Tim Roth. As he's reciting the story you've got just perfectly casted like state troopers in that bathroom. Like those guys, if they're not actually cops they look just and behave just like cops, like it was perfect casting and I just kind of love that even in the middle of this, very claustrophobic movie, you have this inventive artistic departure of the commode story and the way they choose to show it on screen.

30:44 Yeah. And if anything like you said earlier when you're looking for signs of a great director, you're not looking for a perfect first movie you're just looking for signs of greatness. And I think that that scene like you said it's a sign of future greatness. That Tarantino isn't just he's not just thinking along one vein of movie. He's not just saying, okay, this is going to be a one stage setup where the whole, you know, it's going to be like a play, where they're all in the one spot, like he goes. Let's jump outside of that and see what we can do with mr. Oranges story, and, and with some of the other flashbacks I you know, we can talk about non-sequential, you know. I'm hopping movies that Tarantino likes to do and you see it here.

31:31 You see them jumping back and forth from the past to the present and he does it to great effect. Alright. Brad I think it's time for us to hit pause here. What do you say? We try this Weller foolproof. Let's get to it.

32:23 Alright. Today we are checking out Weller foolproof. Now Brad it has been a minute since we've had some Weller on this show. We've tried the Special Reserve. We've tried the antique we've tried the Weller. 12-year now we're moving on up into Weller foolproof. This is a newer release it just started being released in 2019 by Buffalo Trace if you remember Weller is is there weeded bourbon it's probably the most famous weeded bourbon on the It's become because it's Buffalo Trace. Very hard to find. I know that there are lots of states, where even Weller antique is selling for like, $300, a bottle, which is just nuts. Because like, even here in Ohio we can find Weller antique very, very easily. And like it just seems like they have taken even like their lower tier Brands and found a way to spin them into gold in the eyes of their consumers. And this one here is no different Brad. Now the whole, I'm glad I'm not good, I'm not going to do it. Bob, yes, you are.

33:20 I'm gonna stay pure today. My heart is good. Let me offer this as a rebuttal, then Brad, because I think this is something the kind of angers me. The language of foolproof is kind of marketing bullshit. And I think that's what that's the thing that pisses me off about this release because it's not a barrel proof whiskey. So, when you have a barrel proof, whiskey, what that means is, you know, it's been sitting in the barrel for X number of years. They go in, they dumped the barrel, they do not cut it, Water at all. And what was in that Barrel is what goes into the bottle. That's why the, the proof can fluctuate from bottled, the bottle, when you have a barrel proof. Whiskey full proof is always 114 proof according to Buffalo Trace, because they bottle it at the entry proof that it went into the barrel, which just makes no sense to me.

34:11 Like, so what you're saying is it went into the barrel at aged for however many years. Let's say six to eight years. Some of it evaporates. Operated. So, you know, the proof went up in the barrel so they take it back out of the barrel and then dilute it. But just back down to 114 like I don't know why not? Just call it well or 114 why are you calling it foolproof? It's not full because you're cutting it with water. See I'm getting going, already bread. Bob I just think it's a little bit of a misunderstanding here. I think you just need to be a little more generous. You shut your mouth sir. The Buffalo Trace is a good company there. Are just looking out for their customers and offering them, you know, their best understanding of what the proof of alcohol is. I don't know what you're getting up in arms about. All right man, listen before I go mr. Blond here on the my side of the podcast, I need to, we need to get into drinking this whiskey.

35:05 So again, this is 114 proof. We did a bourbon Brad. Let Anna know, Bob, it's full plates. Full equals 114, okay? Yeah, that's just that's math. Didn't you learn that instinct? What are you picking up on the nose here? Brad? You know I had this is a really Pleasant knows. It is we tee? It is full of vanilla. I think for me though the interesting thing about Weller as like the like in quotations, the weeded bourbon. I think that where it stands out is that I've had Other Whiskey's that are weeded. They have a wheat knows they have a wheat flavor. They always taste worse off because of that wheat. Like, have you ever ever you do you feel like you've noticed that like it's to me a lot of times when something is very weedy, I feel like it's because it has an aged enough, it hasn't developed enough and it just kind of tastes raw. Hmm I don't know.

36:08 It does. It does that Vibe with you? I really like we needed bourbon so like I'm not quite With you, but I do think that I agree with you that like, you have to strike the right balance when it comes to a weeded bourbon. Yeah, can get kind of weird. Yeah, and I will say, I've never had a Weller that doesn't strike the right balance. Like for me, this just has a beautifully soft wheat that goes along with a lot of vanilla. There's some butter cream and caramel kind of going on here to me. This is just incredibly sweet. It's just decadent on it. Snow's once again I think the all those things but that's not necessarily my preferred knows but I still really like it.

36:51 I'll give it an 8 out of 10. Yeah. I'm also going to give it an 8 out of 10 and like it sounds incredibly simplistic, but the first note I took after I knows it was that's a good wieder right there. Like, that's exactly what it is. I mean, it's just Weller does a really good job at striking that balance of having just enough wheat there. That it announces itself, but it Anything over, so you're right, I definitely said that it was more caramel on the nose than it was like the classic brown sugar that you sometimes get on Bourbon. I got a lot of orange peel on this and I got a lot of clove like it kind of smelled a little bit like potpourri to me, which was really nice. It was it was autumnal and I'm digging it at this time of year right now.

37:32 So yeah, it's an 8 out of 10 on the nose for me, too. Mmm, Autumn know what a what a word. Good diction, sir. Thank you. Yeah. When I get into the taste on this bad boy, I it is warm. It's sweet. There's like a beautiful amount of heat that matches. All of this caramel cream sugar that you're getting that like it almost feels like a burnt sugar because of the heat that you're getting from the 114 which isn't like the highest proof thing we've ever drank. But it's high enough that I think you're getting a lot of flavors here that you don't always get on some of the lower. Versions of while are, although I will say, I feel like this is kind of similar to the Antique 107, but I'll give it an eight and a half on the taste.

38:21 I really like what they're doing here. So, this is the thing that again, it kind of pisses me off. Like this is just seven proof points higher than Weller antique. And I don't know, like, again, because they are very secretive about how long it's aged for. This is not age stated. I don't know if it's aged longer than antique, but antique is a blend of things and They don't put an age statement on that either. So, I mean, for all we know this is exactly as old as antique. They just don't water it down quite as much, but you're absolutely right. Brad. The, the pallet on this is Weller antique at just a slightly higher proof and that was a huge bummer for me. I like it, obviously, I love Weller antique but I found at 114, I found this to be pretty mild actually, like there's there's that Buffalo Trace Oak profile.

39:11 I did get some citrus. I did get some wheat but this was not complex at all and it just kind of drank like your typical Weller antique drinks kind of disappointing. And and that's a bummer for me. So I'm going to give it a 7 out of 10 on taste. I think that is probably a little bit better than a seven if I'm being honest. But I'm at this point I'm just comparing it to antique and knowing that like they are hyping this up as some sort of huge step up from antique. I'm not seeing it and if I can just get it with the antique, like why would I pay any more? Or money for this. So it's a 7 out of 10 on the pallet for me. Yeah. When I get into the finish, I think that's where this one kind of loses me a little bit, you know, it's okey and smooth.

39:53 There's a little bit of vanilla that I feel like sits on my palette for a long time, but it's not a very complex finish. It's not a very powerful finish that you would hope for in a, in their highest proof offering. So for me, I'll give it a 7 out of 10 on the finish. So around. Christmas time they sell, I don't know. It's Cadbury that makes them. It's not the Cadbury Cream Eggs but it's the they make like a chocolate orange. You know what I'm talking about? Like it comes in like, a solid thing, It smash it, and it breaks into orange slices. That's what I got on the finish here was dark chocolate and orange and I really like that. But again, it was a hint of that and then like, your basic Buffalo Trace bourbon finish, it was very heavily oaked for me, more of the same.

40:39 I like it, but I don't really know how high I can. Go on my score here. I'm just going to give it a seven and a half on the finish and that takes us to overall balance Once Again Brad. I think this is a well-balanced whiskey just as I do with Weller antique it's just a little milder than I was anticipating and it didn't do anything to distinguish itself from the rest of the Weller line. So I'm going to give it an 8 out of 10 on balance. I was just hoping it'd be a little higher than that. Yeah, I'm actually right there with you 8, out of 10. It's not the most complex of Whiskey's. Like you know, if we're using baseball metaphors, it's hitting like a double maybe a triple on most of the categories so I get solid. It's a, it's a good effort but it's not complex enough for me to give it a really high balance score. So as I do every week, I'm going to give my disclaimer that this is where things get weird, man.

41:34 We have just had a ton of Buffalo Trace on the show lately. I was about to say, man, I don't feel like we've drank anything, but Buffalo Trace and we need to change. Change them. This is your fault. This is almost. This is your fault. Everything's my fault. So in the state of Ohio Weller foolproof retails for $50, however, that is absolute bullshit. So you're not going to get this $50. I'm telling you that right now the supply of Weller antique, like, as a ratio to Weller foolproof, I mean, it's got to be 100 to 1. If not more like they, A lottery for Weller foolproof in the state of Ohio and I did not win.

42:16 So I'm still a little salty about that but just the fact that this is a lottery pick as opposed to, you know, well or antique which is allocated but they release it like once a week and you can find it if you know where to look for it. I don't like it's the same price as well or antique. It's only seven proof points higher than well are antique. It's way harder to get. You have to hope you win a lottery or you have to go on the secondary Market where you're going to be spending from what I'm seeing online. And a Average of three hundred dollars for this bottle of whiskey Brad. It's not worth that. I don't even know if it's worth retail if you have to go anywhere but your local liquor store to get it like this is not worth chasing and especially when you have Weller antique right there for the taking like I would take antique over this every day because I know like four stores in my area that I can walk into and buy antique and go home and be satisfied like there, this is not enough of a step up from antique to justify. Any more effort, I would have to expend to find it. I'm going to give this a 3 out of 10 on value. Bob if if you could see me right now you would know that I'm like, sitting back like Emperor Palpatine at the end of Return of the Jedi, when Luke finally takes up his lightsaber. Like just sitting back like yes, yes. Good Bob yeah, man.

43:43 Forget Buffalo Trace. I'll give it a three and a half out of ten. I'm coming out to a 33.5 out of 50. Brad, what are you coming out to not mad at 35? All right, can we just agree not to recommend it? Yeah. Where does the word a 34-point 25 out of 50? This is a good whiskey. It is not worth. Like, if someone You know, pulled you over in a dark alley inside. Like I got a bottle for 50 bucks. Like, first of all, why are you in a dark alley, buying whiskey, but because Buffalo Trace makes it happen. I think that's why they're in a freaking dark alley. Bob, this is good enough to spend 50 bucks on, but knowing that, you have like a zero percent chance of aft of actually getting this for 50 bucks. I just, I can't recommend it.

44:28 If you can find. Antique, just get antique instead, you are not missing anything by not having On your shelf or just boycott. Buffalo Trace, don't buy any other stuff. Listen, Rebel Yell 100, that is 20 bucks and it is every bit as good as well. ER, I don't understand why people don't buy that. Anyway, I'm getting off topic now, brother, Bob, you're bringing the word today, keep on preaching. All right man, let's finish this up and get back into talking about Reservoir Dogs. What do you say? Yeah, let's get to it man. I'm ready.

45:37 All right, so we are going to finish up talking about Reservoir Dogs. After that, incredibly disappointing experience that was Weller foolproof. Brad, we talked a little bit in the first half just about how this movie doesn't seem to fully click for us. And for me, it was one. It's one of those things where I'm just re-evaluating it as an adult as opposed to a teenager and you're right, the mean-spiritedness of the movie really shines through. I think we've done a good enough job of just kind of saying like this is a first film. It has the vibe of somebody making their first movie. It's really good. There's a lot to like, I appreciate it for what it is. I appreciate that it gave us Pulp Fiction and that he uses this as the stepping stone for Pulp Fiction and that he works The Kinks out here.

46:24 So that Pulp Fiction, you know, this one crawls, so that Pulp Fiction can run like, I appreciate that. But there are just a few things that I just I can't get over. Do you know what I mean? There's some of the dialogues really clunky. I think, especially, 30 years later the incredibly racist dialogue, and the incredibly homophobic dialogue is just really cringey. And, you know, you can, you can argue that like, at the time historically, like people were speaking in those homophobic ways. Like, I understand all that, I get it. But I think that there are movies like Django Unchained where people say the n-word 85 times more than they do in this movie. But because they are portrayed as like, Like evil slave owners.

47:07 It's actually it comes across as less racist than this movie does and Tarantino has always had to kind of Dodge these accusations of racism. Like he has a pretty famous beef with Spike Lee who does not like him at all because of the way he uses the n-word. So freely in his movies and I honestly think like if you wanted to make a case for Spike point to this movie because it just seems unnecessary. And yes, I understand that like they are bad guys, they're supposed to be villains. Just because we find them relatable, you know, doesn't mean they still don't have these kind of abhorrent views, but I think at a certain point, that that line of thinking, only goes so far, like, you can only attribute so much of it, to the characters in the movie.

47:47 Before you have to say, like, hey person who wrote the movie, maybe, don't do that anymore, you know? Yep, I was going to say that exact thing, like, yep, the characters are really bad. I wonder who wrote those characters. I wonder who thought up of them and you know, No and wrote them down and like I don't know man. It's a mystery though. Anyway I'm sorry I'll step down off my soapbox Brad as we kind of wind down here if you want to jump right in with your final score. Go right ahead but I guess I do want to hear where you have come out on this movie having hashed it out a little bit with me. Has it cleared up a little bit to you? What doesn't work about this movie as opposed to what did work about some of his other films?

48:30 Yeah I mean I really do think it comes down to the characters. Like, I think he makes highly relatable characters for the large part, but they're just not. There's no real character arcs. I feel like other than really mr. Orange, there's no real Rhyme or Reason other than we wanted to steal diamonds to make money like when you think about the, the motivations for characters in his other movies like Inglourious Basterds. It's let's kill the The Nazis and Django Unchained, it's let's free this, you know, man's wife in Pulp Fiction even like Jules is on a spiritual Quest To Find meaning in the world, right?

49:16 Like even that has more of a oomph to it than what you find here in Reservoir Dogs. So, for me. Yeah, I do think it kind of cleared up some of why I don't care for this movie. But once again there's a lot to like here there's a lot that looks good I think for me. It kind of comes back to the Nolan Fanboy dilemma like just because it's a movie made by, you know, Quentin Tarantino does not mean that it deserves to be in the top 15 IMDb movies of all time. You know what I mean? Like I don't actually know where this is rated on IMDb but like you I feel like you just run into that with Christopher Nolan where like his movies are just perfect because his Fanboys say they are perfect and I just come at Film Reservoir Dogs and say, you know what? Like it's not perfect and that's okay. Like you don't have to defend every single Tarantino film with every last breath.

50:14 Like it's okay. That this one isn't quite as good. It's still a good movie and I'm going to give it a 7 out of 10 for my final score. I think I'm also going to give it a seven. I was I was leaning towards a six and a half. I've seen this movie Brad. I've got to say like, 30, 40 times and it's never quite hit me in the way that it did this time around. So I'm going to give it the benefit of the doubt and kind of up it to a 7. So that means we're Landing in the exact same place here, but we want to know what you think. Filmin, whiskey Nation. Do you love Reservoir, Dogs? Do you think? We are way off base with our evaluation of it. If so, get out us on social media, you can find us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at film whiskey, or you can leave us a voicemail. Let your voice be heard on the film. When whiskey podcast, you can do that by checking us out on our website which is Anchor dot f, m /. Josh film whiskey next week we'll be back with Alfonso. Cuaron has 2006, Masterpiece Children of Men until then I'm Bob book, I'm Brad G and we'll see you next time.