Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs Was Almost Banned Over One Scene

Every Quentin Tarantino film is controversial for one reason or another, usually for the use of racial slurs or visceral violence. When it comes to the latter issue, few Tarantino films are more infamous than his 1992 thriller "Reservoir Dogs," which includes a depraved torture scene that still haunts viewers to this day. The scene, as most Tarantino fans will have no trouble recalling, involves Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) slicing a policeman's ear off, dousing him with gasoline and nearly setting him on fire. It's a rude thing to do someone, no doubt about it. Even horror legend Wes Craven found it tough to stomach. 

On paper this scene might not sound too horrifying, but what makes it truly stomach-churning is the gleeful way in which Mr. Blonde goes about the torture. He's enjoying himself here, dancing along to Stealers Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle With You" in a way that's tainted the song forever. I'm sure the band appreciated the royalties they got from being featured in the film, but now their song is forever associated with ear dismemberment and general sadism. 

The scene was so grotesque, in fact, that it nearly got the film banned in the United Kingdom. The members British Board of Film Classification (or BBFC) had a lengthy debate over the scene, questioning whether the torture sequence brought the movie beyond even the 18 rating it ended up receiving, which is basically the British equivalent of an American NC-17. As the BBFC website explained, "Views were expressed that its gruesome and sadistic nature would cause some people to walk out of the film. It was also noted that Mr. Blonde's evident enjoyment of what he is doing ... glamorised the sadism."

Thankfully cooler heads prevailed, and the BBFC decided to keep the movie at its 18 rating with no "further intervention." They made this decision because, unlike plenty of other groups out there who like to ban provocative books or films, the BBFC actually seems to have a grasp on media literacy. They noted that Mr. Blonde was presented in the movie as a bad guy, someone "whom a viewer is not invited to identify [with] or to glamorise." They also noted that the scene was crucial to the plot, and that it "[played] on the film's themes of loyalty and betrayal."

A more questionable line of their defense of the scene regarded the way it was filmed:

"The general opinion was that the scene, whilst generating a sustained, intense and disquieting atmosphere of threat and menace, was remarkably restrained in what it actually showed. Apart from an initial indistinct slash to the policeman's face with the razor, the audience does not see the detail of the ear being cut off as the camera moves away from the action, whilst the horror is suggested only by the sounds of the victim's cries of pain."

It's true that a lesser director probably would've shown the gore for more shock value, but I'd argue the implied violence here is far more disturbing. For me the queasiest part of the scene is always the moment where the camera pans away, because I can so vividly imagine what's going on off-screen. The camera leaving the policeman also creates a sense that we've abandoned him; as long as he's on-screen there's the illusion he can maybe get out of this, but the moment he's left the screen we know it's over.

Although I don't think the choice to keep the ear-cutting off-screen was the best reason to not interfere with the movie's release, I'm still happy "Reservoir Dogs" managed to avoid censorship thanks in part to this technicality. The movie went on to be a huge success in the UK, with British audiences getting to watch the exact same version of the film that Americans enjoyed.