| Stuck In The Middle Essay, Research Paper
Stuck in the Middle
Michael W. Johnson English 151 10/12/95
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. I’m so scared in case I fall off my chair, and I’m wondering how
I’ll get down the stairs. Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right… Here
I am stuck in the middle with you.
The words being sung tell us that the cop is wondering how he got into
this situation, he knows something is up, and he is scared that he may not be
able to make it through the rest of this torturous interrogation alive. The
clowns are his fellow officers who allowed the situation to get so out of
control, and the jokers are Mr. White and Mr. Pink. And now he is stuck in the
middle of this whole ordeal with the most cynical, evil, and hardest criminal of
the bunch….Mr. Blonde.
Yes I’m stuck in the middle with you and I’m wondering what it is I should do
It’s so hard to keep this smile from my face cause I’m and I’m all over the
place (chorus)
These are the lines that justify what I am saying the most. He is
wondering what he should do, he knows that Mr. Orange is a cop and if he were to
mention it to Mr. Blonde it may save his life. It is an internal conflict in
which he heroically decides to keep quiet. He can’t keep the smile off his face
because he knows the cops are outside just waiting for Joe to come to the
warehouse so they can bust the whole operation, and when he comes the torture
will be over.
Well you started out with nothin’ and your proud that your a self -made man. And
your friends they all come callin’ – slap you on the back and say – please,
please. Tryin’ to make some sense of it all But I can see it makes no sense at
all Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor? ’till I think that I can’t take
anymore. (Chorus)
Here, the officer is bringing out the fact that Mr. Blonde is proud of
his life as a criminal, and proud that his friends, Joe and Nice Guy Eddie
come callin’ -begging Mr. Blonde to work for them right after he got out of
prison. The cop tries to understand the situation that he is in but he realizes
it is a lost cause. The last two lines show what the officer is asking himself.
Should he spill his guts or should he keep quiet until Joe shows up.
The music stops. The cop is a bloody mess, Mr. Blonde had not only beat
him, he had cut off his ear, and doused him with gasoline. He was just about
ready to set him on fire when six gunshots rang out– Mr. Orange, the
undercover cop had shot Mr. Blonde to death. Joe, Nice Guy Eddie, Mr. Pink and
Mr. White all return shortly thereafter. They find Mr. Blonde, the cop, and Mr.
Orange all covered in blood and question Mr. Orange about what happened. Mr.
Orange tried to explain that Mr. Blonde was going to burn the cop, and split
with the diamonds. Joe called him a traitor and would not believe him. Joe shot
the police officer and was ready to kill Mr. Orange when Mr. White turns his gun
on Joe to protect his friend. Intern Nice Guy Eddie turns his gun on Mr. White.
Sirens could be heard as the movie hit its climax – the cops bust in and three
shots are heard, and three bodies drop to the floor.
Quentin Tarintino is a acumen in the the field music, I believe he truly
wrote the seen I described – the torture seen – to coincide with the Stealers
Wheel song. In the research of my opinion I luckily stumbled on a quote from
Tarentino taken from the compact disc booklet of “Truth and Fiction.”
“Personnally, I don’t know if Jerry Rafferty neccessarily appreciated the
connotations that I brought to “Stuck in the Middle With You”. There’s a good
chance he didn’t. But that’s one of the things about using music in movies
that’s so cool: the fact that if you do it right, it’s about as cinematic a
thing as you can do. You’re really doing what movies do better than any other
art form. It works in this visceral, emotional, cinematic way that’s special.
And when you do it right and you hit it right, then you can never really hear
that song again without thinking about that image from the movie. That’s what
comercials are counting on, but it never quite works with commercials.
The thing is, once a movie has done that with a song, as far as I’m
concerned that movie owns it. I mean, they’ve used “Stand By Me” so many times,
but to me the one that used “Stand By Me” that way was The Wanderers. They play
“Stand By Me” as the lead character, Ken Wahl, realizes that JFK has been shot.
And it’s perfect.”
I couldn’t agree more with what Tarentino is saying. His movies
especially draw upon music to make the scenes flow together in a surreal,
inspiring style. What more can a movie connoisseur like myself ask for in a
movie? As Tarentino says “Stand By Me” is perfect in The Wanderers, I say
“Stuck in the Middle With You” is perfect in Resovoir Dogs.
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