Stuck In The Middle

Term Paper Title	Stuck In The Middle
# of Words	1375
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	5.5

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 lin...

Read entire document