Stephen King finally watched 'Reservoir Dogs' 29 years after release

By Megan Armstrong | Last updated 5/7/21

Stephen King has contributed an enormous amount to the arts and pop culture over the last 50 years, and because he was busy doing that, he didn't have time to consume what most people consider some of the best movies of all time.

Now, the prolific author is making up for lost time by diving into Reservoir Dogs (1992), Menace II Society (1993) and The Lion King (1994) for the first time:

Continuing 60 years of never (or seldom) seen films from 1962-2021:
RESERVOIR DOGS (1992)
MENACE II SOCIETY (1993)
THE LION KING (1994)
For those who exclaim, "What? You've never seen RESERVOIR DOGS?" see next tweet.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) May 6, 2021

"After DOGS made a splash at Cannes, a film community friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) sent me a bootleg VHS tape that was a dub of a dub of a dub," King tweeted separately. "The picture was blurry; the sound seemed to bubble up from 20,000 leagues under the sea."

The 73-year-old added: "I watched about a quarter of it, realized I couldn't understand what Steve Buscemi, an idol of mine, was saying, and gave up. I never got back to it until now. Excellent film."

On Jan. 16, King had made a delayed New Year's resolution to "watch one movie from ever year, 1961-2021":

This year I'm trying to watch 1 movie from every year, 1961-2021. Concentrating on ones I've missed. So far, THE INNOCENTS (1961), THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962), HUD (1963), and A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964). I saw HARD DAY as a kid; the others, no.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 17, 2021

Reservoir Dogs marked Quentin Tarantino's big break as a director and writer. Prior to the '92 crime thriller, his only credits as a director and writer were for video shorts and a 1987 project called My Best Friend's Birthday.