Victor "Vic" Vega, also known as Mr Blonde and Toothpick Vic, is the tertiary antagonist in the film Reservoir Dogs. He is played by Michael Madsen.
Vic Vega is a enforcer, right-hand and close friend of Los Angeles crime boss Joe Cabot, and his son 'Nice Guy' Eddie Cabot and brother of Vincent Vega. Victor is offered a diamond heist by the Cabots which he accepted. He was teamed up with five other men and given colour-coded names. It was soon revealed to his accomplices that Mr Blonde was a sadistic psychopath who enjoyed torturing cops. Later he is given the task of guarding L.A. police officer Marvin Nash, who he personally delivered to the warehouse in the trunk of his car. Victor then tortures Nash by cutting his ear off and dousing him in gasoline; however, before he is able to ignite the gasoline, he is shot dead by Mr Orange.
Biography[]
Friendship with the Cabots[]
Being a long time friend of Joe and Eddie Cabot, Victor would work for them. Four years before the film was set, he was caught in a warehouse full of stolen items, presumably on a job for the Cabots. Rather than betray his friends, he kept quiet and was consequently sentenced to four years in prison.
After prison[]
When he was paroled, he was allocated a strict parole officer, named Seymour Scagnetti. Victor hated Scagnetti, as he always kept tabs on him, and would not allow him to leave his halfway house until he had a legitimate job. Vic met with Joe and Eddie Cabot to discuss his problems. Eddie offered him a job as a dock worker at Long Beach, although only the records would say he worked there and that he would not have to do any physical work. Vega appreciated this, but asked if they had any real work. Joe explained that times were difficult, but there was an opportunity for a diamond heist with five other men. Vega accepted this.
Mr Blonde[]
Before he went on the job, Vega was put in a team with five other strangers. Joe told the men that they were to be using colour-coded aliases on the job, and did not want them to reveal any personal information to each other. Vega was called Mr Blonde, and was tasked with crowd control along with Mr Blue.
Day of the Heist[]
Before[]
On the morning before the diamond heist, Mr Blonde was having breakfast with Joe, Eddie and the rest of his team. Mr Blonde discussed his opinions of Madonna's 'Like a Virgin' with Mr Brown and criticized Mr Pink for not tipping the waitress. During the heist, Mr Blonde ordered the civilians not to set off the alarm. One of them did, and this prompted Mr Blonde to start shooting the hostages. To make his escape, Mr Blonde took a cop named Marvin Nash hostage and put Nash in the trunk of his car.
[]
Back at the warehouse, Mr Blonde caught Mr White and Mr Pink fighting over what to do with the wounded Mr Orange. He told them to stop fighting. Mr White angrily criticized Mr Blonde for his actions and nearly started a fight with him. Mr Blonde took Mr White and Mr Pink outside to show them Nash. The three then started beating up Nash and tied him to a chair. Nice Guy Eddie arrived and criticized the men for their actions. Mr Pink told him about the setup, but Eddie denied there was a setup. Eddie then told Mr Pink and Mr White to come with him to retrieve the diamonds that Pink had hidden, and ordered Mr Blonde to watch Mr Orange and Marvin Nash.
Torture of Nash and death[]
Once Eddie left with White and Pink, Mr Blonde was free to deal with Nash. Nash tried to beg for his life, saying to Mr Blonde that even his "boss" said there wasn't a setup. Mr Blonde angrily told Nash that he doesn't have a boss, and nobody tells him what to do. Mr Blonde then puts on the radio and takes out a barber's razor. He starts to torture Nash to the sound of 'Stuck in the Middle of You' by Stealer's Wheel. Firstly, Mr Blonde gleefully slashes his face, cuts off his right ear, and then douses him in gasoline. Mr Blonde removes Nash's gag, and Nash starts screaming that he has a little kid growing up. Mr Blonde is about to light the gasoline, but Mr Orange wakes up and shoots Mr Blonde in the chest several times, killing him.
After Mr Blonde's death, Nice Guy Eddie along with Mr White and Mr Pink return to the warehouse to find Mr Blonde shot dead. Nice Guy Eddie is furious at Mr Orange for shooting his best friend, and kills Marvin Nash in a rage. Mr Orange tries to convince Eddie that Mr Blonde was going to kill Eddie too, but Eddie refused to believe Orange. Mr White, on the other hand, was glad that his point had been proved that Mr Blonde was a psychopath.
Physical description[]
Mr Blonde is a 6'2", Caucasian male who is 34 years old with short dark brown hair and blue eyes and is usually seen donning a black agency attire.
Personality[]
Mr Blonde is a psychopath, who enjoys shooting people and torturing cops. He is a very dangerous man, with sadism, without compassion and has a casual attitude when it comes to homicide. Mr Blonde is a typical, smooth-talking nihilist, who remains level-headed rather than displaying wrath, but this makes him even more dangerous.
Relationships[]
The Cabots[]
Mr Blonde was shown to have a close friendship with Joe and Eddie Cabot. Mr Blonde was fiercely loyal to them, even doing four years in prison for them. As such, the Cabots were willing to reward him for this loyalty by making sure he had a job worthy enough to get rid of his parole officer, Seymour Scagnetti. Both Joe and Eddie seemed to be unaware of Blonde being a psychopath and were willing to defend him. Eddie was furious when Mr Blonde was shot dead by Mr Orange.
Mr White[]
Mr Blonde and Mr White did not get on well. Mr White was furious at Mr Blonde's actions in the diamond store, as it nearly resulted in him getting shot too. When they confronted each other, they nearly started a fight and only stopped because Mr Blonde revealed he had kidnapped a police officer, who would be able to tell them who set them up. Mr White put his dislike of Mr Blonde aside to try to get information out of the cop. After Mr Blonde was killed by Mr Orange, Mr White was glad Mr Blonde was dead and was pleased his point had been proved about Mr Blonde being a psycho.
Marvin Nash[]
Being a criminal, Mr Blonde despised all police officers. Marvin Nash happened to be taken hostage by Mr Blonde in an attempt to escape the store alive. Nash was put in the trunk of Mr Blonde's car, and driven to the warehouse, where he was beaten up, and tied to a chair. Then Mr Blonde showed contempt to Nash, for daring to say that Mr Blonde had a boss. Mr Blonde was very cruel to Nash, by torturing him, cutting off his right ear, and attempting to set him on fire, regardless of the fact that Nash was a father.
Trivia[]
- Michael Madsen is said to have been uncomfortable during the torture of Marvin Nash scene. This was due to Nash's comment about having a little kid growing up. Madsen had recently became a father, and this comment really upset him.
- The scene where Mr Blonde tortures a cop while dancing to Stuck in the middle with you, the scene was inspired by three methods:
- It was based on one line of the script that Michael Madsen read on his character that said "Mr Blonde maniacally dancing around"
- Quentin Tarantino based that part on Alex DeLarge from both the novel and movie version of A Clockwork Orange.
- Michael Madsen himself was inspired by Jimmy Cagney to do the dancing scene.
- In the Video Game version of Reservoir Dogs, Michael Madsen is the only cast member to lend his voice and likeness to the game.
- Quentin Tarantino once revealed that Victor Vega is the brother of Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction. Quentin Tarantino also originally intended to make a prequel after the success of Kill Bill in 2004 but was canceled in 2007 because of Quentin's statement:
- I even have a title for it. It was called Double V Vega. It actually would have taken place during the time Vincent was in Amsterdam, when he was running one of Marcellus' clubs in Amsterdam and Vic goes to visit and say "Hi!". But we are a little older now, and since they both died, it would have to be a prequel. I actually came up with a way I could have done it, even being older and dead where they all had older brothers and both of their brothers got together because the two guys died. And they wanted revenge for something like that. But now the actors are too old for that. I got to say, it's kind of unlikely now.