At 29 years old, Quentin Tarantino made his directorial debut with "Reservoir Dogs." With its punchy pacing and electric performances, it was a brash, violent film that put him on the map as an audacious new storyteller. From his humble beginnings as a Video Archives store clerk to the script landing in Harvey Keitel's hands, Tarantino was able to raise $1.5 million to make the movie and debut it at the Sundance Film Festival.

Duane Byrge from The Hollywood Reporter covered the overwhelming audience response to the searing film: "[T]his plug gutter is wiping out audiences here at the Sundance Film Festival. Those who survive it emerge in a shell-shocked euphoria — so good and so blunt is the writing." Miramax won the subsequent bidding war, but although distribution was secured, the road to release was rocky. Producer Harvey Weinstein wanted to remove what is now considered the film's seminal moment: the...