True Romance

This film is about a guy who falls in love with a hooker and marries her. What a lovely story, taking this poor miscreant off the streets and showing her that he is willing to take care of her. Of course, you know everything is going to go without a hitch. Not really, from a crazed white pimp who thinks he is black to mob types to undercover cops this couple is going to have a really hard time getting to the honeymoon. The film has lots of violence, some sex, and inexplicably Bronson Pinchot who at the time was still most known as the lovable Balki from the television show "Perfect Strangers". Well here he plays a guy who gets caught by the cops with some white powder on his nose and it is not from a doughnut. The film's best sequence to me though was the Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper one. Great scene, I love how Hopper's character basically realizes what is going to happen to him so he does his best to insult Walken's character as a parting shot. Just wish both of them were in the movie a bit more, especially Walken who disappears from the film after this scene. I could have done without the Elvis ghost scenes, but aside from that I have a rather positive image of this movie despite the fact it is not something I typically care for.

True Romance has everything necessary to create art on celluloid. From the writing expertise of Quentin Tarantino to Tony Scott's brilliant directing to its cast of gifted actors, the movie is all that one would hope for.

Beginning in Detroit and ending in Mexico, a loner that never really made his mark on the world meets a call girl who falls as deeply in love with him as he does with her. Filled with drugs, gangsters, Hollywood and of course romance, the movie's story becomes only stronger as the movie goes on.

With exceptional performances by Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken (the scene they share is without equal), Gary Oldman and Christian Slater, the action and violence only help to develop the plot and accentuate it's intricacies. Its superb ending has since been imitated - by Tony Scott's own Enemy of the State for one - but never as cleverly.

A must see for any movie lover.

In Detroit, comic book store clerk Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) falls for hooker Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette) who was hired by his boss as a birthday present. They get marry. He kills her pimp. They steal his cocaine. That's when things start to go wrong.

Tony Scott directs this violent outrageous movie, but it's Quentin Tarantino's dialogue that makes it stands out. Coming after 'Reservoir Dogs', Quentin was still an unknown quantity. I loved the wild dialog but didn't know anything about Quentin when I first saw this. Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper have a crazy exchange. I remember sitting up and taking notice like a new voice has come to American cinema. It's years later when I noticed Tarantino's name as the writer and it all makes sense. A name is given to the voice. Would you do Elvis if your life depended on it?

True Romance is a celebration of film. It wallows in every possible seedy contrivance of American crime/action cinema. It is absolutely shameless in its exploitation of excessive violence, over-acting, melodrama, lurid sex, and rampant drug use...I love it. Quentin Tarantino, as I'm sure everyone knows, wrote the story, but it is the in execution that this film pays off. The cast, oh the cast: The lynchpins are Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette. They both give solid performances, which prevents the film from flying off the tracks; they serve as the pilot light. The supporting roles are the gas. The Walken/Hopper show down has been oft sighted as the film's best aspect, and this is, arguably, true. Just watch this scene and then watch it again. Sparks actually shoot out of the screen and burn people about the head and shoulders. OK, you've got Val Kilmer as the ghost of Elvis, Brad Pitt as a disgruntled pot-smoking loser, Tom Sizemore & Chris Penn as cops, James Gandolfini (pre-Sopranos) as a reflective hitman, and you've even got Bronson Pinchot (from TV's PERFECT STRANGERS) for God's sake. Did I forget Gary Oldman? Do yourself a favor and rent every single Gary Oldman related project (they're not all good films, but...). Why is Gary Oldman not in every film ever made? Why? I ask you why? He has got to be the best actor working today, hands down. As Drexel Spivey, Oldman chews the scenery, digests it, and then expels it from every orifice. Keep in mind that he is an English actor with a normal speaking voice at home in the Royal Shakespeare Company. His performance here is second only to his turn in LEON in blatant over-the-top insanity. Tony Scott, who along with his brother Ridley, has been known to over-direct a film or two, here chooses wisely to basically set up the camera and run. The score by Hans Zimmer adds a bouncy xylophone driven theme to the film and finds the right balance. This a well made, balls-to-the-wall, popcorn throwing, cult classic. In a market dominated with stereotypical characters, this movie avoids that trap by letting the stereotypes flourish with all the grotesque absurdity it can muster. 9/10

After reading some of the other reviews on this film I felt compelled to write a review. True Romance is my favourite film of all time. True Romance was not a film that got dusted off in the midst of Tarantino fever and is not attempting to be "Tarantino'esq" in its direction. Actually this was the first script that he ever wrote. It was penned whilst he was working in a video and comic store in Amsterdam. He rented the apartment above- anybody who has seen this film will know the parallels with Clarence Worley. Tarantino was actually trying to get his work taken on at the time by some film companies and he requested Scott because he loved his early work. It is true that later on Tarantino kicked up a fuss because they altered the ending and he criticised Scott for making it too Hollywood. Clarence dies in the original script! Anyway Scott agreed to make both endings and let Tarantino watch them, Tarantino then conceded he preferred the new version. The film wasn't trying to be Tarantino-esq that part was just the authors input on the film which is not common when people are making films like Harry Potter as the author has no knowledge of film but it is very common when working with screenwriters! This film is the most romantic film i have ever seen, brilliant characters, amazing sound track, brilliant acting & the cast alone informs us that this is one of the best films ever made. Brad Pitt was asked to be a lead character in the film but was working on another at the time. Pitt wanted to be involved so badly that he flew in for a days shooting just to do 6 lines as room mate Floydd. "and some cleaning products" was ad-libbed! Just see this film.