True Romance - Reviewed by Thomas Rosie

True Romance is a 1993 comedy/romantic crime caper, with a huge all star cast including Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, James Gandolfini, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt and one of my favourites- Christopher Walken, plus many more faces you'd surely recognise. It was written by Quentin Tarantino, but directed by Tony Scott, to me this film is one of those unheard of hidden gems. So, what's it about...

When comic book and Elvis fanatic, Clarence (Slater) meets the girl of his dreams in prostitute Alabama (Arquette) on his birthday night to the cinema, its an instant whirlwind romance love at first sight sort of thing and the two quickly get hitched. When Clarence makes a visit to her former pimp to cut her free of her old life and collect her things, things take a deadly turn and he ends up killing the man dead and taking a suitcase which he believes are Alabama's clothes, but in fact turns out to be ram packed full of Escobar's finest. With the mafia now trying to track them down, Clarance and Alabama hit the road for California intent on selling the drugs and starting a new life.

When i first watched this film, I went in not knowing much about it, other than it was a road movie, gangsters looking for stolen drugs, bit of violence here and there. Sounded a lot like of what I'd seen before but would be most likely enjoyable, it's Tarantino after all. Not too long in, i found myself chuckling quite regular, it is ram packed full of comedy, it's silly comedy which you think would ruin it but it just works so well, the love story between Clarence and Arquette is hilarious and chaotic, but also somewhat magical, as the two are truly devotes to one another. I've also never seen so many big names with such small parts, such as Dennis Hopper who plays Slater's dad, who is interrogated by the mob as to his son's whereabouts and is shot dead early on, i was like "Wait what? That's Dennis Hopper!", Christopher Walken doesn't feature for very long either other than at the start of the film. But each actor plays their part well, its quality not quantity after all. My favourite being Brad Pitt, who has played probably the best stoner I've ever seen in a film, he literally does nothing except answers questions with cryptic answers to various people who kick his apartment door in who are looking for his friends, chuckles a-plenty!

This film is simply a must see, though not directed by Tarantino, you can really see it's his work, a really well written caper that keeps you gripped and wondering "what on earth are these idiots going to do next". Hats off to Tony Scott , brother of the great Ridley Scott, who directed it, who is responsible for a few of my favourite films such as Enemy of the State and Man on Fire, not to mention Beverly Hills Cop and a few other older classics. Can't imagine it being an easy job directing the work of someone like Tarantino, but its all put together so well. Definitely up there with my all Time favourites.

I score True Romance 5 Elvis Presley hallucinations out of 5