True Romance - with many spoilers

True Romance is a Romantic Crime Drama written by Quentin Tarantino. The script was sold for $50,000 in order for Tarantino to finance the filming and directing of the movie Reservoir Dogs. It was directed by Tony Scott and was actually considered a box office failure at the time, pulling in less money than it cost to create.

Verdict

My movie ratings consist of thumbs up or middle fingers as sometimes one starring something doesn’t shame it enough. 5 thumbs up = an absolute triumph. 5 middle fingers = a complete piece of shit, go fuck yourself.

True Romance - 4.5 thumbs up

One hell of a cool movie.

Favourite quote “He must’ve thought it was white boy day.” - Drexl’s take on Clarence’s bartering for Alabama’s freedom.

More stand out quotes:

“That’s the way it goes, but every once in a while it goes the other way too.” - Clarence about his fortune/misfortune in life.

“Don’t you love to get pie after you see a good movie?” - Alabama to Clarence after they watch the trio of kung fu movies together.

“You’re so cool” - Alabama’s note to Clarence during the drug bust

Favourite scene

The mafia interrogating Clarence’s father is hands down my favourite scene. Christopher Walken gives an amazing performance as ‘the Sicilian’ and the dialogue is second to none. After Walken claims he can tell if a person is lying as he is Sicilian, thus a brilliant liar, he asks Clarence’s father to tell him the truth about Clarence’s whereabouts. Clarence’s father used to be a policeman and is probably aware he won’t be walking out of that room. He chooses to smoke a cigarette and say the most offensive thing possible to him. The over the top laughter from everyone whilst looking at each other uncomfortably is perhaps the tensest moment in the movie and is amplified by Walken kissing his hostage on both cheeks and exclaiming “I love this guy” before shooting him dead. This moment plays out like a car crash you can’t look away from and exhibits all of the uncomfortable genius captured in the “funny how?” speech Joe Pesci makes in Goodfellas.

Best meme from the movie

Analysis

I simply cannot believe I have gotten to 32 years old and never seen this movie. I wasn’t even aware of its existence until it was pulled out of the jar. This pick, along with BONE TOMAHAWK have given me hope that there are still diamonds left out there in the rough that have somehow slipped under my radar. That there are still original stories, created by movie lovers out there that I haven’t yet discovered amongst the worn out, money making box office algorithms that the Marvel franchise has become and the trilogies stretched into 4 parts in order to milk audiences wallets dry. True Romance is one movie, with a start and an end that was written with love and directed with passion. Hopefully this template wasn’t left in the 90’s.

Anyway, it is obvious that True Romance was written by Quentin Tarantino. All of the signs are there. The unusual settings, the long insightful and well thought out dialogue, Samuel L. Jackson. All the signs. Written in the era of Tarantino that gave us Reservoir dogs and Pulp Fiction, this was the movie I’d been waiting for that never came. These are the best movies he ever made in my opinion and I’ve been waiting patiently for him to get all of the martial arts movies, Westerns and fictionalized retellings of horrific events out of his system and return to making what he makes best. That day will probably never come. Discovering this movie has put an end to the longing. For now.

The sheer amount of A list stars that feature is quite mind blowing. Tony Scott (or whatever casting agency he used) certainly had an eye for talent. Before the title screen, the list of actors in the pre-credits seemed never ending… Gary Oldman, Christian Slater, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Walken… the list seemed to never end. Then, further to those listed, Michael Rapaport (the father from atypical) appears about a third of the way into the movie followed by this guy, who simply MUST be Jonah Hill’s father:

The only negative points standing in the way of this movie achieving a full five stars from me are firstly that there weren't enough visits from mindElvis to Clarence in order to make it a running theme. It seemed more like a couple of random events and until Elvis showed up for the second time I'd actually forgotten he’d appeared at all previously. Elvis, funnily enough isn’t mentioned in the credits. The studio couldn’t get the rights to use Elvis’ music or his name in the movie and so he is down as ‘The Mentor’ who happens to be in Elvis’ likeness.

Secondly, where the hell did Christopher Walken go? He turns up, pulls out the most memorable scene in the whole movie and then disappears, never to be heard from again. I get that he was high up in the Mafia and probably wouldn’t have partaken in the gunfight at the end but it would have been nice to see him again. I need closure.

In the original script the movie actually ends a completely different way. This ending was filmed and is available to watch here:

In this ending (Tarantino’s) it gives an entirely different meaning to what ‘True Romance’ is. This ending suggests that there is no such thing as true romance and that everyone is out to get what they can from you. Alabama has come out as the victor here and plans to move on to whoever the next guy may be, climbing the social ladder with a bag full of money she’s encouraged Clarence to acquire. Tony Scott thought this would never fly and decided to have the entire ending of the film rewritten to see Clarence and Alabama run off into the sunset, raising little baby Elvis (somehow calling the kid Elvis was acceptable as he wasn’t actually dressed like Elvis). This ending changes the point of the movie entirely, but I much prefer it.

That’s it, there is nothing left to say except that I was always going to love this film. I’ve never held back in exclaiming my love for character and dialogue lead movies, which is pretty much a given with any Tarantino flick. The one character in particular I believe should have a spin off movie prequel is Drexl. It’s a shame Gary Oldman’s incredible performance was somehow diluted by all of the other amazing performances in the film. I would love to see more of this character.

The bottom line

An excellent movie, best followed up with a huge slice of pie. Don’t you love to get pie after you see a good movie?