Natural Born Killers (1994)

Two victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and psychopathic serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.

Director:

Oliver Stone

Writers:

Quentin Tarantino (story), David Veloz (screenplay),

Stars:

Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Woody Harrelson	...	Mickey Knox
Juliette Lewis	...	Mallory Knox
Tom Sizemore	...	Det. Jack Scagnetti
Rodney Dangerfield	...	Ed Wilson, Mallory's Dad
Everett Quinton	...	Deputy Warden Wurlitzer
Jared Harris	...	London Boy
Pruitt Taylor Vince	...	Deputy Warden Kavanaugh
Edie McClurg	...	Mallory's Mom
Russell Means	...	Old Indian
Lanny Flaherty	...	Earl
O-Lan Jones	...	Mabel
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Wayne Gale
Richard Lineback	...	Sonny
Kirk Baltz	...	Roger
Ed White	...	Pinball Cowboy

Storyline

The misadventures of Mickey and Mallory: outcasts, lovers, and serial killers. They travel across Route 666 conducting psychadelic mass-slaughters not for money, not for revenge, just for kicks. Glorified by the media, the pair become legendary folk heroes; their story told by the single person they leave alive at the scene of each of their slaughters.

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Plot Keywords:

media | violence | serial killer | prison | killer | 

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Taglines:

The Media Made Them Superstars.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for extreme violence and graphic carnage, for shocking images, and for strong language and sexuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Navajo Japanese

Release Date:

26 August 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Asesinos por naturaleza

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$34,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

£3,923,239 (UK) (17 March 1995)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Regency Enterprises, Alcor Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min 122 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rodney Dangerfield and Robert Downey Jr. also co-starred in the college-party comedy Back to School.

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Goofs

During the Prison Riot all the doors seem to be magically opened, the reason supposedly that the doors are jammed. The security locks in prisons are tested several times a day, and at the beginning of a riot all the doors would close and lock. However, as with the issue of the snake bites, this comes from an overly literal interpretation of the film, something which Oliver Stone strongly discourages on his DVD commentary track. The riot is not meant to be taken as a realistic depiction of an actual prison riot, and Stone acknowledges that great liberties were taken in the scene with the full knowledge that they weren't realistically accurate.

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Quotes

Mallory: I do. 'Til you and I die, and die, and die again. 'Til death do us part.

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Crazy Credits

The end credits are superimposed over a vast amount of stock footage, ranging from the future of Mickey and Mallory, stock A-Bomb tests, childhood photos of Mickey and Mallory, time-lapse footage, scenes from the movie, and so on.

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Villains: So Bad, They're Good (1995)

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Soundtracks

"Checkpoint Charlie"
Written and Performed by Barry Adamson
Courtesy of Mute Records
by arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

One Of The Wildest, Sickest & Craziest Films You'll Ever See

Yikes, this is a sick movie and one of the wildest I've ever watched.

THE GOOD - This is so stylishly-filmed it's unbelievable. The wild camera techniques - quick flashes, sudden changes from color to black-and-white and back, distorted sound bytes, tilted camera angles, wild colors and symbolic images, distorted sound bytes - are all fascinating to watch. Then there's the crazy story, which ranges from really good to really bad. It's good to see the tabloid media mentality mocked for the trash it is, glorifying evil just to get ratings and the evil killers feeding off that media frenzy. Most of the characters in this film, as bad as they are, are definitely attention-getting. The two leads, "Mickey and Mallory" are two names that now go together, thanks to this film and the ultra-sleazy portrayals of them by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis.

THE BAD NEWS - Most of the people in this film, if not all, are so vile, so profane, so morally bankrupt, so disgusting you want to take a shower after watching this film. Even the film critics who gravitate toward evil were repulsed by this movie. I actually enjoyed the story up to a point: about the halfway mark. After that, it becomes one gigantic mess, almost too difficult to watch in one sitting. I am mainly referring to all the scenes in the prison including the drawn- out riot/prison break, which goes on way too long. Over 20 usages of the Lord's name in vain - almost all of them in the second half of the movie, didn't help in my rating. Tommy Lee Jones, as the warden, and Robert Downey, as the Aussie scumbag tabloid reporter, absolutely go over-the-top.

OVERALL - In order to stomach this film, you have to look at it as some outrageous satire on violence and the media and take these characters as extreme cartoon-like people and nothing else. Take nothing seriously here. It might help to wear earplugs, too, in profanity and just plan noise bother you.