True Romance (1993)

In Detroit, a lonely pop culture geek marries a call girl, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood. Meanwhile, the owners of the cocaine, the Mob, track them down in an attempt to reclaim it.

Director:

Tony Scott

Writer:

Quentin Tarantino

Stars:

Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper

1 win & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christian Slater	...	Clarence Worley
Patricia Arquette	...	Alabama Whitman
Dennis Hopper	...	Clifford Worley
Val Kilmer	...	Mentor
Gary Oldman	...	Drexl Spivey
Brad Pitt	...	Floyd - Dick's Roommate
Christopher Walken	...	Vincenzo Coccotti
Bronson Pinchot	...	Elliot Blitzer
Samuel L. Jackson	...	Big Don
Michael Rapaport	...	Dick Ritchie
Saul Rubinek	...	Lee Donowitz
Conchata Ferrell	...	Mary Louise Ravencroft
James Gandolfini	...	Virgil
Anna Levine	...	Lucy (as Anna Thomson)
Victor Argo	...	Lenny

Storyline

In Detroit, Clarence Worley goes to the movie theater alone on the day of his birthday to watch some movies. The gorgeous Alabama Whitman accidentally drops her popcorn on Clarence and they watch the movie together. Later they go to a diner for pie, and end up having a one night stand. In the morning, Alabama confesses that she is a call-girl hired to spend the night with him, but she has fallen in love with him. In the morning they get married and Clarence goes to the club where she worked to bring her some clothes. However, her pimp Drexl Spivey and his partner beat up Clarence and he reacts by killing them both. Clarence asks for Alabama's suitcase with her clothes and the other girls mistakenly give another one with cocaine. When Clarence discovers the mistake, he decides to travel with Alabama to the house of his friend, the aspiring actor Dick Ritchie, to sell the drug and travel to Mexico. He visits his father Clifford Worley and gives his address to him. But the Sicilian Mafia...

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Plot Keywords:

drugs | cocaine | pimp | aspiring actor | los angeles california | 

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Taglines:

Stealing, Cheating, Killing. Who said romance is dead?

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and language, and for sexuality and drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA France

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

10 September 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

True Romance

Filming Locations:

The Vista Theatre - 4473 Sunset Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$13,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$12,281,500

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morgan Creek Entertainment, Davis-Films, August Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min 121 min (unrated director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR Dolby DTS (5.1) Dolby Digital (5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While "interrogating" Mr. Worley in his trailer, Coccotti and his crew casually leave their fingerprints all over the crime scene. Coccotti also leaves behind a cigarette butt and a wad of gum, both of which could have been forensically tested for DNA.

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Goofs

The Safari Inn is portrayed as being near the intersection of Sunset and La Brea in Hollywood. In fact, it's a real hotel located approximately 6 miles away in Burbank, CA.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Clarence Worley: In Jailhouse Rock he was everything rockabilly's about. I mean, he is rockabilly. Mean, surly, nasty, rude. In that movie he couldn't give a fuck about nothing except rockin' and rollin', living fast, dying young and leaving a good-looking corpse.

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Alternate Versions

The syndicated US television version has been drastically cut, removing all profanities to the point of absurdity, removing portions of some scenes, and whole scenes as well. Among the cut material: Big Don's murder at the hands of Drexl; pieces of dialogue between Clarence and Drexl and between Clarence and Elliot in the amusement park; Elliot's interrogation by Nicholson and Dimes; and the fight between Alabama and Virgil (when she sets him on fire, the camera zooms on the spray coming from the nozzle). The scene where Clarence murders Drexl is also cut (we don't see him shooting Drexl between the legs.)

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Connections

Spoofed in The Mangler 2 (2002)

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Soundtracks

(Love Is) A Tender Trap
Written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen
Performed by Robert Palmer
Courtesy of EMI Records Group / EMI Records
Under License from CEMA Special Markets

User Reviews

Cult Movie to the Best

In Detroit, Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) goes to the movie theater alone on the day of his birthday to watch three kung-fu movies. The gorgeous Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette) accidentally drops her popcorns on Clarence and they watch the movie together. Then they eat pieces of pie and they have one night stand. On the dawn, Alabama confesses that she is a call-girl hired by his boss and friend to spend the night with him, but she has fallen in love with him. In the morning they get married and Clarence goes to the club where she worked to bring her clothes. However her pimp Drexl Spivey (Gary Oldman) and his partner beat up Clarence that reacts killing them both. Clarence asks to the other girls to give Alabama's suitcase with her clothes and they mistakenly give another one with cocaine.

When Clarence discovers the mistake, he decides to travel with Alabama to the house of his friend, the aspirant actor Dick Ritchie (Michael Rapaport), to sell the drug in Los Angeles and then travel to Mexico. He visits his father Clifford Worley (Dennis Hopper) and gives his address to him. But the Sicilian Mafia is the owner of the drug and a group of killers is hunting down Clarence and Alabama.

"True Romance" is a great cult movie written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott. Patricia Arquette and Christian Slater show a wonderful chemistry and have top-notch performances and the supporting cast is impressive. The movie has a non-stop action and is excellent even after watching many times. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Amor à Queima Roupa" ("Love at Close Range")