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:

Not since Bonnie and Clyde have two people been so good at being bad.

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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

Brad Pitt (Floyd) and Tony Scott also worked together on Spy Game (2001).

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Goofs

When Clifford Worley is being roughed up by Coccotti and his boys, Clifford remarks [paraphrasing here] that "Italians are part ni*gers" and proceeds to explain how the Moors intermixed with the Italian people in the 14th century. Moors are a different race than Negroes (sometimes derisively called ni*gers). Moors inhabited north Africa and Iberia (present day Spain). The Negro races are originally from sub-Saharan Africa.

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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

Both UK cinema and early VHS versions were the same as the R-rated US print, but with one further 3 second cut to the scene where Alabama (Patricia Arquette) is thrown through a shower screen. The cut was waived when the fully uncensored Director's Cut was released in 1999.

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Connections

Referenced in Hunting List (1994)

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Soundtracks

Raga Yaman
Performed by Clem Alford
Courtesy of Associated Production Music

User Reviews

Romeo and Juliet for the 90s

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.