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

The film stars three actors who have been in Batman films: Christopher Walken was in Batman Returns (1992), Val Kilmer was in Batman Forever (1995) and Gary Oldman was in Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

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Goofs

Elliott calls Lee on his car phone on Sunday. Lee tells him he will meet Clarence about Doctor Zhivago at the Beverly Ambassador on Wednesday at 3:00. Elliott hangs up and says that Lee will meet them at 3:00, but he doesn't say what day.

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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

Norway showed the R-rated version at cinema, but released the unrated Director's Cut version on video.

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Connections

References The Misfits (1961)

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Soundtracks

Will You Love Me Tomorrow
Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King
Performed by The Shirelles
Courtesy of Original Sound Records Co., Inc.
By Arrangement with Celebrity Licensing Inc.

User Reviews

praise to a truly great film

"True Romance" is one of those few movies that has it all: Action, romance, drama and brilliant acting. Not to mention TR has an all-star cast, but many contribute their finest work in this film. Oldman, Arquette and Slater arguably give their best performances. Christopher Walken's scene is nothing short of pure brilliance. I loved him in "The Dead Zone" and "The Deer Hunter" as well as his brief appearance in "Pulp". I was happy with the ending, and I'm glad it ended the way it did. We've come to not expect that type of ending anymore. This along with numerous other reasons too long to explain here is why I truly believe "True Romance" is one of the greatest films ever made. Period.