Mickey Knox and Mallory Wilson aren't your typical lovers - after killing her abusive father, they go on a road trip where, every time they stop somewhere, they kill pretty well everyone around them. They do however leave one person alive at every shootout to tell the story and they soon become a media sensation thanks to sensationalized reporting. Told in a highly visual style.Written by
garykmcd
The bridge where Mickey and Mallory get married is the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge over the Rio Grande Gorge, outside of Taos, New Mexico. See more »
Goofs
Several times during the Prison riot scenes people's weapons constantly reload 'magically' as no one (save Mickey) is ever seen to be reloading their weapons, nor even seen to be procuring shells or magazines from the bodies of guards, yet they still continue to fire. Again, this comes from reading the film too literally; the riot is not supposed to be taken as a realistic depiction of a riot. See more »
Quotes
Ed Wilson:
eat with this fucking food we pray after we eat.
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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. See more »
Alternate Versions
The Director's Cut features roughly 4 minutes of material removed from the theatrical version prior to release in order to get a R rating. Here are details of the additional scenes, in chronological order:
there are three additional shots in the pre-credits scene in the diner. The first is found when Mallory knocks Sonny (Richard Lineback) over the partition. In the theatrical cut, the scene immediately cuts to Sonny's friend (James Gammon) getting up out of his chair to intervene. But in the Director's Cut however, there is an additional shot of Mallory slamming Sonny's head into a table, and blood spraying across the surface of the table. Next, when Mickey slits Sonny's friend's stomach, there are three additional slashes not found in the theatrical cut. Lastly, as Mallory jumps up and down on Sonny's back, there is an additional shot of her grabbing his blood soaked head and pounding it into the ground;
the death of Ed Wilson (Rodney Dangerfield) has one additional shot as Wilson is leaning up against the wall prior to being dunked into the fish-tank, and Mickey hits him with the tire-iron across the back of the head;
as Mallory drives to the garage after arguing with Mickey about the hostage (Corinna Laszlo), there is a brief shot of Mickey raping the hostage in the motel room;
Jack Scagnetti's (Tom Sizemore) murder of Pinky (Lorraine Farris) contains an additional shot of Scagnetti with his hands around her throat and her struggling underneath him, whilst he keeps on saying to her, "I'm only kidding, I'm only kidding";
when Mickey kills the pharmacist (Glen Chin) at DrugZone, there are two additional shots; one showing the pharmacist's blood spraying onto the glass divide, the other showing the clerk falling to his knees and dying;
the scene where the police beat up Mallory outside the pharmacist contains a few extra shots of policemen punching her;
as Mickey attempts to kill the guards in the cell after the interview has been terminated, there are several additional shots showing members of Wayne Gale's (Robert Downey Jr.) crew being shot and killed;
after Mickey has taken control of the TV crew, he 'persuades' Kavanaugh (Pruitt Taylor Vince) to come with them by breaking his fingers;
the prison riot sequences contain numerous additional shots. Four particularly obvious ones are: a guard is shoved into a washing machine, which is then turned on; a guard has his head pushed in under a steam press; a guard is thrown into an industrial oven; a guard is flung from the top story of the prison;
the scene where Scagnetti sprays mace in Mallory's eyes is longer, with a more sustained spraying, whilst the guards hit her;
a tracking shot in a barber's during the riot show inmates slitting the throats of other inmates;
during the riot, the scene where the prisoner throws a stick of dynamite into a door way is extended; after the dynamite has been thrown, there is a shot of the explosion and a prisoner being flung from the room and rebounding off the wall;
in the scene where Mickey rescues Mallory from Jack Scagnetti, there are additional shots of the bullets hitting the guards;
there are more shots of Jack Scagnetti trashing about on the ground after being stabbed, prior to being shot;
when Mallory holds the gun to Scagnetti's head and asks him if he still wants her, in the theatrical version, she pulls the trigger immediately. In the Director's Cut, there is a shot of Scagnetti screaming;
as Mickey, Mallory, and the others flee Mallory's cell, they are ambushed, and Wayne Gale's crew is wiped out. In the theatrical version, little is seen of this, but in the Director's Cut, there are clear shots of his crew being gunned down, especially Julie (Terrylene), who is killed in slow motion;
during the standoff at the stairs, Dwight McClusky (Tommy Lee Jones) orders the guards to open fire at Mickey because Kavanaugh (Pruitt Taylor Vince), who Mickey is using as a shield, is already dead. In the theatrical version, when McClusky gives the order to fire, there is an awkward cut to Mallory holding Wayne Gale, and the guards never fire. In the Director's Cut, the guards open fire, riddling Kavanaugh's (still living) body with bullets.
after Mallory shoots Wayne Gale's hand, there is a brief shot through the hole created by the bullet, looking down at McClusky;
McClusky's death is far more explicit. After being dragged down from the gate by the inmates, in the theatrical version, we never see him again, but in the Director's Cut, after a moment, a prisoner raises a spear, with McClusky's severed head perched on top;
Wayne Gale's death scene is longer and includes more shots of the bullets hitting him;
numerous additional shots of the subliminal demons are scattered throughout the film.
fine, i was wrong, i admit it. in fall of 1994 i went to the theater and sat thru several hours of what i believed at the time was complete nonsensical garbage. the initial impression made by 'natural born killers' was one of overkill...literally. several years later i had the chance to revisit this film with the directors edition, what a difference it was. i still do not know whether it was seeing the entire movie as stone envisioned it, or if it had to do with seeing the nineties play out as a decade obsessed with celebrity, prizing infamy over fame. it was hard for me to come to terms with juliette lewis's style of acting. one has to admit that she is unlike any other to come before, or will probably come after. it is the same intensity that she brings to every role that makes her a star, and an annoyance when in the wrong mindset.
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fine, i was wrong, i admit it. in fall of 1994 i went to the theater and sat thru several hours of what i believed at the time was complete nonsensical garbage. the initial impression made by 'natural born killers' was one of overkill...literally. several years later i had the chance to revisit this film with the directors edition, what a difference it was. i still do not know whether it was seeing the entire movie as stone envisioned it, or if it had to do with seeing the nineties play out as a decade obsessed with celebrity, prizing infamy over fame. it was hard for me to come to terms with juliette lewis's style of acting. one has to admit that she is unlike any other to come before, or will probably come after. it is the same intensity that she brings to every role that makes her a star, and an annoyance when in the wrong mindset.