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 5 wins & 8 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

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.

---

Plot Keywords:

media | satire | controversy | woman on top | serial killer | 

---

Taglines:

The Media Made Them Superstars.

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama

---

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:

Natural Born Killers

Filming Locations:

Las Vegas, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$34,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$11,166,687, 28 August 1994

Gross USA:

$50,282,766

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

Gary Oldman and James Woods were considered for the role of Jack Scagnetti.

---

Goofs

When Mickey and Mallory are in the drug store and Mickey sees the Wayne Gale Expose on them on the TV, and realizes that the Drug Store Clerk has hit the panic button he fires 2 shots at him behind the glass window but the glass window doesn't shatter. This is because they are using blanks on set but in reality it doesn't make sense because it would shatter.

---

Quotes

Mickey: Mister rabbit says, "A moment of realization is worth a thousand prayers."

---

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.

---

Alternate Versions

The Director's Cut was originally released by Vidmark Video, after Warner Bros. refused to distribute it because of a company policy that won't allow them to release unrated or NC-17 rated tapes (the Director's Cut was unrated). The Warner Bros. logo was thus removed from the beginning of the film. However, in 2009, Warner Bros. did release their own edition of the Director's Cut, in which the logo was restored.

---

Connections

Featured in MsMojo: Top 10 Lovers-on-the-Run Movie Couples (2018)

---

Soundtracks

The Trembler
Written by Duane Eddy & Ravi Shankar
Performed by Duane Eddy
Courtesy of Capitol Records
Under license from CEMA Special Markets

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.