In the early ’90s Quentin Tarantino exploded. When Reservoir Dogs became a hit at Sundance, there was so much press hyping the video store clerk who was revolutionizing film with his mixture of pop culture and gunplay. You couldn’t pick up a movie magazine at Borders without reading stories about him. People were eager to see his next film. But before Pulp Fiction stole Cannes, people were treated to Tarantino in script form when Tony Scott directed True Romance. Tony had done large action films with Top Gun, Days of Thunder and The Last Boy Scout. What was Tony going to do with a script by the hot wunderkind of the indie world? The director turned out a star-studded cross-country romp.
Clarence Worley (Heather‘s Christian Slater) strikes out when he attempts to get a woman (Hardcore TV‘s Anna Thomson) at a bar interested in spending his birthday with him. Why? Because he’s going to see a triple feature of Sonny Chiba’s Street Fighter movies. But he doesn’t spend his special day alone since Alabama Whitman (Medium’s Patricia Arquette) spills her popcorn on him. The couple go out for pie after the martial arts action and back to his place near his comic book shop. The two hook up. Afterwards she has two confessions. First she is a prostitute hired by his boss as a birthday treat. It wasn’t an accident when he got nailed with golden flavoring. The second confession is that she has fallen hard for Clarence. The whirlwind gets so out of control that they run off to get married. Before the honeymoon starts, Clarence has unfinished business. He has to take care of Alabama’s pimp (Sid & Nancy’s Gary Oldman). This meeting goes incredibly violent. At the end, Clarence grabs Alabama’s old suitcase and splits. Back at his place, Alabama opens her suitcase and discovers it’s filled with something unexpected. The duo hit the road to Hollywood in hopes of making a big score with their showbiz buddy Dick Richie (Michael Rapaport). Little do they know what is following them West and what’s ready to greet them in Los Angeles.
True Romance wasn’t a massive hit in theaters when it arrived in the fall of 1993. But a year later it was constantly being rented at videostores across America. The time of Tarantino was in full effect and people wanted to see this early effort while Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers were in the theaters.
The mixing of Tony Scott with Tarantino keeps the film a bit fresh after all these decades. The cast for even bit parts is amazing. Brad Pitt plays a stoner roommate who won’t get off the sofa. Val Kilmer is the ghost of Elvis. Bronson Pinchot is the hook up in a preppie outfit. Samuel L. Jackson is in a blink and you’ll miss him role. Chris Penn and Tom Sizemore are cops. James Gandolfini gets mobbed up before his break thru in The Sopranos. The passion between Alabama and Clarence keeps the story compelling. You can believe he’d challenge a pimp for her. True Romance is my favorite Quentin Tarantino film. This is so worth the 4K UHD upgrade.
You get two choices of the film. There’s the Theatrical Cut that runs 118:14. The Director’s Cut runs 120:36. The extra two minutes and 22 seconds is a lot of violent moments that had boosted the film into NC-17. Go with the director’s cut to get the complete True Romance experience.
Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The 4K UHD brings out the smoky charm of Tony Scott’s look. The audio is Original uncompressed stereo audio and DTS-HD MA 5.1. You’ll hear the bullets fly all over the room. There’s also a DTS-HD MA 2.0 in case you want the effect of a theater with speakers in the front only.
Audio commentary by director Tony Scott. He read the scripts for both Reservoir Dogs and True Romance on a plane flight. At 4 a.m., he called Tarantino to tell him he wanted to make both films. Tarantino said he was making Dogs himself. Tony Scott admits the Elvis estate wouldn’t give him the Presley session. Guess talk about doing Elvis by Christian might have been too much. Tony Scott hired Charlie Sexton to come up with a song for the opening bar scene. It’s good to hear Tony Scott talking about the film since he passed away in 2012.
Audio commentary by writer Quentin Tarantino has him going on about making his first major sale and working with Tony Scott.
Audio commentary by stars Christian Slater & Patricia Arquette reunites them to discuss their characters and adventure.
Audio commentary by critic Tim Lucas goes into both director and screenwriter.
Select scene commentaries by stars Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Brad Pitt, Saul Rubinek, Bronson Pinchot and Michael Rapaport lets the actors delve into their moments in the films.
You’re So Cool (9:57) catches up with costume designer Susan Becker. She had a huge fitting room having to go between Detroit and Hollywood for the characters. She talks about brightening up Alabama and going vintage with Clarence. She goes into making the Elvis jacket for Val Kilmer.
Relentless Romance (11:13) slices it up with co-editor Michael Tronick. He talks about the editing style of Tony Scott. He came in after the original editor’s assembly cut was nearly done. This was the last time he cut a film with a 35mm work print.
Amid the Chaos of the Day New (11:36) with co-composers Mark Mancina and John Van Tongeren discussing their work with Hans Zimmer on the soundtrack.
A Hunger For Mayhem (6:44) sits down with Larry Taylor, author of Tony Scott: A Filmmaker on Fire. He talks about how Tony Scott’s career had him going up and down with the returns on his movies. The film marked a change in his direction for a while. He talks about how the film might have done better if it came out after Pulp Fiction.
Deleted and extended scenes (29:15) has 11 more moments that were snipped away in the final film. There’s an optional commentary by Tony Scott so he can explain why it had to be altered.
Alternate ending (6:23) has things turning up extremely different. There’s optional commentaries by Tony Scott and Quentin Tarantino to let them talk about the change.
Electronic press kit includes US Featurette 1 (5:35), US Featurette 2 (5:38), International Featurette (7:46), behind-the-scenes footage (15:17) and interviews with Tony Scott (4:17), Christian Slater (1:50), Patricia Arquette (1:58), Dennis Hopper (1:46) and Gary Oldman (2:58).
Trailers and TV spots includes US Theatrical Trailer (2:17), US TV Spots (1:04) and International Trailer (2:27).
Image galleries includes Production Stills, Posters and Video Art.
Arrow Video presents True Romance. Directed by Tony Scott. Screenplay by Quentin Tarantino. Starring Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken and Anna Thomson. Rated: R/Unrated. Running Time: 118/120 minutes. Release Date: June 28, 2022.
