Even as the first scene plays, this film touches you like no other. Here we have Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) telling a woman that he would have sex with Elvis Presley if it was a do-or-die situation. Now if that’s not opening up your heart to a woman I don’t know what is.
In any other motion picture this scene might seem strange. But not True Romance. This film marked the second time a Hollywood studio produced a Quentin Tarantino script. The first time was Reservoir Dogs, which he also directed.
Quentin Tarantino is the type of writer who creates a singular pulsating universe in which all his creations thrive (a Tarantino-verse if you will). True Romance is no exception. Though not technically a Quentin Tarantino film – it was directed by Tony Scott – it’s hard to not include this as one in Quentin’s twisted world of debauchery cinema. A world filled with self-indulgent pimps, mobsters and call girls, among others.
The male protagonist of this tale is Clarence Worley, an inept comic-book shop employee who spends his free time watching Kung-fu films. Clarence is the poster child for this film’s demographic; and as you watch him in action you pick up little nuances resembling one Quentin Tarantino.
For each birthday Clarence spends his night watching a movie at some local theater joint. Tonight’s birthday movie is a Sonny Chiba Kung-fu triple feature. During the feature presentation an unknown voluptuous blonde-haired woman walked into his life – spilling popcorn all over him in the process.
The unknown woman is Alabama (Patricia Arquette), a call girl hired by Clarence’s boss from the comic shop. She figures she’ll run into this “John” at the movie theater, they’ll go back to his place and she’ll be gone by morning. Though a call girl for only four days, Alabama finds herself falling for her third customer. Like Clarence she enjoys Kung-fu films, Elvis, Janis (Joplin), and is 100% monogamous. A hooker with a heart of gold if there ever was one.
After a quick declaration of love, Clarence decides to pay Alabama’s sadistic pimp, a drug dealer named Drexel Spivey (Gary Oldman) a visit letting him know Alabama is now retired. Not a wise decision by Worley. He must have been reading too many comics thinking he could go Superman on the nappy-haired pimp and his right-hand muscle Marty. By provoking Drexel, Clarence signs his own death warrant. A scuffle ensues among the three and Clarence barely escapes with a suitcase full of Alabama’s belongings. When he arrives home they discover the suitcase is filled with a half-million dollars worth of uncut cocaine. Jackpot, baby!!!
Clarence and Alabama flee the cold Detroit weather in favor of the breast-augmented capital of the world, Los Angeles. There the two meet up with Dick Ritchie (Michael Rapaport) an old friend of Clarence’s. Dick is an aspiring actor and has a stoner roommate named Floyd (Brad Pitt). At the same time, some unrelenting mobsters are following Clarence, Alabama, but more importantly the cocaine. The two lovebirds aren’t aware that the coke belonged to one Blue Lou Boyle, a notorious Detroit gangster. Definitely someone you don’t want to cross.
When hearing the news that Clarence had a great deal of cocaine to unload, Dick doesn’t know how to react. He tells his actor friend Eliot Blitzer (Bronson Pinchot) about the coke and Eliot tells his boss, Hollywood movie producer Lee Donowitz (Saul Rubinek) about the bargain basement deal Clarence wants to make.
At the rendezvous spot wayward lovers, criminals, police officers, and Hollywood-type bodyguards come together and culminate in a showdown that only a Sam Peckinpah or Quentin Tarantino fan would enjoy.
Tarantino’s script aside, the supporting cast choices must be seen to be believed. Christopher Walken plays Vincenzo Coccotti, best characterized as a high underling for Blue Lou Boyle. Dennis Hopper is Clifford Worley, Clarence’s father. (Both Walken and Hopper have a scene together that is so good you’d be hard pressed to peel your eyes away from the screen.) A pre-Tony Soprano James Gandolfini is Virgil, a problem solver for mobsters. Tarantino regular Samuel L. Jackson is Big Don. Don’t blink your eyes or you may miss him. Chris Penn and Tom Sizemore as police detectives Dimes and Nicholson and Val Kilmer round out a great supporting cast.
THE VIDEO
Replacing the film’s previous release in 1997, this DVD’s video transfer is quite good. The film’s theatrical aspect ratio of 2:35:1 is presented in anamorphic widescreen. The digitally remastered picture is not bad, but there is still some small object detail during some scenes. The colors, especially blues and skin tones, are very rich in nature.
THE AUDIO
The sound of this DVD makes for excellent entertainment. The confrontation between Christian Slater and Gary Oldman with pulsating techno beats and the Mexican standoff with bullets galore are some good examples. You can listen to the film in dts, Dolby 5.1 Surround, or Dolby Stereo Sound. You can also view the film with English, Spanish, or French subtitles.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Unplug the phone and be prepared to spend a huge chunk of time on this DVD special edition. There are two discs in this set that spread the wealth when it comes to extras. The first extra comes in the form of three screen-specific commentaries on Disc 1.
The first commentary is by the two stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette. These two didn’t talk a lot. There are times when the commentary lags and we just hear the movie. Slater and Arquette don’t provide much insight to the film either. They are just there to watch it and reminisce. Kind of like watching a good film with your friends and having an ongoing commentary. But your commentary would be much more enthralling than Slater’s and Arquette’s.
Quentin Tarantino provides his two cents with the second commentary track. Always eccentric, Tarantino’s commentary is one of the best special features. He talks about a whole spectrum of stuff. Everything from the fact that Reservoir Dogs played for two years straight in England to the fact that the dailies for Lee Donowitz’s Body Bags sequel are actually from Oliver Stone’s Platoon is included. Great stuff.
The last commentary track is by Tony Scott. I didn’t listen to this track too much, but the scenes in which I did listen Tony couldn’t say anything but good things for Tarantino’s script. He also talked about the importance of moving shots instead of static shots. If you are a fan of Tony Scott or a novice director take a listen.
Scott is notorious for sketching out an ungodly amount storyboards for a day’s shoot. I believe something like 900 or sketches were prepared for True Romance, and now you can see them! The Director’s Storyboard Track allows you to view director Tony Scott’s original storyboards while watching the movie. At the same time you can listen to Scott’s commentary by pressing the “audio” button on your remote control.
Moving on to Disc 2
The first feature on the disc is an interactive Behind-the-Scenes feature. This feature allows you to view the actual behind-the-scenes footage shot during the principal photography of True Romance. The feature gives the viewer a better understanding of what goes into creating a Hollywood production. Not bad at all.
The next feature is called Selective Commentaries. For this feature some of the supporting players (Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Brad Pitt, and Michael Rapaport) give their thoughts about the film. These commentaries are consistent with the scenes that those particular actors are in. Overall running time for this feature is about 56 minutes.
There are eleven deleted or extended scenes (29:00) presented in anamorphic widescreen with the option to view the scenes with or without director’s commentary. I believe eight out of the 11 scenes are merely extensions of scenes of the film. And most of those extensions were rightfully left on the cutting room floor. There were a few exceptions, however. There is one scene that gives more screen time to Christopher Walken that is good; it doesn’t really add anything to the story. The other interesting scene is one where Clarence is having second thoughts about going through with the drug deal. There is an alternate ending (6:22) that is separate from the eleven deleted or extended scenes. This scene is a blend of cutting room footage and some unshot storyboards. For the alternate ending you can view it with director or writer commentary or no commentary at all. It’s best to listen to both Tony Scott and Quentin Tarantino talk about the context of the film and why one ending works and the other doesn’t.
Cast and Crew Filmographies and a Publicity Gallery round out the rest of the extras on Disc 2. The Publicity Gallery is where you can find the film’s theatrical trailer, two TV spots, and several other features like a photo gallery, a featurette from 1993 (pure fluff!) and trailers for other Morgan Creek DVDs: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective; American Outlaws; Chill Factor; The In Crowd; Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; and Young Guns II.
DVD-ROM EXCLUSIVES: To PC or not to PC?
When you plug the first disc into your personal computer there are a few more extras. The first extra is a Screenplay viewer that can be seen with or without storyboards. There are also some production notes and a rehash of the cast and crew filmographies.
THE INSIDE PULSE
Released in 1993, True Romance came and went at the box office with little fanfare. After time, however, it developed a cult following. Strong direction by Tony Scott (Top Gun, Crimson Tide) plus a Tarantino screenplay filled with kick ass action, interesting characters, and great dialogue make True Romance a film that should belong in everyone’s DVD collection.
