As with Reservoir Dogs, I distinctly remember seeing True Romance for the first time. Indeed, not only did I see it with the same friend I watched the former film with, but it was the first Tarantino film I ever saw in theaters- though it didn't last long (as I recall, it only played a week), or we might have seen it at least twice.
As you might imagine, we got some side-eyed looks from both our mothers and our friends for being two guys wanting to go see a movie called True Romance together- this was the South in the early 90's, mind you- but ultimately we made a good case for ourselves by telling them the title was ironic, which is sort of true. In actuality, it's a play on comic books that used to be popular in the years before this was written, such as True Stories of Romance, Untamed Love and Strange Love.
Interestingly, the story began life as one written by Roger Avary, who would go on to co-write Pulp Fiction with Tarantino. Avary wrote a 50-page treatment for a story about a lonely businessman who hooks up with a wild hitchhiker and the crazy adventures they have traveling on the road together. After getting writer's block and being unable to continue, he asked fellow Video Archives employee Tarantino to take a crack at it.
Several weeks later, QT handed Avary a 500-page massive epic of a handwritten script that Avary set about typing up, editing and adding stuff as he went along, with Tarantino's involvement. The result was still too long, so the two decided to split it into two scripts, with the first being what ended up as Natural Born Killers, and the second this film.
The original idea was to have main character Clarence (who later became Christian Slater's character in this film) be a writer who wrote the script for a movie based on the exploits of traveling serial killers, Mickey and Mallory Knox, who were in jail at the time. At the end of the NBK section, the two escape from prison in a riot and decide to go after Clarence, who gets wind of it and goes on the run. (Shades of Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, of all things.)
The True Romance section had Clarence hooking up with Alabama (who went on to be Patricia Arquette's character), who was actually a femme fatale-type that plotted to get Clarence to "take care" of her pimp and get a hold of his money, later planning to leave Clarence high and dry afterwards, but she ends up falling for him for real, and is devastated when he dies in the end.
She then takes the money and runs, turning to a life of crime in earnest as a result of her experiences. It's at that point that she hooks up with "Mr. White," aka Harvey Keitel's character in Reservoir Dogs. If you listen carefully to a quick piece of dialogue in that film, you can hear White reference Alabama in a conversation with Joe. Obviously, at the time, QT still had designs on making True Romance, so he left it in, planning to connect the two later on as a sort of prequel to Dogs.
In the end, though, the mammoth script proved way too unwieldy, so QT split it up into two different scripts, in order to get both of them made, but as he was struggling financially at the time, he ended up selling them both off to help finance Dogs, which he wanted to direct himself. Actually, director Tony Scott initially wanted to direct both Dogs and Romance, but QT wanted the former for himself, so Scott had to settle for the one.
He also sold NBK to producers Jane Hamsher and Don Murphy, who subsequently brought it to director Oliver Stone's attention. As we will see in the review of that film, they would extensively rework QT's original script to the point of it hardly resembling the original at all, but Scott loved the Romance script and hardly changed anything, save one major plot point at the end.
As fans probably know by now, originally Clarence was supposed to die in the end, which is what leads to Alabama committing herself to a life of crime. But Scott ultimately balked at this, having fallen in love with the two characters, and he felt audiences would complain, too, at such a downbeat ending. So, he tweaked it to have Clarence seriously injured, but still alive and kicking at the end, much to QT's chagrin.
As a compromise, he agreed to shoot both endings and let QT weigh in on which worked better, convinced Tarantino would see things his way once he saw the end results. QT did indeed, allowing that, for the film Scott made, the ending made more sense, while maintaining that, had he ended up making the film himself, the original ending would have worked better, given that Alabama was more of a con woman-type, who merely allowed herself to let her guard down with Clarence before circumstances led her to go full criminal when he died.
Of course, Scott's version, while essentially about 95% faithful to QT's original vision, does lean in harder on the more romantic, fairy-tale-esque aspect of the story in a way that QT didn't, so it makes perfect sense that it would have a happier ending, as it should be.
On a side note, director David Lynch, not one for happy endings, either, also had a similar reasoning when he changed the original, downbeat ending of his 1990 flick Wild at Heart- which is fairly similar to Romance, in terms of being a road movie with lots of crazy violence involved and a loving couple at the heart of everything- and likewise gave it a happier ending, albeit in the most insane, Lynchian way possible (think Fairy Godmother, a la The Wizard of Oz). In the book, though, it ends with Sailor (Nicholas Cage in the film) leaving Lula (Laura Dern), as seen in the film.
But Lynch didn't have the heart to break the two up, hence the added ending, a rare display of a happy-ever-after ending from the quirky director, who's not exactly known for such things. Scott, obviously, could relate, which is a testament to the strength of both QT's script and the likable performances of Slater and Arquette. You want these two to ride off into the sunset together, and so Scott made it happen, which even QT had to admit was right for the film at hand, as did author Barry Gifford, when it came to Lynch's version of his Wild at Heart.
I just love a good road movie, and while this one compromises certain aspects of that- the adventures of the two are more confined to certain specific locations (Detroit, LA), as opposed to "on the road," per se- it still works as such, given that the two start in one place (Detroit), travel to another (to visit Clarence's dad), then another (LA), before eventually ending up in what they consider to be their dream destination, in Mexico. So, it basically still functions as a road movie, even if we don't see much of the traveling itself.
However, what really sets this one apart from other road movies, and even most QT movies, is how personal all this is. Up until the current Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, QT considered this his most personal film to date, which makes it sort of ironic that he didn't direct it, opting for the decidedly less personal Reservoir Dogs.
I suspect that QT tends to bristle at the idea of getting too personal, which is why the films he himself directed tend to be so far removed from that sort of thing- he makes the movies he wants to see, not movies from the heart, as it were. That's not to say that he doesn't love what he does, or invest love into the characters he creates- he absolutely does, or they wouldn't work as well as they do- but there has always been a sense of remove of the personal in his process.
That's why True Romance is one of my favorites- it's a rare, unguarded glimpse into the real QT. It's not hard at all to imagine Clarence as the young Tarantino, obsessed with Elvis, Kung Fu flicks, and comic books. Substitute working at a video rental store with a comic book store and it practically is Tarantino, up to a point.
Granted, it veers away from that, as the film progresses, but even then, the viewer gets the sense that Clarence is QT's alter ego of what he wishes he could also be, which is to say, an ass-kicking hero that stands up for the woman he loves by any means necessary. It's wish fulfillment, in other words, and he's hardly the first young writer to indulge in it. What writer doesn't want to be the hero of their own story?
I also love how the character of Alabama subverts the common "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" trope that was so popular at the time, particularly in the work of filmmaker Cameron Crowe (i.e. Kate Hudson in Almost Famous, Kirsten Dunst in Elizabethtown), which is to say that perfect dream girl that loves everything our nerdy male protagonist does. It doesn't hurt that she's from Florida (as am I) and calls herself Alabama (where I currently live and was living when I saw this film).
Sure, she's quirky, and into some stuff that was rare for a girl at the time before geeks reigned supreme like they do now, but real women are complicated and their tastes do vary, so why is it a stretch to think that Alabama could be into Burt Reynolds, Phil Spector's girl groups and Janis Joplin? (And still draw the line at The Partridge Family, lol.)
But what sets her apart from the more typical version of the trope is her background. As we discover, Alabama is actually a prostitute- ahem, make that a "call girl"- albeit one only four days into the job. Note that, in My Best Friend's Birthday, a lot of which serves to inform the proceedings here, the Alabama-type character, Misty, is on her first day on the job when QT's character hires her, making him her first customer. In other words, more of a perfect storm of the whole Madonna/whore complex. (She's trampy- but not THAT trampy.)
Here, QT seems to realize that's a bit much, so he tweaks it to make Clarence her third customer in four days on the job, thus adding a bit of reality into what could have been more of an idealized situation. Granted, it's just a small tweak, but QT doesn't stop there, thankfully.
In one of the film's most memorable- and hard to watch- scenes, you see how Alabama uses her feminine wiles to her advantage to buy herself some time when confronted by the gangster Virgil (a pre-Sopranos James Gandolfini), first flirting, then taunting, then luring him in for the kill by acting less capable than she is.
The end result of that confrontation remains, to this day, one of the most powerful scenes of pure unadulterated female rage ever depicted on film, if not THE most powerful one ever. This is no pushover, letting men walk all over her- she's a fighter, through and through.
Reportedly, the grueling scene took five days to shoot, leaving both actors exhausted by the end of it, understandably. I'd say Arquette has never been better, but she's actually grown into an even more solid, risk-taking actress with age, as seen in Escape at Dannemora and The Act. But she does pull off the delicate balance of playing adorably cute, blazingly sexy AND fierce as a mother tigress protecting her baby cubs here, which is something.
As a reward for all her hard work, director Tony Scott gifted her the pink Cadillac driven by Slater in the film as a wrap present. She later sold it to a friend, as it drew too much attention to herself and led to some awkward encounters with rabid fans.
After a certain point, the friend sold it to another guy, who subsequently sold it to a fan of the film, who restored it in time for the film's 25th Anniversary screening in April of last year. He rents it out for special occasions, and you can read more about it here and here. Pretty cool!
Interestingly, Arquette wasn't Scott's first choice for the role. He originally wanted Drew Barrymore, but her schedule at the time wouldn't allow for it- she was shooting a similar type of film, Guncrazy (which is no True Romance, but still kind of underrated), at the time, along with the classic Poison Ivy.
Other actresses considered include Juliette Lewis (who went on to play the lead in NBK, of course), Bridget Fonda (who went on to co-star in QT's Jackie Brown), Diane Lane (that could have been interesting), Brooke Shields (who reportedly begged QT for the role), Kyra Sedgwick and Julia Roberts (good God, no). Jennifer Jason Leigh was also offered the role, but turned it down. She would later go on to star in QT's The Hateful Eight.
Alabama, the character, was named after Pam Grier's character in the movie, Women in Cages. There was originally a mention in QT's script that Alabama "sounds like a Pam Grier character," which, of course, it was. QT himself wanted, of all people, Joan Cusack, to play the role.
As for Clarence, QT wanted Robert Carradine, of Revenge of the Nerds fame, which is equally bizarre, while producer Harvey Weinstein thought it should be Steve Buscemi, which actually might have been interesting. Weinstein thought Christian Slater was too good-looking for the role, and never quite forgave Scott for casting Slater, or Warner Brothers in general.
As a sort of revenge, he nailed down Tarantino for a multi-film contract soon after, vowing that QT would never work for WB ever again, which he hasn't, to date. (Hollywood will be his first film for Sony, in light of the whole recent Harvey Weinstein debacle.)
Given that QT wasn't happy with what WB did with his Natural Born Killers script, I suspect he never will, even though he liked True Romance enough to do a rare commentary for the film's DVD. You'd think that a motor-mouth like QT would relish doing commentaries, but he's actually shied away from it for the most part. His one for Romance is well-worth a listen, though.
The cast the film did end up with is nothing short of astonishing, though. In addition to Arquette and Slater, who are both great, the film also features a who's who of Hollywood at the time, including Gary Oldman as the scene-stealing Drexl, a white pimp who thinks he's black (Oldman reportedly signed on to the project sight unseen after Scott described the character as such- he even brought his mother to watch and comment on his performance!); Dennis Hopper as Clarence's father, a retired cop and Christopher Walken as the main gangster in pursuit of Clarence (the role was apparently offered to Liam Neeson, who turned it down- QT wanted Robert Forster).
The infamous scene in which Hopper and Walken face off as the doomed Clifford Worley and Don Vincenzo Coccotti is what I think is one of the greatest performances in film history, period. Reportedly, it was based on a real occurrence, in which a black friend of Tarantino's told him about the history of Sicilians in a similar manner, and rather than be offended, the part-Italian QT instead thought it'd be a great idea for a scene in a film. He was right, obviously.
Hopper was reportedly squeamish about the idea of having a gun rigged to bang right at his head- with good reason as it turns out, as Scott offered to try out the effect himself first and was injured when the gun misfired and he ended up with blood pouring from the wound!
Given that, remember, this was also right around the time that actor Brandon Lee was killed in an incident involving a faulty gun on the set of The Crow, and you can see why Hopper would be right in being wary about such things. One of the few ad-libs in the movie came when Hopper called Walken an "eggplant" and a bemused Walken responded with "you're a cantaloupe!"
Brad Pitt, who memorably played the housebound stoner Floyd, and Bronson Pinchot, who played the actor/personal assistant/narc Elliot Blitzer, also reportedly ad-libbed a lot of dialogue as well, but otherwise, the actors mostly stuck to the script, loving what QT had come up with so much they wanted to stay true to it, a testament to the strength of his writing here.
It was also Pitt's brilliant idea to have Floyd on the couch pretty much the entire movie, which QT reportedly got a huge kick out of, ultimately leading to the two eventually working together in QT's Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I'd have to say that rarely has an actor done so much with so little, thus proving the old adage: there are no small roles, only small actors. Pitt's own career would take off big-time soon after this film.
In other examples of great casting, Scott reportedly hired Saul Rubinek to play producer Lee Donowitz (incidentally, the grandson of Basterds character Sgt. Donnie Donowitz) because he thought he did such a dead-on impersonation of producer Joel Silver- even though Rubinek had no idea who that was at the time.
Scott had had such an unpleasant time working with Silver on the movie The Last Boy Scout that he actually pushed Rubinek to parody Silver even more and coached him on how to do so, which did not go unnoticed by Silver, who stopped talking to Scott for a long time after that.
Actually, I think Rubinek is kind of hilarious in the role, and you know what they say: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. He also gets perhaps the best line in the movie: "I've got more taste in my penis." (I also love "we park our cars in the same garage.")
There is also a great bit from Val Kilmer as Elvis, who was considered for the role of Clarence before it was decided he was too old for the role. Kilmer, even though he's only in a couple of scenes, true to form, took the role so seriously he stayed in character for months, even going so far as to call Scott in the dead of night as Elvis, serenading him to sleep.
The reason that Kilmer's shot the way he is, from the lower face down, is because Scott didn't want to have to pay for the rights to Elvis' visage to his estate, so they did it in such a way where he's more implied than shown, settling for Kilmer's rendition of "Heartbreak Hotel" to drive it home. Kilmer is credited, aptly enough as simply "Mentor."
There's also a bit role played by Samuel L. Jackson, who would soon, of course, rocket to super-stardom the next year when QT cast him as one of the leads in Pulp Fiction.
Likewise, Reservoir Dogs star Chris Penn was all too happy to tackle another QT script after the enjoyable experience he had working with the director on that film. Carrying on the tradition, Tom Sizemore, who played Penn's fellow cop and partner, jumped directly from this movie to Natural Born Killers, where he played another cop, Scagnetti, who is also referenced in Reservoir Dogs.
Finally, there's the excellent Michael Rapaport as Dick Ritchie. The character was written as black in QT's original script, but Scott like Rapaport so much, who originally auditioned for Clarence, that he changed the role so that Rapaport could be in the film. So, in a way, he kind of WAS Dick Ritchie IRL.
Unfortunately, that also meant he had to ride a rollercoaster for the amusement park scene and Rapaport reportedly had a fear of them, so he had to be drugged to get through the scene. If you look carefully, you can see the scenes where he's drugged, as opposed to the ones where he isn't, as he looks ready to hurl on the non-drug scenes and blissfully out of it on the others, lol.
If you know the film, it's actually Elliot that's supposed to be sick from riding the coaster, not Dick, ironically enough, but it was Rapaport that ended up getting sick for real. (Not that Pinchot was a big fan of rollercoasters, either, mind you.) He's fantastic in the film, though, otherwise. He was also great in the underrated flicks Zebrahead and Higher Learning.
True Romance is essential viewing for any Tarantino fan, even though he didn't actually direct it. Despite that, it feels very much like he did, aside from some of the glossier touches Scott and cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball (who also shot Scott's Top Gun and QT fave Revenge) brought to the proceedings, where QT likely would have gone grittier and darker with it. Of course, such things are a Scott trademark, so it's to be expected from anyone who knows his work.
Likewise, some of the song selections (i.e. "Outshined," "The Other Side," "I Want Your Body") are not the sort of thing QT would likely choose had he made the film himself, either, but there's just enough of the more traditional QT fare to make it passable in that department, i.e. "Chantilly Lace," "A Little Bitty Tear," "Graceland," etc.
Be that as it may, the soundtrack has some good stuff on it if you can get past all that, and the score by Hans Zimmer is essential listening for fans and available separately. The score, BTW, was directly derived from the movie Badlands, which was a big inspiration on this film, including the use of narration and the general "young couple on the road, getting into trouble" vibe.
But overall, this is a Tarantino movie, through and through and was promoted as such at the time. You just can't mistake that patented dialogue, and, as strong as it is in Reservoir Dogs, to me, it's even better here. Might Tarantino have made the wrong choice in opting to do that film over this one? Hard to say, but I won't deny that I like this one better overall. Indeed, it's one of my favorite things he ever did, and right up there at the top of my favorite movies ever, period.
I get that it's not entirely an "official" QT film, but given all the connections to the QT-verse, including the ones that were jettisoned, and the fact that Tarantino himself admitted its his most autobiographical film to date, to me, it definitely counts. Perhaps Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, reportedly the most autobiographical film QT has ever done himself, will eclipse that, but we'll just have to wait and see. Fortunately, it won't be a long wait, with the film premiering later this month.
I can't recommend this one enough, and it's one of the QT films I watch the most out of all his films, or rather, all the films he was involved with in some capacity. He may not have directed it, but it's close enough for disco, as they say.
Some of the set-pieces in it are amongst the best things QT has ever written, to be sure, and the acting is top notch across the board, even in the bit parts. It's chock full of quotable dialogue, even more so than Reservoir Dogs, IMHO, and that's saying something.
By all means, check this one out if you haven't already, and it's readily available in uncut form on DVD and Blu-Ray, with loads of bonus features, including three commentaries (one from QT, one from Scott and one from Arquette and Slater), plus scene specific ones from some of the other actors, several making of featurettes, deleted/extended scenes for more great QT dialogue, as well as the shelved alternate ending, with commentary from QT and Scott, and lots more where that came from.
It may not have been a hit at the time- it just barely broke even, earning $12 million on a $12 million budget- but thanks to QT's rising star afterwards, it became a hit on home video, and eventually, a cult classic. IMHO, it's one of QT's best, and arguably director Tony Scott's finest two hours. It's a must-see all-around, for me.
Join me later this week for a look at QT's other orphaned script, Natural Born Killers, which is a whole 'nother kind of road movie that's even crazier than this one; and, of course, for QT's big breakthrough, Pulp Fiction. Thanks, as ever, for reading, and be sure to comment down below or on social media! 😉
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