[Retro Crush | Giveaway] True Romance (1993) {Ended}

Written by Quentin Tarantino
Directed by Tony Scott
Starring Christian Slater , Patricia Arquette , Dennis Hopper , Val Kilmer , Christopher Walken

First there was Reservoir Dogs which was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino (QT)and was a small production with mostly little known characters actors (soon to become regulars in QT movies). Right on its heels was the QT written and Tony Scott directed True Romance which was based in part on a QT screenplay co-written between 1984-87.

True Romance is almost more of an urban fantasy then it is a straight action/drug/heist movie. Val Kilmer sharpened his iconic rock n roll star acting chops with a surreal take on Elvis Presley in this movie. Later, of course, Kilmer portrayed Jim Morrison for an entire film in Oliver Stone’s The Doors. Additionally Christopher Walken is at his most Walken-y as a ruthless hard-ass.

Of course one cannot write about True Romance without brining up Christian Slater. Five years after his ground breaking performance in Heathers, Slater slays the role of Clarence Worley: the Elvis loving neurotic everyman with low self esteem. Slater would go on to a few more good roles, but he would never recapture the spirit that was evident in Heathers and True Romance.

True Romance is about Clarence Worley, a down on his luck clerk at a comic shop, who spends his time watching martial arts movies and idolizing The King of Rock n Roll. On the night of his birthday he meets Alabama (Arquette) and the two begin an instant whirlwind romance. Clarence quickly finds out that Alabama is a call girl and a birthday present from his boss. Never-the-less, the two fall in love and get married within 24 hours. Clarence, inspired by a visitation from Elvis, decides to take it on himself to free Alabama from her pimp (Gary Oldman) and the consequences of that decision, and the resulting bag of dope, drives the two lovers on a cross-country adventure to find Larry’s crazy cousin Balki (Bronsnon Pinchot), a drug snorting Hollywood wanna-be who is the closest thing Clarence has to a criminal connection.

Hot on Clarence and Alabama’s tale is ice cold enforcer Vincenzo (Christopher Walken) who pays a memorable visit to Clarence’s dad (Dennis Hopper). Once in LA, Clarence runs into the likes of the early 90s versions of Michael Rappaport, Samual L. Jackson, and Brad Pitt as an increasing cast of bizarre dialog-rich characters take the screen and display once and for all that this movie is the brainchild of QT.

The build-up and finale of True Romance is pure Quentin Tarantino adrenaline that displays all of the hallmarks that highlight the bulk of his career as a writer. Tony Scott does not have the stylistic approach or ear for soundtracks that QT does, but he films a mean action scene which works because the last third of the film is pulse-pounding action and a ton of crazy, violent fun.

The Giveaway

What? 2 disc True Romance Director’s Cut DVD (not bluray) and the Pulp Fiction screenplay book.

How? Easy, tweet this on twitter:

Contest over as of 1/25/2010 @ 6:30pm

Win TRUE ROMANCE Director’s Cut DVD & PULP FICTION screenplay from @popbunker. RT this to enter! | http://bit.ly/4wDnpv

On Monday January 25, 2010 at 6:30 pm I will randomly select a winner to which I will ship the 2-disc True Romance DVD and a PULP FICTION screenplay book for free.

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