Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 11:29 pm Posts: 3103 Location: Golden, MA Gender: Male
MOTM # 63 TRUE ROMANCE
Written By: Quentin Tarantino Directed By: Tony Scott
IMDB PLOT DESCRIPTION: Clarence marries hooker Alabama, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood, while the owners of the coke try to reclaim it. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This has to be one of the most underrated movies of the 90’s. It gets no love on IMDB, and did “meh” at the box office. But if you talk to someone who has seen it, they love it. I can’t remember talking to someone who as seen it and said it wasn’t good. Thankfully most people have seen the unrated version instead of the R rated version in theaters. Now a days the “Unrated Version” is a marketing ploy, but when this movie was released unrated it really did bring it to the next level. Alabama kills the cop instead of some random henchmen, and the magnitude of the fight between Alabama and the hitman (Tony Soprano) in the hotel is light years different. It brought gravity to what was going on. Clarence and Alabama are flawed people, but that was the point. To have Alabama kill the cop showed you how little she cared about once she thought Clarence was dead.
There are so many great performances in this movie it’s hard to know where to start. Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, Val Kilmer, Brad Pitt, Samual L Jackson, Bronson Pinchot, Gary Oldman, they were all mesmerizing in the scenes they were in. Slater and Arequette kept pace with them all.
The show stoppers for me were Walken and Hopper in the infamous “Sicilians” scene. You new Hopper was making peace with God as he told the story of the Moors. They did more acting with their facial expressions than Zach Effron could muster in his entire career.
The other memorable scene was the one mentioned earlier the Alabama and the hitman played by James Gandolfini. Tarantino said somewhere he wrote this scene to show you that Alabama was a tough enough woman to live in a man’s world, and that that woman are capable of the same kind of violence usually only associated with men. I think he got it right.
In the end this is a love story. A twisted, violent, bloody, messy love story. No matter what happens you know Clarence and Alabama love each other, and that love makes them do whatever it takes to survive.
I liked Tony Scott’s directing. He changed the timeline of Tarantino’s script (It was out of order Pulp Fiction style – the original script started with Clarence telling his father he was in big fuckin trouble) for the better in my opinion. You got to know Clarence before the shit hit the fan. You saw it was a bit of a loser, and not a superhero. When push came to shove you were skeptical that he had it in him to do what he did at the pimp’s house, and during the events that unfolded thereafter. Hans Zimmer’s music was perfect, and Tarantino script was crisp (if a little outdated by the time it was made.)
Overall I rank this as my #2 favorite movie (Behind JAWS) for many reasons, but the one I will end with is my favorite line of the movie:
“You just said you love me, now if I say I love you and just throw caution to the wind and let the chips fall where they may and you're lying to me I'm gonna fuckin' die.”
Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:35 pm Posts: 4407 Location: Philadelphia/Los Angeles Gender: Male
fitzy wrote:
I liked Tony Scott’s directing. He changed the timeline of Tarantino’s script (It was out of order Pulp Fiction style – the original script started with Clarence telling his father he was in big fuckin trouble) for the better in my opinion. You got to know Clarence before the shit hit the fan. You saw it was a bit of a loser, and not a superhero. When push came to shove you were skeptical that he had it in him to do what he did at the pimp’s house, and during the events that unfolded thereafter.
Actually he also changed Tarantino's ending. As it was written originally, QT had the reveal that Alabama I think just basically runs off on her own it was, but the main point being that she never did actually care for or love Clarence, she was just using him as a means to split from Drexl the entire time. So talking about an uncompromising finish. And word is QT was downright emphatic that Scott keep this ending, and they went back and forth about it, but Scott eventually not only won out (obviously) but genuinely convinced QT it was a better ending to have Clarence & Alabama really be in love and walk into the sunset together. They talk about it in the doc material on the 2 disc SE. I'm thinking it was done by way of Scott essentially shot both types of endings, and once QT saw it (& I think maybe saw that ending with a test audience) he was sold.
But one other thing, trust me I know where you're coming from with this, but I'm not entirely sure it's really that accurate anymore to call it an underrated film. The film has grown a huge fanbase over the years, I think beyond simply "cult status", that generally I feel like it does more or less get its due anymore.
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 11:29 pm Posts: 3103 Location: Golden, MA Gender: Male
Samwise wrote:
fitzy wrote:
I liked Tony Scott’s directing. He changed the timeline of Tarantino’s script (It was out of order Pulp Fiction style – the original script started with Clarence telling his father he was in big fuckin trouble) for the better in my opinion. You got to know Clarence before the shit hit the fan. You saw it was a bit of a loser, and not a superhero. When push came to shove you were skeptical that he had it in him to do what he did at the pimp’s house, and during the events that unfolded thereafter.
Actually he also changed Tarantino's ending. As it was written originally, QT had the reveal that Alabama I think just basically runs off on her own it was, but the main point being that she never did actually care for or love Clarence, she was just using him as a means to split from Drexl the entire time. So talking about an uncompromising finish. And word is QT was downright emphatic that Scott keep this ending, and they went back and forth about it, but Scott eventually not only won out (obviously) but genuinely convinced QT it was a better ending to have Clarence & Alabama really be in love and walk into the sunset together. They talk about it in the doc material on the 2 disc SE. I'm thinking it was done by way of Scott essentially shot both types of endings, and once QT saw it (& I think maybe saw that ending with a test audience) he was sold.
But one other thing, trust me I know where you're coming from with this, but I'm not entirely sure it's really that accurate anymore to call it an underrated film. The film has grown a huge fanbase over the years, I think beyond simply "cult status", that generally I feel like it does more or less get its due anymore.
I think in the version you are talkign about Clarence dies, so alabama is on her own, but I could be wrong.
I do believe the printed script had Clarence dying but the difference being that 'bama felt no guilt toward his death while moving on with the money and a Sgt Fury comic book after finding the paper napkin note "You're So Cool."
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 11:29 pm Posts: 3103 Location: Golden, MA Gender: Male
oasisfan35 wrote:
I do believe the printed script had Clarence dying but the difference being that 'bama felt no guilt toward his death while moving on with the money and a Sgt Fury comic book after finding the paper napkin note "You're So Cool."
I read that as she is trying to convince herself she doesn't care. when she really does, because she loved him. She is trying be tought, but if you keep reading she breaks down. She even think about killing herself becasue Clarence is gone.
I do believe the printed script had Clarence dying but the difference being that 'bama felt no guilt toward his death while moving on with the money and a Sgt Fury comic book after finding the paper napkin note "You're So Cool."
I read that as she is trying to convince herself she doesn't care. when she really does, because she loved him. She is trying be tought, but if you keep reading she breaks down. She even think about killing herself becasue Clarence is gone.
Yeah, I just picked the book up off the shelf and went over it again. I can see that as well, I personally feel more akin to my earlier interpretation but I should read the screenplay again to put it into context; it's been a along while.
_________________ absinthe makes the heart grow fonder And so it goes...
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:02 pm Posts: 10690 Location: Lost in Twilight's Blue
So does anyone have this on blu-ray? I've heard mixed reports on whether or not it's worth it.
_________________ Scared to say what is your passion, So slag it all, Bitter's in fashion, Fear of failure's all you've started, The jury is in, verdict: Retarded
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 2:29 pm Posts: 6984 Location: if anyone wants me, i'll be in my room Gender: Male
Mercury wrote:
So does anyone have this on blu-ray? I've heard mixed reports on whether or not it's worth it.
someone told me the extras were 'about the same', but other than that i dont know. ill probably pick it up when i get my player just to see it in hi def.
Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2007 1:35 pm Posts: 4407 Location: Philadelphia/Los Angeles Gender: Male
Play C3 wrote:
Mercury wrote:
So does anyone have this on blu-ray? I've heard mixed reports on whether or not it's worth it.
someone told me the extras were 'about the same', but other than that i dont know. ill probably pick it up when i get my player just to see it in hi def.
Ya know that reminds me, on a bit of a sidenote, I've noticed that with some BR titles, they've actually wound up having fewer special features than the previous regular DVD version had, and that just seems ludicrous to me. Like a particular one I noticed (& I remember as it's one of my favorite films) when "The Usual Suspects" hit BR, it barely had anything that the DVD had (which granted, there have been at least 2 different runnings of that on DVD, but the later one was a really loaded special edition, but when I first saw the BR for the flick it couldn't even compare for supplementals).
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 9:10 am Posts: 17256 Location: Chichen to the Thing
Samwise wrote:
Play C3 wrote:
Mercury wrote:
So does anyone have this on blu-ray? I've heard mixed reports on whether or not it's worth it.
someone told me the extras were 'about the same', but other than that i dont know. ill probably pick it up when i get my player just to see it in hi def.
Ya know that reminds me, on a bit of a sidenote, I've noticed that with some BR titles, they've actually wound up having fewer special features than the previous regular DVD version had, and that just seems ludicrous to me. Like a particular one I noticed (& I remember as it's one of my favorite films) when "The Usual Suspects" hit BR, it barely had anything that the DVD had (which granted, there have been at least 2 different runnings of that on DVD, but the later one was a really loaded special edition, but when I first saw the BR for the flick it couldn't even compare for supplementals).
how are they going to get you to buy two copies if they give you everything up front?
_________________ I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door
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