True Romance
US, 1993
Directed by Tony Scott
Written by Quentin Tarantino

Well, first off, look at the cast -- Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Rapaport, Tom Sizemore, James Gandolfini, and Christopher Penn.  A huge congregation of good actors, read Quentin Tarantino's lines.  How can it fail, right?  Well..it doesn't.

True Romance is essentially a lovers-on-the-run movie, but, as we might expect of Quentin, there's some violence, some mobsters, and some kung fu.  After knowing Alabama for one night, Clarence decides to marry her.  After doing so, he ends up with a murder on his hands and a case of cocaine, which they flee with to Hollywood.

What follows is both darkly violent and comedic (again -- Quentin).  The film is well made, however, with an excellent score by Hans Zimmer and quality cinematography.  The humor in the film springs more from dialogue than situations, and they're not punchlines -- Quentin just has a great way of making normal life seem funny.

The acting..well, just look at the actors.  Gary Oldman steals his part of the show as Drexel Spivey, a white pimp who talks like a black man and eats egg rolls.  However, the cast is uniformly strong.  James Gandolfini is excellent as a sadistic hit man as well, and is responsible for one of the more brutal beatings I've ever seen.  This film is certainly not for the kids.

All in all, I suppose it's the dialogue that really makes the film for me, but this is a great watch as something to enjoy or as something to watch for an example of good filmmaking.

The DVD that I have is a two-disc unrated director's cut, and is full of great extras.  Lots of commentary from Quentin, many deleted and extended scenes (Drexel Does Business is one of the funniest scenes ever written), and bios of all the actors are just a few of the interesting things.  There is also a long behind-the-scenes video.

Movie:  ***1/2 out of ****
DVD: **** out of ****

I havent seen it yet, but when I was in blockbuster I looked at the cast and was surprised at all the good actors. If its by Tarantino and has Christopher Walken, I'm there.

Oh another thing which I forgot..

Film buffs can find many references and actual shots of some of Quentin's favourite kung fu/HK action, and also a reference (I believe) to the fantastic Once Upon A Time in the West.

I have to say this is my second favorite Taratino flick, right beside KILL BILL (considering the two part flick as a whole).  The plot is rather simple, but plays well with a great cast of characters and a constant pace.  Tony Scott's directing is Tony Scott's directing -- I don't even want to compare Taratino's style and Scott's, but Scott has a little of Taratino's style.

Taratino's commentary is excellent on this DVD.  If you want a nightmarish look at the writing and studio process, listen to this.

Classic scene between Hopper and Walken.

Watch Hopper's eyes right after he finishes laughing about calling Walken and eggplant and takes a final drag off his cigarette. He knows he is going to die. Great subtle piece of acting.

You know, Marla, it's funny that you would say that, for the reason that my friend said almost that exact same thing when we watched True Romance together.

"It's awesome, because he knows he's gonna die, it's great subtle acting"  is what he said.  

Heretic,
Sounds like your friend was paying attention.

my favorite film of all time, I loved every second of it, some of the best acting I have ever scene, escpecially from Hopper, walken, oldman, and slater

Christian Slater's best film, followed by Very Bad Things and Pump up the Volume.
I like Christian as an actor, although it annoys me how he tries to speak like Jack Nicholson when he does TV interviews.

He's soooooooooo cool.  I met him in Vancouver when he was shooting a movie called the deal.  he was a real nice guy, I thought he was supposed to be some kind of prick, but he introduced himself to me and we talked for about half an hour.  he said true romance was his favorite movie he's done.  he hated 3000 miles to Graceland, and I admitted to him that I kinda liked it.  then I had a smoke with him.  it was the highlight of that year.