Dir. Tony Scott, 1993, USA, 116 mins
Cast:
Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken
Despite being his first script, True Romance was released one year after Reservoir Dogs had made Quentin Tarantino a household name. Directed by Tony Scott this was a long way from its low-budget predecessor and featured a dream cast of established veterans and rising stars. Just as everyone in Hollywood seemed to want to speak Tarantino's lines, an eager audience, still tenderly checking their ears, wanted to see what else he could do. With Pulp Fiction behind us and Kill Bill Vol. 2 released to wide critical acclaim, it is interesting to look back at this significant chapter in Tarantino's career.
True Romance is essentially a variation on the young lovers on the run story - comic geek Clarence (Slater) and call girl Alabama (Arquette) meet, fall in love and embark on a short-lived crime spree that almost tears them apart. The film follows the bloody footsteps of Joseph H. Lewis's Gun Crazy (1949), Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973) among others, with a slight departure in the central characters.
From the outset Clarence and Alabama are both innocents with neither one driving the other to a life of crime. In fact, Clarence first picks up a gun on the suggestion of his mentor, Elvis Presley (Kilmer), perhaps suggesting that his obsession with Elvis is an unhealthy one (in a later scene Clarence dumps his wealth of Elvis knowledge on a stranger at a burger bar, keeping him from his hotel room where Alabama is fighting for her life). Much of Clarence's character is derived from Tarantino's own life - "I get to re-visit who I was when I watch True Romance" (Tarantino) - and as a result plays as a fantasy.
Clarence is a minimum-wage comic store clerk in Detroit (depicted as dull, grey and depressing) who meets a beautiful girl and goes on an adventure to L.A. (bright, sunny and exciting in contrast). Tarantino even describes writing Alabama's character as "the dream of having a girlfriend but never having one", which perhaps explains the almost perfect relationship she and Clarence have in the film. It is this relationship that holds the film together and as an audience we want them to survive as much as we want them to succeed. It is also the film's most crippling flaw as the unbelievable nature of the relationship often threatens to destroy our faith in the characters.
This is not Tarantino or Scott's best work. While the film is enjoyable it suffers from an irregular pace and off-putting variations in tone. The reason for this is perhaps the decision to abandon Tarantino's usual chaotic style in favour of a linear structure. Although this makes commercial sense, the script (which began with Clarence and Alabama already on the run and has the audience playing catch-up) has been rearranged into a linear order rather than being re-written to reflect the change. The consequence of this is several scenes that seem too long and being told what to make of the characters without allowing us to form our own impressions. Despite this, Tarantino's strengths as a writer are still on display.
While Clarence and Alabama's relationship keeps us watching it is the supporting characters that make the experience worthwhile. There are too many fantastic performances to talk about here, but a special mention must go to Hopper and Walken who give the film its best and most memorable scene. More impressive than the performances is the way these characters are written - no matter how small a part, each one has a personality and an importance that helps draw us even deeper into the story.
There are many more stories here than the one we paid to see as each character has a life and a past outside the film. As a result it works as a perfect introduction to Tarantino's world and the people who live there. Although the characters are unique it is easy to imagine those of Tarantino's other work sitting in the background discussing botched heists and popular culture. If you have never seen a Tarantino film before True Romance is the best place to start.
Chris Regan
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