The Re-Visit: True Romance

True Romance is one of those movies I revisit every few years.  I’d first seen it as a sexy, young 14 year old when visiting my Dad one weekend.  Having just seen Reservoir Dogs and loving it, my Dad learned that True Romance was written by the same person, so Pops was all sorts of excited to crack a few beers with his boy and take in something new by the young Hollywood hotshot, Quentin Tarantino.

What followed was a beautifully violent, hilarious and touching story about two kids who chanced upon love and against amazing odds, persevered and thrived due to their never ending loyalty to each other.  Their relationship is passionate and sometimes unbelievable, but it represents a young man’s notion of an idyllic romance:  unquestionable love, loyalty and a penchant for kung fu movies.  What I love about the movie is that even though at times it seems farfetched that these two characters not only find things in common across the board but that they fall in love.  And that it’s absolutely possible; that it’s not out of the realm of possibility for two people from completely different walks of life, with different backgrounds and life experiences to fall so quickly in love.

Despite Tarantino’s early reputation as that of a cynic and nihilist, the film brings you into this world and makes you WANT to pull for these two.  In Tarantino’s original script, Clarence dies, and Alabama makes off with the money.  In her voice over at the end of the script, Alabama says:

“I could have walked away. I told you that. I told you I could have walked away. This is not my fault. I did not do this. You did this one hundred percent to yourself. I’m not gonna give you the satisfaction of feeling bad. I should laugh ’cause you don’t deserve any better. I could get another guy like that. I’m hot lookin’. What are you? Dead! Dumb jerk. Asshole. You’re a asshole, you’re a asshole, you’re a asshole. You wanted it all, didn’t ya? Didn’t ya? Well watcha got now? You ain’t got the money. You ain’t got me. You ain’t even got your body anymore. You got nothin’. Nada. Zip. Goose egg. Nil. Donut.”

That’s pretty fucking bleak.  Luckily, the late, great director Tony Scott felt the same.  In his commentary for the movie, he mentions a conversation that Tarantino and he had on changing the ending of the movie.  Tarantino felt that if the couple got away, it would be too much of a Hollywood ending.  Scott stated that he didn’t want to change the ending to appease Hollywood; he just really wanted to see these kids make it in the world, and thank God for that.  What we have is a tightly wrapped bow at the end of a hell of an adventure that doesn’t come off hokey or cheesy whatsoever.

It was a treat to watch this recently with my chick who’s never seen or heard of the movie until now.  Part of the fun is saying every line as it’s happening, but also, picking out all of the actors who pop in and out of the flick.

The Background Players:

It’s amazing to see just how many actors, famous or famous character actors, appear in this movie.  In every scene there’s either someone you absolutely know or someone you’re vaguely aware of.   We’re not going to go through some of the bigger names like Sam Jackson as the drug dealer in the beginning, Brad Pitt as Floyd, Val Kilmer as Elvis.  You have Gary Oldman, Tom Sizemore, Chris Penn, Christopher Walken….and so on.  Let’s look at some of the other folks who had a one and done scene that you might not have realized were in True Romance.

Conchata Ferrell

Plays the casting agent who Dick Ritchie (Michael Rapaport) goes to do a line reading for in the new TJ Hooker. 

Conchata has appeared in Edward Scissorhands, Erin Brockovich and most notably, plays Berta in Two and a Half Men.  Conchata is also a successful voice actress, doing work for TV and feature films and recently, Frankenweenie.

Eric Allan Kramer

Plays Lee Donowitz’s bodyguard Boris, who “hates cops,” and basically sets off the shitstorm of bullets. 

Kramer is a very successful TV actor appearing in NCIS, CSI, My Name is Earl, and playing the father in the very successful Disney channel show, Good Luck Charlie.

Saul Rubinek

Plays uber producer Lee Donowitz, who Clarence attempts to sell the coke to. 

Saul not only has one of my favorite lines in the movie, (“Don’t give me the finger, I’ll fucking have you killed!”) but is a journeyman actor, appearing in classic movies like Unforgiven and Wall Street, and is still keeping it tight and lively in the TV series Warehouse 13.

James Gandolfini

Plays Blue Lou Boyle henchman “Virgil”. 

Probably one of the more obvious background actors, but up until this time, Gandolfini had been a stage actor making his way into feature films.  His credits up until Romance were an uncredited cameo in The Last Boy Scout and a role in the classic (not really) Money for Nothing.  He went on….to do a few things here and there.

Ed Lauter

Plays the police captain who gives Chris Penn and Tom Sizemore the go ahead with their drug investigation.

We know Lauter from a bunch of shit, including Talladega Nights, Not Another Teen Movie, The Longest Yard, School Ties, the TV series Shameless and the 80s classic, Youngblood.

Paul Bates

Plays Marty, Drexel’s (Gary Oldman) right hand man, who confirms that today is not in fact, “White Boy Day”. 

I was surprised to see that Bates is also a hustling actor, most recently seen in Bad Teacher, and 2010’s Hesher.  I have to guess his second famous role is that of “Oha” who sings, “She’s Your Queen to Be,” in Coming to America.

Kevin Corrigan

Plays henchman “Marvin” who is part of the crew looking to take the coke back in the Mexican stand off at the end of the film. 

Corrigan is one of my favorite character actors.  Something about his face area makes me laugh in everything I see him in, and he’s been hitting it hard for a while.  He played Henry Hill’s handicapped brother in Goodfellas, the brother to Donal Logue in the underrated TV series Grounded for Life, Patton Oswalt’s best friend in Big Fan, as well as a gang of other shit like Superbad, American Gangster, Pineapple Express and Seven Psychopaths.

Favorite Scene: 

It’s difficult to pick a favorite scene.  In my opinion, the entire movie is a back to back to back of great scenes.

First up, this could not only be the best scene in the movie, but the best written and performed scene ever.  EV-ER.  Walken knows he’s going to get what he wants.  Hopper knows his time is limited.  Hopper decides, a goddamn Chesterfield would be perfect to go out with.  He then pushes buttons that he knows will give him a quick death.  Walken is more than happy to oblige.  Seeing these two heavyweights, face to face in a small trailer never gets old.

The Lineage of Sicilian Blood

Clarence Meets Drexel

I love how Drexel, within a few moments, has Clarence completely figured out.  I love how Clarence, knowing this, doesn’t give a fuck.  Drexel swinging that damn lap, Clarence dodging it and throwing it back, Drexel playfully dodging it and then smiling like, hey we’re just having fun.  Until it’s time to not have fun.  Turns out, it IS White Boy Day.

Alabama Comes Clean

I like to think that Alabama never would’ve imagined she’d end up as a whore….er, call girl.  But she did and within her first few customers, falls in love.  She’s angry.  She’s not going to be what she was, or what people said she was.   She yells that she’s not, “Florida white trash”.   She yells that she’s a “really good person.”  Clarence is just happy when her dress is off, she doesn’t have a dick.

Re-Visit Rating: 9.857/10