True Romance (1993)
by Tony Scott
The mild-mannered comic book seller Clarence Worley falls in love with the beautiful Alabama, a former call girl. To free her from a troublesome past, he kills her pimp and flees with her and a suitcase full of cocaine. But not only the police are on their trail, but also a dangerous mafia family.
QUOTE
“I haven’t killed anyone since ’84. Then I come to this comedian’s house to find out where that son of a bitch son of his is, and I have to take shit from this asshole.”
(Don Vincenzo Coccotti)
A HISTORY LESSON
When the Coccotti mafia family, led by lawyer Vincenzo, suddenly bursts into your home/trailer because your son stole the drugs of their client Lil’ Blue Boy, your chances of survival are hanging by a thread, to be optimistic. You know this well, especially if you’re a retired ex-cop. So, you can only decide how to go out. Because, even if you’re already doomed, your exit can still be truly memorable…
You get offered a cigarette and start with that historical anecdote about how the Moors conquered Sicily, mixing their blood with that of the Sicilians. At this point, you’ll have everyone’s attention, and that’s when you’ll tell them they belong to a lineage crossed with that of the ancient conquerors; something unheard of and unacceptable for hillbillies like them. But history says so, and history never lies.
You’ll begin to notice strange movements and growing nervousness from Vincenzo, and you’ll realize your time has come. And then you’ll look them all in the face, satisfied, and go out with a smile on your lips for having managed to really piss them off just before the bullet with your name on it, from the start, ends it all.
CONSIDERATIONS
Starting from a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary (the production imposed a different and less tragic ending), the director presents an adrenaline-fueled film that flirts with many genres, never losing its fundamental balance. Inside, we find a bit of everything: romance, sex, violence, mobsters and cops, aspiring actors and film producers, cocaine, road scenes, father/son relationship, ocean sunsets, seedy bars, passionate kisses, and shootouts with bullets flying…and even Elvis Presley.
The film has at least a couple of memorable sequences that remain etched in memory, and excellent performances from all the actors involved. Both the main characters and the supporting ones are remarkable, thanks to the presence of a stellar cast.
Christian Slater has the right look and bravado to play Clarence, and Patricia Arquette is a sexy and utterly irresistible bombshell. The small cameo by Christopher Walken, meanwhile, is worth the entire film. Gary Oldman, as Drexl, Alabama’s former pimp, delivers a memorable performance. And Brad Pitt, in the role of the stoner Floyd who spends his days lying on the couch smoking weed, is absolutely hilarious. In one scene, even the late James Gandolfini, the future Tony Soprano, appears. In its own way, a small cult film.
The Italian title is very bad and misleading, in my opinion.
