True Romance True Brilliance

Rating: 9/10 (4 June 2009)

"Sicilians are great liars. The best in the world. I'm Sicilian. My father was the world heavy-weight champion of Sicilian liars. From growing up with him I learned the pantomime. There are seventeen different things a guy can do when he lies to give himself away. A guys got seventeen pantomimes. A woman's got twenty, but a guy's got seventeen... but, if you know them, like you know your own face, they beat lie detectors all to hell. Now, what we got here is a little game of show and tell. You don't wanna show me nothing', but you're tellin me everything. I know you know where they are, so tell me before I do some damage you won't walk away from."
The above dialogue is said by Christopher Walken (Vincenzo Coccotti) in what , in my opinion is one of the greatest scenes in modern cinema.The verbal sparring between Walken and Hopper is one of the reasons why i love movies so much, so thanks guys!
It's been far too long since i watched this film , 15 years to be precise , and thanks to a little bit of self indulgence i have re equanted myself with the film that is "True Romance".
Clarence Worley is a well-meaning but socially unskilled comic-shop clerk whose idea of a big night out is catching a Sonny Chiba triple-feature at a downtown grindhouse. Clarence is celebrating his birthday in just such a manner when he meets a beautiful girl named Alabama , and it's love at first sight for both of them.
Clarence's enthusiasm isn't dampened much when he discovers Alabama is actually a prostitute who was paid by his boss to bump into him; she's only been in the business for a few days, and is more than eager to give up streetwalking to be with Clarence. However, Alabama is certain her pimp, Drexl ,will not be happy; he's an ill-mannered sort with mob connections and a fondness for violence.
Chivalrous Clarence offers to break the news to Drexl and collect her belongings, but he doesn't tell her he also plans to kill Drexl while he's there; a melee breaks out that leaves Drexl and his henchmen dead. Clarence grabs a suitcase that he thinks contains Alabama's clothes, but he discovers it instead holds five million dollars' worth of cocaine. The couple hits the road for California, planning to sell the dope and enjoy the good life in South America with the proceeds, but soon a group of very unhappy underworld characters are after them, as well as the police.
It's a rare thing that a group of actors are on top of their game , all at the same time in the same film but when it does happen , you get a film like True Romance. In my opinion Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette are perfect in roles as Clarence and Alabama . Slater oozes charm and Arquette could make any man fall on love with her . I think that these two actors put in the best performances of their careers. ( i cant think of anything they have done since that is as good.) .
Christopher Walken makes the best ten minute cameo in a film i can think off. he's funny , yet menacing , which in turn has a knock on affect with Dennis Hopper. An actor i don't normally rate that highly , yet in the scenes with Walken he is amazing.
There are other good performance from Brad Pitt , Gary Oldman and what looks like a young Tony Soprano from James Gandolfini.
Having given all this praise i still think True Romance is far from being perfect. Quentin Tarantino's script is not a polished as we see in later films such as Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, yet it's undeniably Tarantino . Also i was a little disappointed with the final five minutes of the film especially after THAT monumental shoot up. It's all a bit too "happy ever after" for my liking.
Never the less this is a classic movie and has a special place in my movie watching heart.
9 out of 10