Outlaw cinema masterpiece with A-list cred

Rating: 9/10 (8 January 2006)

I find Tony Scott's films hit-and-miss. I've liked all the Tarantino films Tarantino has scripted and directed, and I like "Natural Born Killers" a lot, a film he wrote but didn't direct. Originally, Bill Lustig was set to direct "True Romance", but Scott ended up with the project. The result? Cinematic dynamite! This is outlaw cinema with an A-list cast and budget. It is an intense, compelling, adrenalin-pumped masterpiece that is one of the most re-watchable films in my collection. There are so many great sequences and the characters, thanks to Quentin's sharp, inventive screenplay, are all distinctive and memorable. Christian Slater's "cute meet" with Patricia Arquette, in a cinema screening Chiba's "The Streetfighter", is just fantastic. Slater's across-the-bar conversation where he admits that he'd f**k Elvis is hilarious and perversely understandable. Gary Oldman's intro scene where he and his pals steal a case of cocaine and chat about eating a woman's p***y and a** is pure grindhouse. Dennis Hopper's big dramatic scene with Chris Walken is a knockout, as are all of Saul Rubinek's scenes. Val Kilmer is a great Elvis and James Gandolfino, as the humble baddie who beats Arquette senseless in one of the film's most vicious scenes, is give-the-man-an-Oscar great. Of course, cinematic masterpieces like "True Romance" don't get Oscars. Because all the elements gel so beautifully, why exactly TR works so well is not plain to see. It just does. It's high gloss ex-, blax- and sexploitation all stirred into one steaming cauldron of gunfire, bloodshed, sexy sleaze, hilarity, and the naive, glorious idealism of youth. It has a devil-may-care nihilism about it and an energy level that is rare for a film sent through the Hollywod machine to mainstream distribution. Not surprisingly, it didn't do great box office, but it's done good business on DVD and been rediscovered. Scott, when saddled with good screenplays, like "Man on Fire", "Revenge" and "Spy Game", is more than capable of delivering first class entertainment. When he's staring into the face of crap like "Domino", he camouflages the manure with bloated stylization. "True Romance" is his best film, and one of the best films ever produced in Hollywood. Oh, I almost forgot, Brad Pitt's "Floyd" character is simply, well, untouchable.