Tarantino’s ‘True Romance’ not your typical love story

"People have asked me:
‘So would you ever do a romance movie?’
Like that’s so not what I would do.
‘Well, I did a romantic movie, True Romance.’
‘No, No, I mean like a real romantic movie.’
‘Well, that is a real romantic movie.’
‘No, like one without violence?’
‘Well, there’ll be a lot of things in any movie I do that will be contradictory,

but anybody who’s a fan of the movie can tell you,

the title — True Romance — is not ironic… this is True Romance.”
— Quentin Tarantino

And Tarantino is right at that. “True Romance” may contain more violence, more blood and more F-bombs than your typical Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy, but it is the epitome of romance — and it begs the question: How far would you go for the one you love?

Directed by Tony Scott, and the first major screenplay out of Mr. Tarantino’s handbook, “True Romance” takes you on a ride you’ll never forget — and it may leave you saying “What the heck” more than “Awww.”

“True Romance” tells the story of Clarence (Christian Slater), a lonely comic book store clerk, who on his birthday meets a lovely lady named Alabama (Patricia Arquette) at a movie double-feature. They have a grand ol’ time together that night and are quickly head-over-heels in love. Later that night, Alabama’s conscious comes into play and she admits to Clarence that she’s a call girl that Clarence’s boss hired for his birthday.

Though upset and frustrated, Clarence can’t deny that he loves Alabama, and they marry the next day. Now arises the problem of Alabama getting out of her ‘contract’ with her crazy-eyed, dread-head pimp, Drexl (played wonderfully by Gary Oldman, who makes the most out of his 10-minute scene). The problem is solved when Clarence kills Drexl, (an act Alabama deems “so romantic”) but instead of grabbing her bag of clothes, he grabs a bag of cocaine. They realize their mistake and hatch a plan to make the best of it by profiting off of the sale of the drugs and escaping to Cancun together, to live happily every after.

Of course, it’s not that simple. Unlike the typical rom-com, Clarence and Alabama have to work hard to stay together — they flee to L.A., are confronted by gangsters, make drug deals and find themselves in the middle of massive shootouts — all in the name of love.

And it’s well worth it, as Clarence and Alabama are truly meant for each other. Alabama is a woman who fights with her heart — just wait until a scene where she’s caputured by a henchman, played by James Gandolfini (aka Tony Soprano). She’s may be sweet, but she’s also in love and nobody — not even a 300-pound henchman — will stand in her way.

And Clarence is happy to have such a beautiful lady in his lonely life. Christian Slater is perfect to play such a nice guy turned reckless fighter. His leading man looks may not be the conventional Brad Pitt type (who, by the way, also has a small, but wonderful role in the film), but he’s got heart, which brings out a bit of psychotic in him, and he’ll do anything for Alabama.

Everything about “True Romance” is superb: the writing, the characters, the editing and the music (score by Hans Zimmer) all fuse together nicely. It may not have made any money at the box office ($11.5 million in 1993), but it has gone on to be a huge cult favorite.

Add to the mix a top-notch supporting cast, and you can’t go wrong: The already mentioned Gandolfini, Pitt and Oldman, along with Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Michael Rapaport, Val Kilmer, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn and Tom Sizemore, work their magic and put on a great show for us.

In one of the best scenes of the movie, Hopper, who plays Clarence’s police officer dad, is confronted by a gangster (Walken) about the whereabouts of Clarence. They exchange racially-slurred jabs at one another in a somewhat comical way — all the while, Clarence’s dad knows that he’ll be killed for not dispensing any information — but by getting in that one last insult, he wins and can die a happy man.

Clarence and Alabama’s relationship may have been born in a destructive environment (maybe not as destructive as, say, Sid and Nancy) but it’s a relationship full of love all the same. They get their fairy tale ending just as the rom-com couples do — only theirs come with a few more bruises, scrapes and bullet wounds — but it’s a fairy tale ending all the same.

So if you’re looking for something a little-less cookie cutter when it comes to romance flicks, go back a couple decades and discover this hidden Tarantino gem to see what true love is all about.