Media | A2Q Archives | A2Q #90 | May 24, 2009
[[image:090526_true.jpg:True Romance:right:0]]True Romance is my favorite Tarantino movie. Sure, he didn’t direct it. In fact, is one of only two screenplays he’s ever written that he hasn’t also directed — the other being the execrable Oliver Stone-directed Natural Born Killers — and Tony Scott’s direction adds a glossy sheen that sometimes seems out of place for the material, especially knowing what we know now about Tarantino’s style.
Certainly, True Romance would have had more shots of lady’s feet if Tarantino had been able to direct his own script.
The movie, for the uninitiated, is about Christian Slater’s character, Clarence Worley. Worley is the Tarantino analogue in this piece: he works in a comic book store and is obsessed with kung fu movies. For his birthday, his boss at the comic shop hires Alabama Whitman, an escort, to show him a good time, and they promptly fall in love with each other. When Worley goes to tell Alabama’s pimp (an unrecognizable Gary Oldman) that she is quitting the business, it starts a sequence of events that ends with the young couple in possession of a large amount of cocaine and on the run from both the cops and the mob.
Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer and Brad Pitt also contribute short but memorable roles, and quite a bit of Tarantino’s trademark dialog is very much present in the film. True Romance was my introduction to Tarantino, and the wish-fulfillment that is the character of Clarence Worley (comic and film geek who gets the girl and stands up to the mob) made a big impression on my 14-year-old self.
[[image:090526_blu.jpg:BD Wrap up 26 May 09:center:0]]
Children of Men is a fantastic film, and well worth your time. I remember really hating Falling Down when I saw it, although I barely remember the film now. I clearly recall the main character flipping out on some food service workers, which is probably what soured me on the movie. I worked in food service for most of my teenage years, and I can’t stand it when people are rude to their servers. If you can’t be nice just because it’s the right thing to do, keep in mind that these people are preparing your food! Oh, the things I have seen…
Follow me on Twitter, or e-mail me at levivsrobot [at] gmail [dot] com. Well, don’t look so surprised. Even a call girl can scramble an egg.
I loved that scene where he flipped out on the fast food automatons for not bringing him a burger that did not look as delicious as it was advertised. Clear a path!
Er, ‘for bringing’ not ‘not bringing’ … eh.
Holy crap, Falling Down is a good movie. I really, seriously need ot get some glasses like that.
To this day, I do not think the essence of stoners have been better captured then by Pitt’s muttered “Don’t condescend me, man, I’ll fucking kill you…” as the big bad guy is already walking away
The Sky Crawlers is an interesting feature film as far as anime goes. It’s definitely one for people who also like the Ghost in the Shell movie and Oshii’s other surreal+abstract films. Although it hits many anime cliches in terms of characterization and postmodern bleakness, the setting and premise are still worth checking out.
Falling Down is amazing, and that scene is completely justified… watch it again. It’s a commentary on both customer service as well as advertising practices, and Michael Douglas is completely justified in his reaction (though not in its execution).
JDS: If you’re such a goddamned rocket scientist, you should already know that it’s “glean”, not “gleam”.
And DAMN YOU, whoever just moderated the offending post. Now I look like a crazy person yelling at his teddy bear.
Gleam?
“And DAMN YOU, whoever just moderated the offending post. Now I look like a crazy person yelling at his teddy bear.”
Me too :(
Someone was complaining about Gleaming the Cube? I know it’s a Slater movie, but I still think True Romance is the better film.
I don’t think anyone did any moderating (I certainly didn’t). Presumably whoever posted the apparently boneheaded comment screwed up and ended up losing his comment to the site’s infamous comments-eating glitch.
I agree with Colin and say that the scene is Falling Down in completely justified. Plus considering he already flipped out quite a few times before the incident in this scene then it does not seem as far fetched.
no less than three people replied with venomous typo burns? in 2009? consider yourselves shook.
I didn’t have time to go in depth on the catalog titles this week (expectedly called in to work on the day I planned on writing this) – so I didn’t get to reminisce about Prince of Thieves. I grew up with four sisters, and it seems that all four of them got obsessed with that movie and its soundtrack.
Does my constant (and unwilling) exposure to this movie explain something about me, something buried deep in my subconscious? All I know, is when I see stills from the upcoming Ridley Scott Robin Hood movie I shudder.
I remember always being curious about Falling Down when it came out and I was a young’un. I finally rented it through Netflix a couple years ago and was profoundly disappointed. The trailer completely misrepresents the movie: I expected to see a man weary and beaten by life rise up to right it’s injustices and instead I just saw a dickhead be a dickhead. Also, though it’s old hat to hate on him, it certainly did not help me reassess my opinion of Joel Schumacher.
True Romance will always carry a special place in my heart if for no other reason than the master class in acting offered in the scene between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken.
Didn’t Tarantino write From Dusk til Dawn and not direct it?