Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop
No Result
View All Result
Dream Wired
No Result
View All Result
Home Movie

30 Years of True Romance: Tony Scott’s Directorial Triumph

rmtsa by rmtsa
September 17, 2023
in Movie
0
30 Years of True Romance: Tony Scott’s Directorial Triumph
74
SHARES
1.2k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


You might also like

Why ‘Vision Quest’ Will Be the Best Marvel Series Ever

Fans React to Taylor Swift’s Expression to Selena Gomez During NYC Outing

Donald Trump Movie The Apprentice Sweeps 2025 Canadian Screen Awards

Tony Scott enjoyed quite the career, starting with 1983’s The Hunger and culminating in the 2010 action flick Unstoppable, starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. In between, the man directed Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, Days of Thunder, The Last Boy Scout, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State, Spy Game, Man on Fire (one of my personal favorites), Déjà vu, and a remake of The Taking of Pelham 123, among others — all great, or at least watchable, slices of entertainment directed with Scott’s style and panache.

Still, if you were to ask me which film in Scott’s massive oeuvre stands out as his best, I would happily direct your attention to the 1993 classic True Romance.

Seriously, the re-watchability factor on this dark comedy is through the roof. Thanks to an amazing script by Quentin Tarantino, True Romance is endlessly quotable: “I’m the Anti-Christ. You got me in a vendetta kind of mood. You tell the angels in heaven you never seen evil so singularly personified as you did in the face of the man who killed you.” And it features one of the greatest ensembles ever assembled.

Let me list them off: Christian Slater (in his best role), Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer (voice and cameo as Elvis Presley), a near-unrecognizable Gary Oldman, a very young Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken (in the film’s best scene, opposite Hopper), scene-stealer Bronson Pinchot, Michael Rapaport, Saul Rubinek, James Gandolfini, Tom Sizemore, Samuel L. Jackson, and Chris Penn.

Phew. Talk about an all-star cast. Throw in a quirky, offbeat score by Hans Zimmer, some ferocious jabs at the Hollywood machine, an abundance of pitch-black humor, violence, romance, crime, and heart, and you have yourself a delectable cinematic treat that gets better with every viewing.

Oh, and there’s a s— ton of cocaine.

Clarence Worley, a lonely and comic book-loving movie theater employee, meets a call girl named Alabama Whitman. Despite her profession, they fall deeply in love and decide to get married the very same day they meet. However, things take a dark turn when Clarence accidentally steals a suitcase full of cocaine from Alabama’s pimp, Drexl Spivey. Realizing the danger they’re in, the newlyweds go on the run with the stolen drugs, setting off a violent chain of events.

Of course, this is all just an excuse for Scott and Tarantino to deliver a stylized and intense narrative about love, crime, and the consequences of one’s actions via absurd dialogue, morally complex situations, and a murderer’s row of memorable characters. A lesser director would shrink under the weight of the production. Scott, for his part, recognizes the brilliance of the script and allows his actors room to breathe.

Check out this scene between Hopper and Walken — as stated, the best moment in the entire film. Also, a warning, the scene contains strong language!

Too often in his films, Scott leaned on over-stylized editing and visuals to move from Point A to Point B. This was the problem with Domino, Déjà vu, and even Unstoppable — all entertaining, for sure, but too kinetic to fully enjoy.

In True Romance, the director steps aside and lets Tarantino’s dialogue do the heavy lifting. Oh sure, Scott delivers his patented sunset-infused cinematography and rich color schemes. Except here, this approach doesn’t distract from the overarching narrative.

As Roger Ebert noted: “The universe in question could best be located inside the inflamed fantasies of an adolescent male mind – and not any adolescent, but the kind of teenage boy who goes to martial arts movies and fantasizes about guns and girls with great big garbanzos. It is the kind of film that will make the best 10 lists of such supporters of the decline of civilization as Joe Bob Briggs.”

True Romance relishes the grime and grit of society’s underbelly where wack jobs like Drexl lurk in rooms lit in striking red and blue hues. Each scene follows a similar pattern — characters engage in tense conversations that explode in a cacophony of violence. Having seen all of Tarantino’s films, this approach might appear like old hat. In 1993, this was the future.

There’s also Clarence and Alabama, two innocent, naive souls capable of abhorrent destruction, but only out of self-preservation. The pair meet early on at a movie theater, spend the night together, have sex, and wake up the next morning to find that they’re in love even though she’s a prostitute and he’s a deadbeat working at a movie rental store. The couple’s bright-eyed positive attitude contrasts with the savageness surrounding them – they are perfectly comfortable in this downtrodden world, but that doesn’t prevent them from seeking green pastures.

Moreover, thanks to fascinating quirks, such as Clarence’s imaginary conversations with Elvis Presley, these characters are complex, driven by love and intense emotions. While their impulsive actions are extreme and unconventional, everything they do serves as a reflection of their circumstances and the world they find themselves in. I find them likable and endearing, as memorable a movie couple as you’ll ever see — think Bonnie and Clyde, albeit with a touch of Sailor and Lula from David Lynch’s Wild at Heart.

Scott also deploys an abundance of incredible side characters who pop in for a spell and stand out in their own unique way. Pitt delights as Floyd, a perpetually stoned character who lounges around watching television.

Hopper pops up for a banger supporting bit as Clarence’s righteous father, while Pinchot delivers his single greatest performance as a sleazy movie producer with a, um, bad drug habit.

Scott relished testosterone-fueled action pictures, but I found his character-driven work more interesting. The Last Boy Scout is a moody character study that captivates despite its action-heavy third act, while Crimson Tide spins an enthralling yarn about two men — played by Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman — challenging each other’s ideologies during an intense wartime situation. Even Man on Fire spends a great deal of time establishing Washington’s conflicted hero before diving head-first into extreme violence.

In other words, Scott strove to make films about tortured souls doing their best to navigate a world teetering on the brink of destruction. He found glimmers of hope nestled between the carnage and allowed his characters to eventually overcome their problems and live to see a greater tomorrow.

True Romance remains the best version of Scott’s hopeful, aggressive vision — it’s an engaging, emotional, witty, unconventional, gritty, stylish, passionate look at two souls who find love in a world gone mad. Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, True Romance is a brilliant work of art.



Source link

Tags: DirectorialRomanceScottsTonyTriumphTrueyears
Share30Tweet19
rmtsa

rmtsa

Recommended For You

Why ‘Vision Quest’ Will Be the Best Marvel Series Ever

by rmtsa
June 2, 2025
0
Why ‘Vision Quest’ Will Be the Best Marvel Series Ever

It’s already been four years since we’ve seen the Vision appear in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film or TV show. That’s a long time for a superhero to...

Read more

Fans React to Taylor Swift’s Expression to Selena Gomez During NYC Outing

by rmtsa
June 2, 2025
0
Fans React to Taylor Swift’s Expression to Selena Gomez During NYC Outing

Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift were spotted in a recent outing in New York City. During the outing, the latter made a shocked expression aimed at the former...

Read more

Donald Trump Movie The Apprentice Sweeps 2025 Canadian Screen Awards

by rmtsa
June 2, 2025
0
Donald Trump Movie The Apprentice Sweeps 2025 Canadian Screen Awards

A Canadian Screen Awards that put marginalized voices front and center and challenged the global political landscape saw The Apprentice, a film about a young Donald Trump, dominate...

Read more

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS Is Now Streaming Online For Free and It Still Rules! — GeekTyrant

by rmtsa
June 2, 2025
0
THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS Is Now Streaming Online For Free and It Still Rules! — GeekTyrant

The classic cartoon series, The Real Ghostbusters, which spun off from the original 1984 Ghostbusters film is now streaming on The Roku Channel for free. No subscription required,...

Read more

‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Teaser Reveals Premiere Date

by rmtsa
June 2, 2025
0
‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Teaser Reveals Premiere Date

Stranger Things 5 — the final season of Netflix’s blockbuster sci-fi series — has its official release date.Or make that release dates. The final season of the series...

Read more
Next Post
Halle Berry Not Happy With Drake Using Her Image on Song Cover

Halle Berry Not Happy With Drake Using Her Image on Song Cover

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Browse by Category

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized

CATEGORIES

  • Celebrity
  • Comics
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • Music
  • TV
  • Uncategorized
No Result
View All Result

Recent News

  • Dr. Jamal Bryant Takes Aim At Dollar General
  • ‘All American’ Renewed for Final Season 8 The CW — 2026 Premiere Date
  • 50 Cent To Talk To Trump In Effort To Block Possible Diddy Pardon

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Celebrity
  • DramaAlert
  • Gossip
  • Movie
  • TV
  • Music
  • Comics
  • Shop

Copyright © 2023 DramaWired.
DramaWired is a content aggregator and not responsible for the content of external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In