True Romance
Movie, 1993, Written by Tarantino, Set in Directed by Tony Scott
True Romance is #2 of 13 in release order and #11 of 13 in chronological order in the Quentin Tarantino.
The story
Clarence marries hooker Alabama, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood, while the owners of the coke try to reclaim it.
True Romance recap
True Romance (1993) follows a Detroit comic shop clerk who marries a call girl after one night and flees to California with a suitcase of the mob's cocaine. Elvis-obsessed Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) meets Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette) at a kung fu triple bill; she admits she was hired as his birthday present and has fallen for him. Urged on by a vision of Elvis (Val Kilmer), Clarence kills her pimp, Drexl Spivey (Gary Oldman), and grabs a bag that turns out to hold stolen drugs. The couple head to Los Angeles to sell it through his actor friend Dick Ritchie to a film producer. Behind them, mob consigliere Vincenzo Coccotti (Christopher Walken) questions Clarence's father Clifford (Dennis Hopper) and sends his enforcer Virgil (James Gandolfini) west. Brad Pitt plays a stoned roommate. Tony Scott directs from Tarantino's script, which Tarantino sold to fund Reservoir Dogs. It follows that debut on the Written by Tarantino rail.
True Romance ending explained
True Romance ends with Clarence and Alabama alive on a beach in Mexico with a son named Elvis. The drug sale at the producer's hotel suite turns into a three-way shootout between the producer's bodyguards, police who wired the go-between, and Coccotti's mobsters; nearly everyone dies, and the drugs are shot to pieces. Clarence is wounded but escapes with Alabama and the money. Tarantino's script ended with Clarence killed and Alabama leaving alone; Scott changed it to the happier ending.
Post-credits scenes
No. True Romance has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch True Romance
True Romance is streaming on Netflix and Sundance Now in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.9/10, Rotten Tomatoes 93%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Reservoir Dogs, before Pulp Fiction.
- Chronological order: after Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, before Natural Born Killers.
Cast
- Christian Slater as Clarence Worley
- Patricia Arquette as Alabama Whitman
- Dennis Hopper as Clifford Worley
- Val Kilmer as Mentor
- Gary Oldman as Drexl Spivey
- Brad Pitt as Floyd (Dick's Roommate)
- Christopher Walken as Vincenzo Coccotti
- Bronson Pinchot as Elliot Blitzer
- Samuel L. Jackson as Big Don
- Michael Rapaport as Dick Ritchie
- Saul Rubinek as Lee Donowitz
- Conchata Ferrell as Mary Louise Ravencroft
Directed by Tony Scott.