True Romance

If you didn’t live through it, the “Tarantino Effect” might be hard to understand.  The success of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction unleashed an avalanche of copycat indie films full of self-aware characters spouting pop culture references while firing guns at each other.  There were so many it’s a shame Mel Brooks never got around to making a spoof.  But the maestro himself was still just a struggling screenwriter in the early ‘90s when all his old material was snapped up by producers eager to catch some of the buzz.  

True Romance (1993) was directed by the late Tony Scott, but it’s hard to imagine a more faithful adaptation of the Tarantino aesthetic not directed by the man himself.  It’s got a film obsessed nerd (Christian Slater) who falls for a quirky call girl (Patricia Arquette) and goes on the run with a bag full of stolen drugs with most of the Detroit mafia (apparently that’s a thing) hot on his trail.  

 

Of course, this being a Tarantino script, most of the plot is an excuse for cleverly offensive wordplay and kung fu homages; which would be fine if True Romance had anything really interesting to say.  It doesn’t.  Despite having his dialogue read by some of the best actors in the industry (Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Dennis Hopper and James Gandolfini all make stellar appearances), this is Tarantino at his most predictably self-indulgent and repetitive.

 

True Romance’s fanbase is huge, but, besides the aforementioned actors and slick photography by Tony Scott, it’s a film that has also aged remarkably poorly. Take its most memorable scene: a tete-a-tete between Walken’s mafia Don and Hopper’s blue-collar ex-cop.  In typical Tarantino fashion the interrogation goes down a rabbit hole of racist jargon designed to get a reaction from Walken’s character and the audience.  There’s no denying it’s compelling…but it’s cancel-worthy in 2022.  Same with Gary Oldman’s wannabe pimp, a character written by Tarantino who ridiculously co-opts black culture in the same embarrassingly arrogant fashion he does.

 

While it might not be fair to judge any film by modern standards, even without the politically-incorrect moments, True Romance is just a warm up for Tarantino’s later, better efforts.  But for those who disagree, Arrow Video has a 2-disc deluxe limited edition 4K Ultra-HD + Blu-ray Steelbook that should be the last word for physical media.  The new 4K restoration includes both the Theatrical and Director’s Cut and beautifully captures Scott’s intentionally smeary cinematography.  Extras include scads of new interviews, four (count ‘em..four!) audio commentaries, clever postcards and poster reproductions and a 60-page collector’s booklet.  

 

 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tormented

Image
The west coast always struggled to create a creepy atmosphere on screen.  All that southern California sunshine just doesn’t lend itself to ghostly apparitions or gothic castles.  But  Tormented  (1960) gives it a good try, staging its opening scene in an abandoned lighthouse where blackmail turns into murder - and one cover up leads to another.  Director Bert I. Gordon, better known for his giant-sized - but low-budget - monster movies, works well at this level, turning in a film that delivers small scares but perhaps his most  professional finished product. Tom Stewart (played by genre regular Richard Carlson) is a fairly successful jazz pianist whose impending marriage to Meg Hubbard (Susan Gordon) will put him in an entirely new tax bracket.  Trouble is his old flame, Vi (Juli Reding), isn’t taking this lying down.  After  allowing  her to fall to her death in the opening scene, Tom is haunted by disembodied visions of his ex-lover who refuses to go quietly into the afterlife.  And
Read more

The Cat and the Canary

Image
My favorite directors have always been showoffs:  Hitchcock, DePalma, Spielberg (when he’s feeling frisky) and gonzo auteurs like Sam Raimi.  There’s just something about their cinematic ambition, constantly reminding the audience that, yes, there actually  is  someone behind the camera calling the shots.  And that directorial discontent shines through even in the early days of the medium, such as Paul Leni’s 1927 adaptation of  The Cat and the Canary .  While the rest of the industry was still learning the basics of visual language, Leni fills his frame with tracking shots, POVs and dramatic lighting that set the standard for every spook show to come!  Gathered for the reading of the last will and testament of eccentric recluse Cyrus West,  the potential heirs meet up in his decrepit mansion to discover who will inherit the estate and family jewels.  Predictably there is some petty jealousy when young Annabelle West is named the sole beneficiary…that is, if she can be proved sane afte
Read more

Impulse

Image
William Shatner, for all his ego and arrogance, always seemed comfortable being the butt of a joke.  His career outside of the  Star Trek  franchise was a bumpy road of corny TV shows and enjoyable B-movie dreck.  But he never delivered anything less than 100% “Shatner!”  Like 1974’s  Impulse , a regional drive-in quickie directed by William Grefé ( Stanley, Mako: Jaws of Death ) that casts the once and future Captain Kirk as a psychologically troubled con man whose childhood trauma leads to a string of murdered women.  After dumping the body of his last victim in a Florida canal, Matt Stone (Shatner) is on the prowl for another financial windfall, this time using a phony investment scam to entice Ann (Jennifer Bishop) into a romantic relationship.  But when Ann’s daughter, Tina, is witness to the murder of his business associate (Harold “Chop Top” Sakata), Matt has to clean up his tracks and speed up his escape plan.  That includes silencing Tina…and whoever else gets in his way.   Ta
Read more