True Romance after Twenty Years
I had to work a midnight shift the other night, and was having a nap in the evening before work. I woke up earlier than expected, grabbed a coffee and lay in bed, resting. I flipped on the TV, and looked for something tolerable to watch. Immediately I came upon "True Romance".
"I love this movie," I said aloud to no one.
I figured I would watch five minutes or so. I missed the part where Clarence and Alabama meet, but tuned in just as he decides to get her stuff back from her pimp. I planned to just watch that part and then go downstairs to join my family for an hour before work. It didn't turn out that way. Onscreen, Clarence heads into the whorehouse, and I was sucked into Mr. Tarantino's vortex, happily trapped in front of the television. Gary Oldman is fantastic as Drexl. He grabs a light fixture and starts to swing it at Clarence, and with each swing of the light you feel the situation becoming a little more dire. Maybe Clarence has bitten off more than he can chew? Actually, it occurs to me that Gary Oldman is fantastic in just about everything he does. What struck me immediately was the depth of the cast in the movie; we are talking about some heavy hitters here.
So, Clarence winds up killing Drexl, mistakenly leaving the brothel with a suitcase full of coke, and heads off to see his Dad, played superbly by Dennis Hopper. I knew the best scene was coming up, so I settled in, got comfy and waited. Christopher Walken appeared and the famous "Sicilian" scene unfolded. He interrogates Dennis Hopper as to the whereabouts of his son, "Fuckhead that he is," Clarence who left his driver's licence at the scene of the crime. I love this scene, and was completely wrapped up now, loving every second of it. But then I noticed James Gandolfini standing behind Dennis Hopper. I hadn't seen him in anything since he suddenly passed away a few weeks back, and I got a twinge of sadness. As with thousands, I was a rabid fan of the Sopranos. I once stepped out for an hour at a dinner party I was hosting, to rudely go and watch that week's episode. In my defense, I didn't have PVR in those days. Not that it would have mattered anyway. Mr. Gandolfini gave me many hours of enjoyment, and I felt the loss of the actor, although I knew nothing of the man.
Now, speaking of Gandolfini, he gives us a glimpse into his role as the complex gangster as he is beating the living hell out of Patricia Arquette in a later scene. They had stashed the coke in a hotel room, and were out setting up the deal. Slater had gone off in search of hamburgers, (I personally would not have let Patricia Arquette out of my sight, coke or no coke) and poor Alabama was alone going into the room where Virgil was waiting for them. She is very cute and coy, and shows her street sense, which she represses around Clarence, letting him be the big wheel. Gandolfini doesn't buy it, and goes about his business. At one point, as Alabama lays bleeding on the ground, he talks about killing, and how it affects him. He is using his victim as a sounding board, the same as Tony Soprano would vaguely talk to Dr. Melfi a few years later. I was riveted again, there was real chemistry here, and although it was like a bear fighting a house cat, the balance of power continually swung between the two, which added to the potency of the scene. The down side was that Alabama didn't look quite as nice for the remainder of the film. It was a nice touch that at one point during their battle, she smashes a bust of Elvis over Virgil's head; since a reasonable facsimile of Elvis is guiding Clarence through this bizarre chain of events. Eventually she manages to overpower her assailant. Like David and Goliath, but David, I am certain, did not look that good doing it.
And then there is Brad Pitt as Floyd. He steals the scene every time. He is burned out on the couch at the address that the mobsters have and unwittingly puts his roommate and his friends in danger by telling the mobsters exactly where to look for their prey. He even offers the hit squad a hit off of his bong.
Michael Rappaport doesn't really do anything outstanding, but he is very likable as Clarence's buddy in LA, and plays his role well. Bronson Pinchot is quite convincing as the Hollywood kiss up to Saul Rubinek's sleazy coke dealing producer. He sets up the coke deal, but gets arrested after the coke winds up all over him after being pulled over by a traffic cop. Tom Sizemore and Chris Penn are brilliant as the cops that head the undercover operation. They wire Elliot (Pinchot) for sound and send him to the coke deal.
As the deal was in the preliminary stages, where the parties were feeling each other out, Tarantino was able to slide in some dialogue between Clarence the movie fan and the producer, lamenting the state of affairs in Hollywood, and the politics behind Oscar winning movies. He could stick his neck out a bit back then, as he had yet to become the Hollywood heavyweight that he is today. Funnily, I think the same statements hold up twenty years later, with a few exceptions.
Well, we wind up in the hotel room making a drug deal, the cops come in to make the arrest, the mobsters come in and we have a standoff, then they start shooting. And shooting, and shooting.
The movie wrapped up, the credits rolled, and I sighed and came back to our world, cautiously looking over at the time. I had to scramble into the shower, say goodbye to the family, and drove like Blue Lou and his boys were after me to make it to work on time.
"I love this movie," I said aloud to no one.
I figured I would watch five minutes or so. I missed the part where Clarence and Alabama meet, but tuned in just as he decides to get her stuff back from her pimp. I planned to just watch that part and then go downstairs to join my family for an hour before work. It didn't turn out that way. Onscreen, Clarence heads into the whorehouse, and I was sucked into Mr. Tarantino's vortex, happily trapped in front of the television. Gary Oldman is fantastic as Drexl. He grabs a light fixture and starts to swing it at Clarence, and with each swing of the light you feel the situation becoming a little more dire. Maybe Clarence has bitten off more than he can chew? Actually, it occurs to me that Gary Oldman is fantastic in just about everything he does. What struck me immediately was the depth of the cast in the movie; we are talking about some heavy hitters here.
So, Clarence winds up killing Drexl, mistakenly leaving the brothel with a suitcase full of coke, and heads off to see his Dad, played superbly by Dennis Hopper. I knew the best scene was coming up, so I settled in, got comfy and waited. Christopher Walken appeared and the famous "Sicilian" scene unfolded. He interrogates Dennis Hopper as to the whereabouts of his son, "Fuckhead that he is," Clarence who left his driver's licence at the scene of the crime. I love this scene, and was completely wrapped up now, loving every second of it. But then I noticed James Gandolfini standing behind Dennis Hopper. I hadn't seen him in anything since he suddenly passed away a few weeks back, and I got a twinge of sadness. As with thousands, I was a rabid fan of the Sopranos. I once stepped out for an hour at a dinner party I was hosting, to rudely go and watch that week's episode. In my defense, I didn't have PVR in those days. Not that it would have mattered anyway. Mr. Gandolfini gave me many hours of enjoyment, and I felt the loss of the actor, although I knew nothing of the man.
Now, speaking of Gandolfini, he gives us a glimpse into his role as the complex gangster as he is beating the living hell out of Patricia Arquette in a later scene. They had stashed the coke in a hotel room, and were out setting up the deal. Slater had gone off in search of hamburgers, (I personally would not have let Patricia Arquette out of my sight, coke or no coke) and poor Alabama was alone going into the room where Virgil was waiting for them. She is very cute and coy, and shows her street sense, which she represses around Clarence, letting him be the big wheel. Gandolfini doesn't buy it, and goes about his business. At one point, as Alabama lays bleeding on the ground, he talks about killing, and how it affects him. He is using his victim as a sounding board, the same as Tony Soprano would vaguely talk to Dr. Melfi a few years later. I was riveted again, there was real chemistry here, and although it was like a bear fighting a house cat, the balance of power continually swung between the two, which added to the potency of the scene. The down side was that Alabama didn't look quite as nice for the remainder of the film. It was a nice touch that at one point during their battle, she smashes a bust of Elvis over Virgil's head; since a reasonable facsimile of Elvis is guiding Clarence through this bizarre chain of events. Eventually she manages to overpower her assailant. Like David and Goliath, but David, I am certain, did not look that good doing it.
And then there is Brad Pitt as Floyd. He steals the scene every time. He is burned out on the couch at the address that the mobsters have and unwittingly puts his roommate and his friends in danger by telling the mobsters exactly where to look for their prey. He even offers the hit squad a hit off of his bong.
Michael Rappaport doesn't really do anything outstanding, but he is very likable as Clarence's buddy in LA, and plays his role well. Bronson Pinchot is quite convincing as the Hollywood kiss up to Saul Rubinek's sleazy coke dealing producer. He sets up the coke deal, but gets arrested after the coke winds up all over him after being pulled over by a traffic cop. Tom Sizemore and Chris Penn are brilliant as the cops that head the undercover operation. They wire Elliot (Pinchot) for sound and send him to the coke deal.
As the deal was in the preliminary stages, where the parties were feeling each other out, Tarantino was able to slide in some dialogue between Clarence the movie fan and the producer, lamenting the state of affairs in Hollywood, and the politics behind Oscar winning movies. He could stick his neck out a bit back then, as he had yet to become the Hollywood heavyweight that he is today. Funnily, I think the same statements hold up twenty years later, with a few exceptions.
Well, we wind up in the hotel room making a drug deal, the cops come in to make the arrest, the mobsters come in and we have a standoff, then they start shooting. And shooting, and shooting.
The movie wrapped up, the credits rolled, and I sighed and came back to our world, cautiously looking over at the time. I had to scramble into the shower, say goodbye to the family, and drove like Blue Lou and his boys were after me to make it to work on time.
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