Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette in "True Romance".
The motion picture "True Romance" from 1993 is so lovely, in many respects. I will not discuss here every movie that hits me. This is one of those exceptions. With no special reason. That's to say that every motion picture has special reasons to enjoy. My special reasons are the background stories. There are a lot of TMO (The Making Of) clips around. Just like a good description with a painting in a museum, it makes you so much more appreciate the work that has gone into it.
I viewed this movie (again) after seeing an interview with Chistopher Walken and and James Gandolfini (The Soprano's). Both play a role in the movie. Just two episodes of a huge 200+ episode series on Youtube from "Inside The Actors School". Every interview is at least 40 minutes and goes in-depth about acting skills and movies. A real paradise for movie lovers.
New to me was that Quentin Tarantino wrote the script. That must not come as a surprise. The almost (un)believable hyper-violence is a hallmark of Quentin. The story is not simple but very entertaining. Bad-Boy and Bad-Girl fall in love and get stuck with a suitcase of cocaine. Dreaming of a better life, they have to struggle their way out of the mob. Strong woman role from Patricia Arquette. In the beginning she is a call-girl gift for his birthday. Later in the movie she becomes my heroin. Quentin Tarantino did the same theme again with Pam Grier in Jackie Brown (1997). One of Quentin's best movies.
Gary Oldman is her pimp in "True Romance". He did the same creepy performance in "Léon, Le Professional", a movie from Luc Besson where 12yo Natalie Portman is trained by Jean Reno to be a professional killer. Amazing movie.
Dennis Hopper and Patricia Arquette are the real reasons for this blog. He is my rebel icon and Patricia is so lovely. Great casting. The Sicilian dialogue between Christopher Waren and Dennis Hopper is a little diamond in film history. Quentin Tarantino loves to write dialogues, but this looks like a great improvisation to me. Listen to the music. Not sure if Quentin (again) had a hand in the casting and the music. Elvis Presley and a purple Cadillac are all around. When things get romantic, the theme song is played. Such a lovely theme that very well contrasts to the hyper violence. I suspect a hand from Quentin.
Every super movie star is OK. Great people. It's a very serious profession. They work hard for it and they deserve their millions and their paparazzi. Patricia Arquette (I love her) is in the role of Alabama. She has such a sexy southern accent. She probably had a language-coach for this role. Don't be mistaken. Actors do weeks or months of preparation. That reminds me of the movie and the song "Sweet Home Alabama".
At a close look you can notice some small details in "True Romance". When a TV is playing, there is a gangster scene with Yun-Fat Chow from a John Woo movie. Quentin Tarantino is a fan of John Woo. Hyper-Violence. The same goes for Hostel 2 from Eli Roth. When the girls arrive in the hostel, the TV plays a scene from "Pulp Fiction". The movie "Killing Zoe" was produced by Quinten Tarantino. Same great story telling and again hyper-violence. There's a three second cameo of Ron Jeremy. A nice to know.
There is a clan of friend-directors. John Woo is from Hong Kong. Robert Rodiguez is from Mexico. Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino are from the USA. Takashi Miike is from Japan. They share a love for artistic hyper-violence. The first six minutes of Takashi Miike's "Dead or Alive" are amazing.
They all directors just pay tributes to each other. It's a small village. I like the criss-cross references. That gives me more depth in understanding movies. So far so good for the movies. You can click on the links on the right for more movie links. See you later.
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