Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2060 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-02-24
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Italian
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 118 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It was directed with energetic skill by Top Gun Tony Scott, but this breathtaking 1993 thriller (think of it as an adolescent crime fantasy on steroids) has Quentin Tarantino written all over it. True Romance is really part of a loose trilogy that includes Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, with a crackling Tarantino screenplay that rides a fine line between raucous comedy and violent excess. Christian Slater plays Clarence, the comic-book lover who meets a beguiling prostitute named Alabama (Patricia Arquette), confronts her vicious pimp (Gary Oldman), and embarks on a cross-country odyssey with $5 million worth of Mafia cocaine. Mayhem ensues, culminating in a favourite Tarantino climax--the "Mexican standoff"--in which a roomful of guys are pointing guns at each other, waiting to see who shoots first. Brutal, profane, and totally outrageous, True Romance is not for everyone, but with a supporting cast that includes Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, and Val Kilmer (as the ghost of Elvis!), you can be sure this movie will never be boring. --Jeff Shannon

Amazon.co.uk Review
Written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Tony Scott, True Romance is hilarious, violent and strangely moving. It's part homage to Terence Malick's Badlands, part autobiography, part nerdy male fantasy--and it's Tarantino's first and, some say, finest work. Although it fared poorly at the box office at the time it soon became an established cult classic, with a supporting cast that beggars belief: Brad Pitt, Christopher Walken, James Gandolfini, Val Kilmer, Dennis Hopper, Samuel L Jackson and Gary Oldman all play minor roles, all to devastating effect.

Christian Slater stars as Clarence, the video-store clerk who's set up with Patricia Arquette's hooker Alabama on his birthday. They fall in love for real but have to hit the road when Clarence, egged on by the ghost of Elvis, kills Alabama's pimp Drexl (Oldman) and makes off with a consignment of neat cocaine, mistaking it for a suitcase of Alabama's clothes. Now both the police and the mafia are after them. Two among many great sequences stand out. The first is when cop Dennis Hopper, refusing to give up son Clarence to Christopher Walken's mafiosi, makes his famous "The Sicilians were spawned by niggers" speech. In context, it's actually not racist--it's a gesture of great courage and love from dad to son, while also calculated to mock the uptight racial sensibilities of the mafia. The second is when Alabama turns the tables on James Gandolfini's mafia henchman at the motel in a prolonged and brutal sequence which nonetheless emphasises the glowing, pink heart-shaped message at the centre of the film--that true love conquers all, albeit here in a hail of bullets that leaves practically everyone dead.

On the DVD: True Romance is excellently reproduced on disc and there is an abundance of extras for this Special Edition. These include a number of mostly superfluous deleted and extended scenes, though the one in which Samuel L Jackson offers his views on the merits of "pussy-eating" is worth catching, as is the "alternate ending", which Tarantino had intended in his script. There is also access to the director's storyboards as well as commentaries from many of the cast, director Scott and from Tarantino himself, who, given his usual reluctance to provide such commentaries, is informative and chatty here. This is a superb package, although this "director's cut" is identical to the previous DVD edition. --David Stubbs

Special Features
3 Commentaries including Quentin Tarantino, Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette & Director Tony Scott
30 mins of Deleted Scenes
Trailer, Photo Gallery
Selective commentaries with Brad Pitt and Dennis Hopper
Alternative Ending
Vintage featurette

Customer Reviews

Excellent, Underated and Often Unfairly Overlooked *****
True Romance is one of those great films that was rather unfairly and bizarrely largely ignored on it's original theatrical release but it's really hard to know why. It's not because of the script/screenplay, that was written by the great Quentin Tarantino, with all the trademark flourishes you'd expect, with witty dialogue and great set-pieces that leave you quoting them for weeks. It's not because it's got a poor cast or poor acting. Apart from the leads, Christian Slater and the wonderful Patricia Arquette (in undoubtedly their greatest screen performances), this movie has a cast list like a whose who of great screen actors; Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman and Christopher Walken. It also boasts a great cameo performance from Brad Pitt and a superb supporting performance from (the then not so famous) James Gandolfino. Val Kilmer and Samuel L. Jackson even turn up too in blink and you'll miss it performances.

This is a great movie, a cool movie, a funny movie and an action movie. Directed by Tony Scott, one of the best (if not the best) action movie directors around, True Romance is the story of Alabama (Arquette) and Clarence (Slater) young newlywed lovers on the run with a stolen suitcase full of $5m worth of the mafia's coke, which they intend to sell. But as the old saying goes, the path to true love never runs smooth and a battle of wits ensues between Clarence, the police and the mob leading to a classic finale in this action packed film. As a whole, this movie works beautifully but on DVD it's even better because you can access all your favourite classic scenes that unmistakeably bare Tarantino's hallmark again and again. Such as the opening scene where the heterosexual Clarence (Slater) states that he'd sleep with Elvis if he were still alive, or the showdown between Clarence and dreadlocked gangster (Oldman). Or the showdown between the mob boss (Walken) and Clarence's Dad (Hopper). Classic scenes indeed, particularly the one with Walken and Hopper. It's hard to believe this movie was made back in 1993 because it's still as fresh, still as cool and still looks as enjoyable as it was back then. I just love this movie and if you haven't seen it yet I hope you will too.

True Romance - Only in motorcity Detroit
This DVD exxceeded all my expectations!! I had never seen the film before and brought it under the conception that anything by tarantino is worth watching and is it ever!! Gary oldman as drexl the drug pedelling pimp of alabama (who's been a call girl for "exactly 3 days") is a classic bit of casting, brad pitt as floyd the druggie roomate and christopher walken as the scilian mafiosa are fantastic. The special features are well worth a look and anyone who enjoyed the film shouldn't miss out. But the ultimate addiction for me is the love and chemistry on set of clarence (christian slater) and alabama (patricia arquette) its stunning and outshines films such as natural born killers where violence takes the spotlight although there is plenty of it too say the least. Their love story takes twists and turns so unbelivable that you'd never belive that they'd survive which just leaves you praying that they will. this is definately one of my favorite films and i don't regret buying it for 1 moment. it will remain a classic, obviously not restrained by the stereotype, for a long time.

Fine, Tarantino inspired movie
This is a great action/romance movie that doesn't pull any punches. Congratulations, to director Tony Scott for assembling such an all star cast of quality actors for this film; very few obscures here, in fact many of the smallest parts are taken by big stars of the acting industry like: Christopher Walken, Samuel L.Jackson, James Gandolfini, Brad Pitt etc. The movie benefits from an excellent script created by Quentin Tarantino. The movie is fast-paced, soaked in violence and has some moments of real humour. The characters of Elliot Blitzer and Floyd provide many of the comic elements. The Q&A scene is one of the highlights of this film. It has some hilarious dialogue and is acted superbly by Chris Walken and Dennis Hopper. Walken plays the part of Mafia mobster Vince Coccotti and looks like evil incarnate. Furthermore, Christian Slater & Patricia Arquette play the lead roles of a lovestruck couple on the run and in peril very well. The notion of Clarence being inspired by the voice of Elvis in True Romance also functions finely. We even have Tony Soprano or should I say Virgil a mafia hitman played by James Gandolfini, thrown in to further spice things up. Chris Penn returns to team up with Tarantino again as Officer Dimes, having played the part of Nice Guy Eddie in Reservoir Dogs. The Special Edition Dvd is crammed with specials to complete the package. The 3 commentaries accompanying this dvd are all interesting to watch, you have a featurette, trailers,Tarantino's alternate ending, aswell as many deleted scenes. True romance doesn't disappoint and neither does the dvd,top marks.