True Romance

"Stealing. Cheating. Killing. Who says romance is dead?"

1993 1h 59m EN

🙌

7.5

BANGER

🔥

93%

CERTIFIED FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

7.9

IMDB

★7.5TMDB · 3,202🍅93%Rotten Tomatoes●59Metacritic★7.9IMDB · 259,434

ActionCrimeRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“Stealing. Cheating. Killing. Who says romance is dead?”

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Cast

Christian Slater
Clarence Worley
Patricia Arquette
Alabama Whitman
Dennis Hopper
Clifford Worley
Val Kilmer
Mentor
Gary Oldman
Drexl Spivey
Brad Pitt
Floyd (Dick's Roommate)
Christopher Walken
Vincenzo Coccotti
Bronson Pinchot
Elliot Blitzer

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Tony Scott
Writers: Quentin Tarantino
Languages: English, Italian
Countries: United States of America, France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

33 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Italian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, France.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Tony Scott, shot by Jeffrey L. Kimball. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Hans Zimmer. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Christian Wagner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette and Dennis Hopper carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Stealing. Cheating. Killing. Who says romance is dead?".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Tony Scott directs. Jeffrey L. Kimball behind the camera. Hans Zimmer scores. Christian Wagner cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America, France. Dialogue in English, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

133 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Italian.
3International production across 2 countries: United States of America, France.
4Directed by Tony Scott, shot by Jeffrey L. Kimball. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Hans Zimmer. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Christian Wagner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette and Dennis Hopper carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Stealing. Cheating. Killing. Who says romance is dead?".
9IMDB entry: tt0108399 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 27 themes, including "hotel", "parent child relationship", "movie business", "detective".

The technical file

Cinematography: Jeffrey L. Kimball
Original score: Hans Zimmer
Editing: Christian Wagner
Production design: Benjamín Fernández
Costume design: Susan Becker
Sound: Rick Kline
Stunt coordinator: Charlie Picerni
Runtime: 119 min · 1h 59m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $12,500,000
Box office: $12,600,000
Return: 101% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: True Romance (1993)
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 59/100
IMDB rating: 7.9/10 · 259,434 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

1 win & 10 nominations total

Also by

Tony Scott

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-05-30
★ 9/10
The King, Chiba, White Boy Day and Love…Bloody Love. True Romance is directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Michael Rapaport, Christopher Walken, James Gandolfini, Chris Penn, Tom Sizemore, Bronson Pinchot and Saul Rubinek. Music is by Hans Zimmer and cinematography by Jeffery L. Kimball. Comic book store clerk Clarence Worley (Slater) falls in love with call girl Alabama Whitman (Arquette) when she turns up at the movie theatre as one of his birthday presents. Marriage is quick but as the whirlwind romance gathers apace, complications quickly follow in the form of psycho drug dealers and the mob! It's still speculated on how True Romance would have panned out had Tarantino directed his own screenplay, but really in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter. For True Romance is a wildly exciting fusion of lovers on the lam premise with violence a go go thrills. Director Scott did a bang up job bringing Tarantino's screenplay to life, even making a couple of narrative changes that suits (QT agrees) the picture no end. People often get hung up on the fact that Scott had previously helmed Top Gun, Beverly hills Cop II and Days of Thunder, citing these as reasons that Scott was wrong for the material, yet the film he did immediately before True Romance was The Last Boy Scout, a thrilling and muscular actioner that pings with sharp savvy dialogue scripted by Shane Black. It was the perfect trial run for True Romance, and Scott proved to be a wise and cohesive choice for the material. He also expertly marshalled a large ensemble cast, garnering career high turns from Slater and Arquette in the process. Almost everything clicks into place on True Romance, it never lacks for kinetic thrills or edge of the seat drama. In turn it likes to grab you around the throat with some wince inducing violence, cunningly drawing you in to root for a couple of lovers who will do anything for each other, while simultaneously causing carnage for all they come into contact with. There's odd ball characters galore (Oldman and Pitt excelling in this area), exquisite set-pieces and dialogue so sharp you could cut a steak with it. From conversations between Clarence and his imaginary Elvis (Kilmer) mentor, to iconography unbound with one of the 90s great sequences that sees Walken's mob boss verbally joust with Hopper as Clarence's stoic father, it's a film as rich in the art of vocal acting as it is in eye splintering gloss. All that and it's a clinically beautiful love story as well! A wet dream fantasy of QT for sure, and if you wanna be churlish? Then there should have been more room made for Sizemore and Penn's glorious coppers. Hell we could even complain about the editing being a touch too slam-bang at times…But nah! Small complaints be damned, the meeting of Tarantino the writer and Scott the director delivers neo-noir goodies galore. In fact it's a film that just gets better with age. 9/10
Rob T2016-05-18
★ 8.5/10
Can't believe I haven't seen this movie until now. My neighbor could not believe I never saw this movie, and suggested I watch it A.S.A.P.! I did and loved it! This is a must see Star-Studded movie. One of Quentin Tarantino best works.
tmdb272194542019-08-02
★ 6/10
For the amount of Grade A and High B actors in the movie, along with the top o' the line writing cast, producers and director, you would think this would be nothing less than a 5-Star film. Unfortunately, the movie just never gathers any traction and seems to be nothing more than a collection of cameos without any cohesiveness, even with the story running in the background. Not a terrible flick, just a disappointing one.