Generally, when you're talking about Rad flicks, you don't expect the term "romance" to come up very often. Unless you're a John Mayer fan whose idea of a Rad Sunday evening is curling up with "The Notebook." You certainly wouldn't expect the term "romance" to be included in the title of a Rad flick, which is why naming this week's Rad Sunday flick may be met with a curious look if you recommend it to somebody. You would have to emphasize that this particular "romance" involves hookers on the run from mobsters, stolen briefcases of cocaine, shootout with drug dealers, and corkscrew stabbings. Oh and a cast involving pretty much every Rad actor..ever. This week's Sunday Evening Rad Flick: TRUE ROMANCE.
True Romance fucking rules. Lets start by noting that True Romance was the first major motion picture screenplay written by Quentin Tarentino (though he didn't direct). So right off the bat you can assume this movie is going to be some over the top, crazy Rad entertainment filled with great dialogue, a rollercoaster plot, and gratuitous violence. True Romance stars Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette's tits as our two main characters. They play our lovers on the run in the film, Clarence and Alabama. Clarence is a down on his luck loser and Alabama is his hooker with a heart of gold. Without giving away too much about the plot, they meet, get married on a whim, and then accidentally choose to fuck with the possessions of the wrong people. Then the fun begins and we're off, watching Clarence and Alabama on the run, eluding bad guys and trying to get rich quick without getting killed. You'll be glued to the screen hoping these two crazy Rad kids make it.
The funny thing about True Romance is that the two aformentioned lead characters are played by the least prominent members of the film's cast. The cast of True Romance is absolutely loaded with badass actors playing small secondary roles. Each of whom makes the most of their brief time onscreen. You've got Gary Oldman playing a sleazy rastafarian. You've got James Gandolfini in his pre-Soprano days playing a mob henchman. You've got Brad Pitt cast as a lovable stoner. Val Kilmer is cast as...Elvis? Even Balki from "Perfect Strangers" (Bronson Pinchot) shows up as key member of the cast. Of course no Tarentino flick would be complete without Samuel L. Jackson making an appearance. He's literally in the movie for about two minutes, but as usual it's one of the most memorable dialogue sequences of the entire movie.
Of course, as I mentioned before no Rad flick is complete without "The Scene." That one part of the movie you could watch a million times on repeat if you were stranded on an island. In True Romance this scene is the one featuring two lifetime achievement Rad dudes in Christopher Walken and the recently deceased Dennis Hopper. Both these guys have made careers out of memorable bit parts in movies, (think Walken in "Pulp Fiction" and Hopper in "Apocalypse Now") and this moment ranks right up there with their finest work. Christopher Walken is mobster Vincent Carcotti or as he describes himself "The anti-Christ in a vendetta kinda mood." Dennis Hopper plays Clarence's dad Clifford, a nice guy small town cop. Carcotti and his mafia hoods are interrogating Clifford regarding the wherabouts of his "fuckhead son" and his new bride on the run. Somehow this leads to a discussion about...Sicilians. The ensuing interaction is an absolute overload of Rad and one of my favorite movie scenes ever (DISCLAIMER: contains offensive NSFW language. Duh. So use your headphones).
Take an evening to check out this totally Rad flick and you won't be disappointed. Try as I did in the previous paragraphs to describe the sheer awesomeness of this movie, I can't really put into words just how Rad this flick is. Honestly, I really could have picked any of a dozen choices for "The Scene" in this movie, though I feel like this selection gives the least away. So give True Romance a shot. In the meantime, I'm gonna go have that Chesterfield now...
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