True Romance

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True Romance

R

1993

1h 56m

Crime

Drama

Romance

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

60 Reviews

93%

Popcornmeter

100,000+ Ratings

A comic-book nerd and Elvis fanatic Clarence (Christian Slater) and a prostitute named Alabama (Patricia Arquette) fall in love. Clarence breaks the news to her pimp and ends up killing him. He grabs a suitcase of cocaine on his way out thinking it is Alabama's clothing. The two hit the road for California hoping to sell the cocaine, but the mob is soon after them.

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Critics Consensus

Fueled by Quentin Tarantino's savvy screenplay and a gallery of oddball performances, Tony Scott's True Romance is a funny and violent action jaunt in the best sense.

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Budd Wilkins

Slant Magazine

07/22/2022

The varying sensibilities of Quentin Tarantino and Tony Scott come together to fashion one of the cornerstone films of the early 1990s.

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Anton Bitel

Little White Lies

07/19/2021

This is the realm of meta-cinema, where those who make movies, those who long to be in them and those who model their behaviour on them all come together to contrive between them a classic movie climax: a shoot-out...

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Mark Kermode

Observer (UK)

11/22/2015

4/5

This is the best film Quentin Tarantino never made.

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Alistair Lawrence

Common Sense Media

12/10/2023

While it might not have garnered the same critical praise as the Tarantino-helmed Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, True Romance has a charm of its own, which makes it impossible not to love.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

01/01/2023

5/5

'...the perenially absorbing kinetic character collisions of True Romance are worth savouring...'

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James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

07/12/2022

3/4

wildly improbable and delightfully unpredictable, even when charging through some very familiar territory

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Carlos

05/18/2025

A stacked star studded roster of actors. A great story with great action. True Romance should be acknowledged more often on how great it is.

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Jackie G

@jackiegia Jul 8

There are SO many stars in this film, some before they became household names, like James Gandolfini and Brad Pitt. Seeing Gandolfini in his prime made me a little sad. What a loss. Then you have Gary Oldman playing a "Black" drug dealer. Coming right after "Bramstoker's Dracula", what a 180. Jeez. The range that man has was unbelievable... but we already know he's a phenomenal actor. In my opinion, the highlight of the film is the tense exchange between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken. Neither actor wastes a single line. It's one of Tarantino's best-written scenes. By the end, I wasn't even sure who I was supposed to be rooting for. Christian Slater's character becomes somewhat insufferable, but the ending is wild. If you're a Tarantino fan who likes dissecting his early work, this is absolutely a film worth watching.

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William F

@RT82101253 Jul 3

Would recommend to the younger kids ! Straight banger

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R T

@Kezla Jun 16

If you're a Tarantino fan and this reminds you of him, then the director did a good job as this screenplay was the first he wrote. It really shows and that's a good thing. The chemistry between Slater and Arquette is fun to watch and so is the chaos. I was pleasantly surprised there was no tragic ending.

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Danny K

@king3107 Jun 15

Not only comfortably the best film ever made, but it contains the greatest scene in any film ever made (if you have to ask, you weren't watching). Truly wonderful, with a fantastic ending too. Everybody that lives, deserved to. Insanely good.

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Kim B

@RT86564524 Jun 8

If I would’ve seen this back in 1993 I may have liked it, because, let’s be honest, this action movie recipe is standard for that time. All the smoking, an excessive unnecessary amount of n words, cheesy dialogue and ridiculous gun fight. Of all the good actors in it Christopher Walken and Gary Oldman were the only one’s that stood out, Walken in a good way, Oldman in a crazy way lol.

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Tony Scott

Director

Christian Slater

Clarence Worley

Patricia Arquette

Alabama Whitman

Dennis Hopper

Clifford Worley

Val Kilmer

Mentor (Elvis)

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Drexl Spivey

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Synopsis

A comic-book nerd and Elvis fanatic Clarence (Christian Slater) and a prostitute named Alabama (Patricia Arquette) fall in love. Clarence breaks the news to her pimp and ends up killing him. He grabs a suitcase of cocaine on his way out thinking it is Alabama's clothing. The two hit the road for California hoping to sell the cocaine, but the mob is soon after them.

Director: Tony Scott
Producer: Gary Barber, Samuel Hadida, Steve Perry, Bill Unger
Screenwriter: Quentin Tarantino
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: August Entertainment, Morgan Creek Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 10, 1993, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 23, 2016
Runtime: 1h 56m
Sound Mix: Stereo, Dolby A, Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby SR
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)