Top 100 Movies Of The 1990's: #25 True Romance
Box Office: $12.3 Million
Oscar Nominations: None
Oscar Wins: None
MovieRankings.Net: 89/100
Available To Stream: Amazon Prime ($4)
True Romance is like watching LeBron James in his rookie year. He's raw but there are enough moments of absolute brilliance that you know the future will be very bright. This was the script Quentin Tarantino wrote and sold to get the money to make Reservoir Dogs. You can see the greatness in the Christopher Walken/Dennis Hopper scene. You see it with Gary Oldman's Drexl character. The pacing, the excitement, there is something very special here even if the finished product might not be perfect.
This was written by Tarantino but directed by Tony Scot, who had one of the more bizarre careers ever. Tony Scott (younger brother of Ridley Scott) directed monster hits like Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop II as well as horrific movies like Domino and The Fan. I do think he had a very nice overall career as a director despite the ups and downs because there were more ups than more most people can claim. He also has very good movies like Crimson Tide and this on his resume.
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We have to talk about how incredible this cast is.
Oscar Winners:
Patricia Arquette
Christopher Walken
Brad Pitt
Gary Oldman
Oscar Nominees:
Samuel L. Jackson
Dennis Hopper
Everyone Else:
Christian Slater
Val Kilmer
James Gandolfini
Tom Sizemore
You can make a real case that this is one of the greatest casts ever assembled. Having said that, would this movie have been better with someone else as the lead instead of Christian Slater? I don't think that disaffected cool energy entirely works for Clarence Worley. You can understand why they went with Slater who was a borderline star at the time. He would star in these low/mid-range movies like Kuffs, Mobsters and Untamed Heart. He's fine in those movies but wouldn't True Romance have been more interesting with someone like Woody Harrelson or River Phoenix instead?
Morgan Creek. Shutterstock Images.Gary Oldman's Drexl is very scary but the most terrifying character in the movie might just be James Gandolfini's Virgil. It's not just that he's evil, it's the joy in Gandolfini's eyes when he's being evil. He's played bad guys and henchmen before but it was this part that got him the audition for Tony Soprano. It is wild that this is over a 10 minute fight scene. It's one of the more brutal combat sequences you'll ever see.
I look at True Romance as a very good movie that has greatness sprinkled all over it. It has some very iconic scenes. Gondolfini and Pitt show you how talented they can be. Tony Scott did a very nice job directing this. But, the real star is Tarentino. It hits harder with Reservoir Dogs and especially with Pulp Fiction, but I can't emphasize enough how different these movies feel and sound compared to everything that had come before.
I'll get into it more as we continue on the list but Tarentino changed movies. Much like how Nirvana and Pearl Jam changed music, I don't know if Tarentino's 90's films are still affecting movies today but it was a monumental shift. This (and Reservoir Dogs which had came out a year earlier despite the script for True Romance being sold first) was the beginning of that shift.
25. True Romance
26. Dumb & Dumber
27. Kingpin
28. Donnie Brasco
29. Heat
30. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
31. Rounders
32. Unforgiven
33. Trainspotting
34. The Game
35. Out Of Sight
36. Carlito's Way
37. Seven
38. L.A. Confidential
39. Speed
40. Gattaca
41. Misery
42. Tombstone
43. Ransom
44. Wayne's World
45. The Insider
46. Back To The Future Part III
47. A Bronx Tale
48. The People Vs. Larry Flynt
49. Eyes Wide Shut
50. The Sandlot
51. Happy Gilmore
52. Contact
53. The Green Mile
54. Man On The Moon
55. Boyz N The Hood
56. Grosse Pointe Blank
57. Independence Day
58. The Rainmaker
59. Go
60. The Firm
61. Magnolia
62. The Talented Mr. Ripley
63. Tommy Boy
64. The Usual Suspects
65. In The Line Of Fire
66. My Cousin Vinny
67. Awakenings
68. JFK
69. Toy Story
70. Home Alone
71. Jerry Maguire
72. Titanic
73. Billy Madison
74. Apollo 13
75. Braveheart
76. Edward Scissorhands
77. Cape Fear
78. The River Wild
79. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
80. 12 Monkeys
81. Stir Of Echoes
82. Mission: Impossible
83. Total Recall
84. Quiz Show
85. For Love Of The Game
86. Being John Malkovich
87. Men In Black
88. Scream
89. Alive
90. Three Kings
91. Glengarry Glen Ross
92. Die Hard With A Vengeance
93. The Blair Witch Project
94. Twister
95. Dirty Work
96. Election
97. Tremors
98. Any Given Sunday
99. The Wedding Singer
100. Clerks