Brad Pitt, Chris Penn, Christian Slater

A pair of young lovers flee Detroit with a suitcase full of contraband, and head for Los Angeles with the police as well as the Detroit mob on their tail.

Flixster Users

90% liked it

70,082 ratings

Critics

91% liked it

43 critics

R, 2 hrs.

Directed by: Tony Scott

Release Date: September 10, 1993

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DVD Release Date: September 30, 1997

Stats: 9,961 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (9,961)


  • September 21, 2009
    A very cool love story, with plenty of violence, humour and more cameos than you can shake a stick at. It?s also all the better for not having Tarantino direct it. Some of the improv/ad lib scenes are brilliant, the Walken and Hopper scene in particular is an absolute classic!
  • July 1, 2009
    "Stealing, Cheating, Killing. Who said romance is dead?"

    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.

    REVIEW
    ...( read more)
    "True Romance" is far from a perfect film on a technical level. Still, it is possibly the most entertaining and cool flick of the decade. Its always refreshing to see a film that is so self-referentially violent and makes no qualms about it. Sure, there is absolutely nothing beneath the surface to what is presented on screen. But who watches these films for a deeper meaning? As an action film, "True Romance" loads on the violence, clever dialog, and quirky characters we look for in films such as this.

    Some may be nervous about Tony Scott directing a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino. Scott is best known for directing a lot of vapid and insipid 80s blockbusters such as "Top Gun" and "Beverly Hills Cop II". Fortunately, he doesn't feel the need to impose his own visual style onto Tarantino's script unlike Oliver Stone. In the end, it feels more like a Tarantino picture than a Tony Scott one. As far as the screenplay is concerned, it doesn't have the three-dimensional characters that "Reservoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction" had, but it has many of the other hallmarks we have come to expect from Tarantino. The dialog is witty and memorable, with several quotable lines. Also, its an incredibly cool movie, loaded with references to cult films for folks like myself.

    The cast is one of the best of the decade. I'm not even going to go over the great performers who are in it, but I'll just mention my favorite portrayals. Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken are both amazing, and the interaction between the two is one of the best scenes ever in a movie. Gary Oldman is incredibly sleazy as the pimp Drexl Spivey. And despite being in many other much more acclaimed roles, Brad Pitt will always be the stoner on the couch for me. These are just a few of the memorable roles in the film. This isn't exactly a life changing masterpiece, but is one of the most entertaining and cool films ever made.
  • April 23, 2009
    The best QT film ever and he didnt even direct it.One of my all time favs.
  • September 6, 2008
    A cracking action/thriller as a couple go on the run with everyone after them. A very entertaining film.
  • September 2, 2008
    An overrated movie with an ensemble cast. The Walken/Hopper scene is great, it's the only thing I will remember this movie by.

    Too bad that there are so many good actors in the movie. Most of 'em do some very quick scenes and then they're out. Brad Pitt does also a very memorabl...( read more)e scene as the pothead Lloyd.

    The movie is a basic Tarantino film (his script) with a lot of dialogue that basically have no higher purpose. It will entertain you and give some very good scenes but still it left me kinda cold.
  • October 25, 2009
    one of the best shoot-outs ever!
  • October 22, 2009
    christian slater

    dennis hopper

    gary oldman

    christopher walken

    val kilmer

    patricia arquette

    brad pitt















    christian slater


    patricia arquette


    gary oldman


    chri...( read more)stopher walken
  • October 22, 2009
    this movie i cant begin to explain how great this is,its my top favorite movie EVER! im such a big fan that i tattooed the angel on my chest
  • October 21, 2009
    One Of The Best Casts Ever Assembled. Pitt Steals The Movie In His Less Than 5 Minutes Of Screen Time.
  • October 20, 2009
    Tony Scott's hyperkinetic, darkly funny, and hugely entertaining action extravaganza has more plot twists than you can count, and yet it's also a surprisingly moving tale of young love in a violent, crazy world. Christian Slater is Clarence Worley, a Detroit comic book store cler...( read more)k who spends his birthday at a Sonny Chiba kung-fu triple feature. There, he meets Alabama (Patricia Arquette), a sweet blonde gal with many similar interests. The two go out for pie and a conversation after the movie, have sex, and Clarence finds out that Alabama is a call girl. They get married and Clarence, urged forward by his Elvis-esque conscience (Val Kilmer), goes to get her things from her pimp, a wanna-be black gangsta named Drexyl (Gary Oldman). Clarence kills Drexyl and takes off with a suitcase, but it turns out to have tons and tons of uncut cocaine inside. Clarence and Alabama hatch a plan: they'll go to Clarence's ex-cop father (Dennis Hopper) for a bit of assistance before high-tailing it for Hollywood to stay with Clarence's ex-college roommate Dick Ritchie (Michael Rapaport) and his pothead, couch-surfing roommate Floyd (Brad Pitt), use Dick's contact with a movie studio underling (Bronson Pinchot) to get a meeting with a big-time movie producer named Lee Donowitz (Saul Rubinek), and sell the cocaine to make enough money to retire to Cancun. This might make for a half-way decent plan if they knew that they have been followed by several Sicilian gangsters (including James Gandolfini as an introspective hitman) in league with a consiglieri named Vincenzo Coccotti (Christopher Walken). Add a couple of gung-ho detectives (Chris Penn and Tom Sizemore) into the mix, and you've got the makings for a good old-fashioned Mexican standoff. Tony Scott is known as a director of action films with a grasp of style over substance ("Top Gun," "Days of Thunder"). Working from a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino ("Reservoir Dogs"), Scott has made a violent, darkly funny, and surprisingly bittersweet modern fable about two young dumb kids who just want a better life for themselves. Tarantino's screenplay is melodramatic, intense, violent and contains tons of colorful dialogue with a plethora of memorable one-liners. The cinematography by Jeffrey L. Kimball is slick and glossy, with just the slightest aura of grit. The performances are all top-notch, high octane, and over-the-top, with a particularly memorable scene (with Dennis Hopper) coming from Christopher Walken, who is positively Satanic as a Sicilian mobster who just about meets his match in the least likely of places. This film may not have anything to say, but it is pure, unadulterated fun.

    NOTE: The Unrated Director's Cut on DVD runs 121 minutes.

Critic Reviews


May 12, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

It's Tarantino's gutter poetry that detonates True Romance. This movie is dynamite. full review

January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Made with such energy, such high spirits, such an enchanting goofiness, that it's impossible to resist. full review

View more True Romance reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

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True Romance Trivia


  • Name the actor that links the following movies: 12 Monkeys, Thelma and Louise, Ocean's Eleven, True Romance  Answer »
  • Who connects the following movies: True Romance, Pulp Fiction, Catch Me If You Can and Suicide Kings  Answer »
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