The Goods
Books
92 Graham Swift, Jenny Colgan
Comics
94 Batman
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53:3 .jft. i1, ' .EN 1;.1. TRUE ROMANCE (18) ‘-'-(l"‘t.'.' ‘11?"‘(r \Mlm) 2‘th Eh} C...
ou can‘t help but wonder Y how many impressionable
teenagers thought getting married was a good idea after watching True Romance. Why? Because writer Quentin Tarantino and director Tony Scott made it look so cool.
There‘s no tedious planning, no sad wedding reception with old people cutting loose on the dancefloor to ‘Young Hearts, Run Free‘, just two loved- up freaks (one a geeky comic shop assistant, one a trashy call girl), getting hitched on a whim, buying his‘n‘her tattoos and setting off to start a new
life - and a killing spree - with a suitcase full of cocaine as a dowry. Fantastic.
Seen through older eyes - it's been ten years since the film‘s original release - True Romance is, as Brad Pitt duly observes on one of the informative character- specific commentaries included on this director‘s-cut DVD, ‘a young man‘s wet dream‘.
Offered the lead role of Clarence Worley by Tarantino, Pitt turned the part down as he recognised the story of a nerdy comic fan suddenly transformed into a hot- lovin‘, gun-toting smooth criminal for what it was: pure fantasy. Having just completed Kalifornia, Pitt was
unwilling to play yet another handsome maniac but he did, however, take a small part in the film because the fantasies played out here belonged (albeit) to an fiber geek, but one astoundingly gifted in writing classic dialogue for vividly drawn characters. And Pitt wasn‘t the only one who knew True Romance would achieve the kind of cult status Reservoir Dogs
had.
Games
97 The Sims, Unreal 2
98 xXx, The Guru
TV
The cast is incredible as are the scenes with career best performances
.\/.1. .
Video/ DVD
99 Mandela, Jonathan Creek
.0... Excellent 0... Recommended 0.. Good
0. r lawed
. Pool
Shoppmg
100 Independent Shopping
Food
105 Bread, lglu bar
Travel
107 Berlin
it:
Christian Slate} and Patricia Arquette add a new commentray to the DVD
On another of the DVD’s special features, leading actors Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette deliver a feature-length commentary on the film. As the opening credits role to the strains of the soundtrack lifted straight from Badlands, Arquette squeals with delight: ‘Can you believe this cast, ladies
and germs!‘ as Christopher Walken's name appears, then Dennis Hopper‘s, Gary Oldman‘s, Brad Pitt’s . . . and so on.
And she‘s not wrong about the cast - it’s incredible, as are the scenes in which its members deliver career best performances. Take the one with Hopper and Walken for example, the one with the ‘Sicilian‘s were spawned by niggers' argument or the one where Oldman and Sam Jackson discuss the merits of eating pussy, or indeed, the stand out scene where James Gandolfini beats Alabama to a pulp while her husband’s out-talking Elvis and buying burgers.
With DVD technology at your fingertips, you can watch these wonderful scenes in glorious isolation and while the film as a whole doesn't really bear the scrutiny of some of the special features of this new edition (an animated photo gallery — | ask you!), key commentaries and an alternative ending make for a prime purchase this fortnight. (Catherine Bromley)
THE LIST 91