Forget flowers and chocolate. According to the fevered imagination of Quentin Tarantino, true romance means taking her to a triple bill of kung-fu movies, followed by apple pie at a '50s-style diner and - to show her you're really committed - killing her pimp in a big bloody shootout. Wham, bam: that's how Christian Slater gets the girl and becomes the target of mobsters in this classic couple-on-the-lam flick written by QT just after making Reservoir Dogs. It's juvenile and scattershot, yes, but it's also a blast.
People sometimes forget that Top Gun director Tony Scott was on megaphone duty because it's Tarantino's voice as screenwriter that resounds from the opener when Clarence (Slater) tries to pick up a girl in a bar with his knowledge of the martial arts films of Sonny Chiba. (Eek.) He strikes out, but then a sassy blonde by the name of Alabama (Patricia Arquette) walks into his life, able to mimic kung-fu sound effects…
Clarence hears the chime of wedding bells, too, in the sort of whirlwind romance that only happens in films - but, that's the point. Super geek Clarence is living a teenage fantasy informed by the movies. Alabama is like Marilyn, all boobs and giggles, which might be irritating where it not for the underlying nervousness she brings to the role. She's a newbie hooker as it turns out. However, in accordance with the old Hollywood cliché, she's a 'tart with a heart' and seems genuinely in love with Clarence as she watches him, googly-eyed, flicking through comic-books, regaling her with the mythology of DC superheroes. As if…
Tarantino must have had a fabulous time writing this and that boyish enthusiasm comes across in Slater's performance, softening the edges when he picks up a gun and sets out to murder her scuzzbucket pimp (a dreadlocked and typically delirious Gary Oldman). When the film first came crashing into cinemas, there was much talk about the bloodshed, but while the violence is OTT, Scott turns his camera away where Tarantino might have lingered and the shootings are almost too cartoonish to be offensive.
Above all, Clarence is an innocent who can't be tainted by blood. He kills only as a grand romantic gesture, to defend the honour of his lady love and fetch her clothes. But, whoops; he takes the wrong suitcase and now they're forced to hightail it from Detroit to Hollywood with a fortune in cocaine belonging to the Italian mafia.
The haplessness of Clarence is comical and Brad Pitt ups the laugh count as a stoner who keeps giving away his whereabouts. The chase is on and what begins as a surreal, screwball underworld romance kicks into high gear after a brilliantly staged face-off between Christopher Walken, as a mob enforcer, and Dennis Hopper playing Clarence's dad. Two great actors tear strips off each other - with words. The violence is almost incidental. From there, the rosy bubble that Clarence and Alabama are living in becomes filled with danger.
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If there's one scene of fisticuffs that will have viewers squirming, it's the one between Arquette and James Gandolfini (aka Tony Soprano) who end up rearranging the motel room furniture – and each other's faces. Tarantino loves a kick-ass female, though (later, Kill Bill Vol I and II would confirm that) and it means that Arquette isn't entirely vulnerable but made stronger by her love for Clarence and a determination to protect him. Naturally, another bigger, badder shootout will decide the fate of the lovers.
So, do Clarence and Alabama end up walking into the sunset together? Well, you've probably seen the film and know the answer to that already. It wasn't the case for Scott and Tarantino as the movie flopped on its initial release, only gaining a following on video after Tarantino scored big with Pulp Fiction a year later. That just goes to show that true romance is sometimes a slow burn.
