Reviewer's Rating 4 out of 5 Ìý User Rating 5 out of 5
True Romance SE DVD (1993)

Quentin Tarantino reveals, on this new double-disc DVD release of "True Romance", that the closest he came to a Mexican stand-off with director Tony Scott was over the ending of the film. You can find out how both now feel about the resulting crime caper.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Picture The film looks beautiful thanks to a sharp clear transfer that copes with cold exteriors and warm neon with equal ease and clarity.

Sound A glorious 5.1 mix really fills out the speakers, with the music score adding depth and superior separation to each track.

DISC ONE SPECIAL FEATURES

Audio Commentary One Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette clearly haven't seen "True Romance" for a while because they fall into the trap of just watching it for this commentary. In amongst the many silences, Slater discusses becoming obsessed with Elvis during the making of the film, to the point of copying his hairstyle. Director Tony Scott seemed fine with that but apparently hated Arquette's hairdo, which got it's inspiration from the "Charlie's Angels" TV series.

Audio Commentary Two Tony Scott describes making "True Romance", as, "one of those rare experiences". He'd been given the scripts for both "True Romance" and "Reservoir Dogs" and asked Quentin Tarantino if he could direct them both. Tarantino decided he wanted to direct "Reservoir Dogs".

Scott went ahead with "True Romance" and was able to get the stellar cast by ruthlessly keeping costs down and paying the actors to scale. A bigger initial problem was Slater's performance, which was "too light". Scott made Slater go home and watch "Taxi Driver". The next day Slater had it nailed with the underlying darkness Scott was after.

Audio Commentary Three Quentin Tarantino is always enthusiastic when talking about films in general, or his own writing. So this commentary track makes for an infectious audio experience.

"True Romance" was Tarantino's first script. As as a result he chats at length about his early days, especially struggling with piles of unfinished scripts that tended to end on page 30. He counts "True Romance" as, "the most auto-biographical film I've written" and is as a result, "incredibly moved" when watching it - it is his perception of himself when he was 25.

Storyboard Track Select this option and you can watch the film with a fairly unobtrusive animated storyboard shown in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen.

DISC TWO SPECIAL FEATURES

Selective Commentaries A stellar cast of actors from the film offer short commentaries for the cenes they appear in. Dennis Hopper talks about how fans worldwide rave to him about the trailer scene with Christopher Walken.

Val Kilmer reveals he did make-up tests to look like Elvis for the film, but ended-up looking like a drag queen.

Brad Pitt discusses how he didn't really "get it" when reading the script for the film and took it too literally. He did, though, spot a small role for himself which he decided to do.

As for Michael Rapaport, he was only after a small part but ended-up with something bigger and was just as excited to get it as the struggling actor he plays in the movie.

Alternate Ending - SPOILER! If you haven't seen the movie then skip the following paragraph!

Both Tony Scott and Quentin Tarantino offer their thoughts on this six-minute alternate ending where in fact Slater and Arquette both die. Scott discusses why he chose to let them live while Tarantino makes his mind up whether or not Scott was right to choose the happy ending...

Additional Extra Features Also on disc two is an animated photo gallery, trailer, two TV spots, a cheesy promotional featurette, and a cast and crew list.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Region: 2
Chapters: 34
Ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Audio Tracks: English
Subtitles: English
Captions: English
Menus: Static with 'Badlands' music theme played over
Special Features Subtitles: None of the special features come with subtitles.

This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-S57 DVD player.

End Credits

Director: Tony Scott

Writer: Quentin Tarantino

Stars: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer, Samuel L Jackson, Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini

Genre: Thriller, Romance

Length: 116 minutes

Cinema: 1993

DVD: 24 February 2003

Country: USA