Just watched "True Romance" for the first time. Had no idea how brutal it was.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Being Italian, a fellow Italian friend (and Christopher Walken fan) gave me his rundown of the Walken - Hopper scene. After reading about the film on IMDB and Amazon, I decided to get it from NetFlix. I was not ready for the Reservoir Dogs-style brutality...I've seen much worse than this, but I'm wondering how (after seeing so many similar movies) this one never made it onto my radar when it was first released. Your thoughts on the film?

:toast:

[Bucky]

1. I just read the "Sicilian scene" on Wikiquote.

Honestly, I'm not very impressed. It's crude, but not "crude poetry" the way it gets described by critics.

This sounds like a movie I can easily skip.

[jobycom]

5. I wasn't thrilled with it in the film, but to be fair, Walken and Hopper added a lot

to the dialogue that a flat reading wouldn't capture.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

9. Absolutely crude...

...and it's an Italian thing, because I'm a crude Italian who knows a lot of other crude Italians. They talk about this movie, and this scene in particular. Not as being something Oscar-worthy...just as a crude scene about Italians.

Imagine my world as being made up of crude Italian carnival workers, with a few beautiful Asian women thrown in for good measure. It's not for everyone, but it's my oyster.

[jobycom]

2. It was violent and silly and reflected the mood of movies at the time.

Violence, slick packaging, stylized cool meant to replicate but modernize the brutal urban flicks of the 70s. The violence was supposed to be shocking, but also was a melodramatic spoof of similar films, in the same way that Kill Bill spoofed martial arts films (not nearly as good, though). Typical Tarantino, whose films are as much commentary on past film tradition as story, though not as intelligent as full-blown Tarantino films. I forget the full story, but he had a falling out with the director and largely backed out of the project.

I liked it for what it was, but as a story in itself it didn't do or say anything. In some ways it was just a movie about movies.

Last memorable role Christian Slater did, though.

That was my impression, anyway.

[Taverner]

3. Gotta admit Gary Oldman rocked in his role though...

[LynneSin]

4. I thought Brad Pitt stole that movie

as the stoney guy that made a bong out of one of those plastic honey bears

[Taverner]

6. Yes he was awesome in that too...

[jobycom]

7. Brad Pitt is the best bit actor in films these days.

Snatch, True Romance, Twelve Monkeys, Burn After Reading... If he could carry that energy for a whole film, he'd get his Oscar. Not that he's bad as the lead, when he takes a good role.

[jobycom]

8. He's brilliant in everything.

Some poster--maybe you, for all I remember--once asked everyone to name the best performance by an actor in a variety of different types of roles--cop, dad, stuff like that--and then went on to name an Oldman role for each category.

He even amazes me in Batman, where he is trying to play as straight-laced and flat a character as he's ever played, and still winds up stealing the scene. Every time I saw The Dark Knight at the movies, he got an ovation when he came back from the dead. He's just one of the top actors in film, and he's the only actor I can think of who always, always challenges himself with a quality role in a new direction.

And no Oscars. That speaks poorly of the Oscars.

[sammythecat]

10. I liked it a lot .

I thought all the performances were very good, and yes, not a movie for the squeamish.