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ELVIS IS EVERYWHERE: THE THING CALLED LOVE, TRUE ROMANCE - Page 3

© Sean Gallagher

While this was Tarantino's first screenplay, a couple of factors had already fallen into place. One was his love for both high and low culture - only Tarantino would reference both Hamlet (Clarence and a pair of cops (Chris Penn and Tom Sizemore) both remark how they knew there was "something rotten in Denmark) and Hanna-Barbera (at one point, Clarence and Alabama call each other "Augie-Doggie" and "Doggie-Daddy") in the same movie, or include not only the music from BADLANDS, but also have a character (Dick) try out for a T.J. Hooker movie. Another trademark is his use of dialogue, most famously during the scene where mob boss Vincenzo (Christopher Walken) interrogates Clarence's father Clifford (Dennis Hopper) about the whereabouts of Clarence - when Clifford asks who Vincenzo is, he replies, "I am the anti-Christ." And without giving anything away, the last line of the movie not only fits in with Clarence's Elvis obsession, but is also one of the great closing lines in movie history. What also comes through, however, is that Tarantino is more interested in the side trips than the main story. Originally, the screenplay was less linear, and while it's not a fatal flaw, the fact is the lead characters together are the least interesting part of the film.

Some thought Scott was the wrong person to direct this effort. I have loathed just about all of Scott's work previously, thinking him empty at best and sadistic at worst. Yet here, his shiny look for the film works for a story that's all surface fun. Plus, he juggles a vast number of actors all playing well-written parts, and they all have a ball. While Slater and Arquette aren't written well together, they are both good separately, and in the non-dialogue scenes, they have some sparks. And Slater in particularly is good, playing, essentially, Tarantino in the film. Oldman has a lot of fun playing Drexel as a white man who thinks he's black. Brad Pitt also is a riot as Dick's permanently stoned roommate. And while the scene between Vincenzo and Clifford is memorable partly because of the dialogue, it's also quite memorable for the way Walken and Hopper play it (as when, at the end of the scene, Vincenzo shoots Clifford and says, "I haven't killed anybody since" and after shooting again, "1984"). But for me, the most fun was had from Kilmer; after playing Jim Morrison, Elvis must have seemed a Breeze, and he's a lot of fun here. And TRUE ROMANCE, when all is said and done, is a lot of fun.

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