Top 100 Movies Of The 1990's: #25 True Romance

Box Office: $12.3 Million

Oscar Nominations: None

Oscar Wins: None

MovieRankings.Net: 89/100

Available To Stream: Amazon Prime ($4)

True Romance is like watching LeBron James in his rookie year. He's raw but there are enough moments of absolute brilliance that you know the future will be very bright. This was the script Quentin Tarantino wrote and sold to get the money to make Reservoir Dogs. You can see the greatness in the Christopher Walken/Dennis Hopper scene. You see it with Gary Oldman's Drexl character. The pacing, the excitement, there is something very special here even if the finished product might not be perfect.

This was written by Tarantino but directed by Tony Scot, who had one of the more bizarre careers ever. Tony Scott (younger brother of Ridley Scott) directed monster hits like Top Gun and Beverly Hills Cop II as well as horrific movies like Domino and The Fan. I do think he had a very nice overall career as a director despite the ups and downs because there were more ups than more most people can claim. He also has very good movies like Crimson Tide and this on his resume.

We have to talk about how incredible this cast is.

Oscar Winners:

Patricia Arquette

Christopher Walken

Brad Pitt

Gary Oldman

Oscar Nominees:

Samuel L. Jackson

Dennis Hopper

Everyone Else:

Christian Slater

Val Kilmer

James Gandolfini

Tom Sizemore

You can make a real case that this is one of the greatest casts ever assembled. Having said that, would this movie have been better with someone else as the lead instead of Christian Slater? I don't think that disaffected cool energy entirely works for Clarence Worley. You can understand why they went with Slater who was a borderline star at the time. He would star in these low/mid-range movies like Kuffs, Mobsters and Untamed Heart. He's fine in those movies but wouldn't True Romance have been more interesting with someone like Woody Harrelson or River Phoenix instead?

Morgan Creek. Shutterstock Images.

Gary Oldman's Drexl is very scary but the most terrifying character in the movie might just be James Gandolfini's Virgil. It's not just that he's evil, it's the joy in Gandolfini's eyes when he's being evil. He's played bad guys and henchmen before but it was this part that got him the audition for Tony Soprano. It is wild that this is over a 10 minute fight scene. It's one of the more brutal combat sequences you'll ever see.

I look at True Romance as a very good movie that has greatness sprinkled all over it. It has some very iconic scenes. Gondolfini and Pitt show you how talented they can be. Tony Scott did a very nice job directing this. But, the real star is Tarentino. It hits harder with Reservoir Dogs and especially with Pulp Fiction, but I can't emphasize enough how different these movies feel and sound compared to everything that had come before.

I'll get into it more as we continue on the list but Tarentino changed movies. Much like how Nirvana and Pearl Jam changed music, I don't know if Tarentino's 90's films are still affecting movies today but it was a monumental shift. This (and Reservoir Dogs which had came out a year earlier despite the script for True Romance being sold first) was the beginning of that shift.

25. True Romance

26. Dumb & Dumber

27. Kingpin

28. Donnie Brasco

29. Heat 

30. Terminator 2: Judgement Day

31. Rounders

32. Unforgiven

33. Trainspotting

34. The Game

35. Out Of Sight

36. Carlito's Way

37. Seven

38. L.A. Confidential

39. Speed

40. Gattaca

41. Misery

42. Tombstone

43. Ransom

44. Wayne's World

45. The Insider

46. Back To The Future Part III

47. A Bronx Tale

48. The People Vs. Larry Flynt

49. Eyes Wide Shut

50. The Sandlot

51. Happy Gilmore

52. Contact

53. The Green Mile

54. Man On The Moon

55. Boyz N The Hood

56. Grosse Pointe Blank

57. Independence Day

58. The Rainmaker

59. Go

60. The Firm

61. Magnolia

62. The Talented Mr. Ripley

63. Tommy Boy

64. The Usual Suspects

65. In The Line Of Fire

66. My Cousin Vinny

67. Awakenings

68. JFK

69. Toy Story

70. Home Alone

71. Jerry Maguire

72. Titanic

73. Billy Madison

74. Apollo 13

75. Braveheart

76. Edward Scissorhands

77. Cape Fear

78. The River Wild

79. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

80. 12 Monkeys

81. Stir Of Echoes

82. Mission: Impossible

83. Total Recall

84. Quiz Show

85. For Love Of The Game

86. Being John Malkovich

87. Men In Black

88. Scream

89. Alive

90. Three Kings

91. Glengarry Glen Ross

92. Die Hard With A Vengeance

93. The Blair Witch Project

94. Twister

95. Dirty Work

96. Election

97. Tremors

98. Any Given Sunday

99. The Wedding Singer

100. Clerks