"""But this could be a GREAT action flick if not for Hans Zzzzzzzzzzzzzimmer's pretentious vibraphone score. I love Zimmer but ugh, this was just bad!!!! This is a crime/action/thriller, not an adventure-in-the-jungle movie."""
Ok, first of all, the word "pretentious" means what you think it means. There's nothing pretentious about this score.
Secondly, if you took this movie at first degree as a "crime/action/thriller", that's your own failings right there. The movie is a tongue-in-cheek faerie tale between two sociopaths.
"""I swear some scenes were near unintentional comedy because of that damned score."""
Duh. That's how it is SUPPOSED to be, it's not unintentional. You make it sound like it was Silence of the Lambs or the Bourne trilogy. The whole movie is filled with comical, over-the-top characters doing funny things. Or did that escape you?
The score fits the tone of the narrative perfectly.
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Jayhawk020
12 years ago
easy there cowboy.... the film, and any film for that matter, is up for interpretation. i agree with OP.
if the intention was to put that music in because it was an "over the top characters doing funny things" then it was done in poor taste. i thought the music was annoying ie...clarence and dad talking about serious stuff.....alabama confessing to clarence about being call girl. those are the two main scenes with the score that i thought were out of place.
the movie wasnt about over the top characters. they were just characters in a movie. or did that escape you?
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brendanfoy
11 years ago
The movie is pure pulp, the characters are definitely over the top. The white pimp with dreads who is convinced he's black? The ridiculously cool comic book nerd who meets the girl of his dreams at a kung fu marathon, and goes on a murderous rampage in her honor? The wild trailer park blonde bombshell call girl who falls in love with her fourth client? Chistopher Walken as Christopher Walken having a polite but sinister chat with Dennis Hopper as Dennis Hopper? The literally stoned Brad Pitt? The Jewiest Jewish Hollywood producer? Tom Sizemore and Chris Penn laughing during the wire tap? Val Kilmer as an imaginary Elvis? Balki Bartokomous in one of the best stunt castings ever?
Dude this movie was all about the over the top characters and their over the top monologues. The music may not seem like it fits, but nothing about the these characters fits, they're crazy. It's exactly how Tony Scott envisioned it and is in my opinion his best film.
Tarantino on the DVD set I have talks like he would have taken it in a grittier direction like Pulp Fiction, but I think Tony Scott made a masterpiece of pulp cinema.
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one_ricca
10 years ago
I came on here for the same reason. I watched this for the first time the other night and thought the same thing as the OP.
The style of photography, the cast, the acting, the script, all would have gone great with a Tarantino type score or even just a modern day Zimmer score (not meaning a TDK theme, he's still super versatile and has probably done some of your favorite recent films under your nose).
But yeah those two scenes, talking with dad, admitting to being a call girl... Also the intro credits to add one, all set the completely wrong tone imo.
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ajaddiction2004
10 years ago
That's the problem riccca and the op and many others that comment about this movie. They simply were late to the party. I am not saying it has aged poorly, I love it, but I'm saying there is a big difference between watching something during its hayday and just getting around to the movie after 21 years of it's release.
Something just get lost in the translation. Things that were innovative and striking don't have the same punch. In the same regards I'll never know what it was like to watch raging bull, godfather and star wars in theater. I'm sure the impact would be far greater than those movies, which I hold dear to me, are now.
This movie captured a little piece of Americana. The seedy side of it but the hope of a new beginning that only the promissory note of true love can inspire.
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CptHowdy87
7 years ago
The style of photography, the cast, the acting, the script, all would have gone great with a Tarantino type score
I liked the HZ score but I'd love to see a version with a Tarantino-esque soundtrack. Years ago I downloaded (
I own True Romance on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray) 'The Tarantino Cut' which someone made which was the movie in non-linear order the way it was in the script and with about 10 minutes or so of deleted scenes inserted back into the movie, along with the alternate ending. I'd love to see that version of the movie with a Tarantino soundtrack.
That all being said, I love the movie as it is.
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