A treasure trove of original stories from “True Romance”! Examining Tarantino's early masterpiece screenplays

"True Romance" synopsis

With a mafia suitcase full of drugs in their possession, Clarence (Christian Slater) and Alabama (Patricia Arquette) take a dangerous gamble as they go on a romantic escapade. They head to Los Angeles, where they intend to sell drugs and start a new life. However, he ends up being chased by both the mafia and the police...

Index

• Source #1: Elmore Leonard's crime novel
• Original story 2: Terrence Malick's "Escape from Inferno"
• Original story 3: Nicholas Ray's "People of the Night"

Source #1: Elmore Leonard's crime novel

It is well known that Quentin Tarantino, who wrote the screenplay for ``True Romance,'' uses past movies and novels as the basis for many of his works. Whether it's called a rip-off or an homage is a matter of debate, but the fact that he can twist any source material in Tarantino's style and end up with an original "Tarantino work" is a formidable talent.

Tarantino himself admits that his directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs (1992), was based on the Hong Kong noir directed by Ringo Lam and starring Chow Yun-Fat , A Friend in the Wind (1987). , the Kill Bill two-part series (2003, 2004) is full of parodies of kung fu and chivalry films. The western movie `` Django Unchained '' (2012) is a black version of the popular Macaroni Western character ``Django,'' and even the Japanese title is a play on `` Unforgiven '' (1992).

So why is Clarence, the main character of Tarantino's alter ego , True Romance, from Detroit? Tarantino was born in the southern state of Tennessee and grew up in Los Angeles, where he moved when he was eight years old. My life should have had nothing to do with the northern city of Detroit.

The answer lies in Elmore Leonard, the crime novelist whom Tarantino admires. Successful Tarantino bought the film rights to several of Leonard's novels and directed Jackie Brown (1997), based on Leonard's `` Rum Punch .'' The worldview of `` Pulp Fiction '' (1994), in which criminals with quirks roam, was also greatly influenced by Leonard.

Most of Leonard's crime novels share the same worldview. For example, the criminal duo played by Robert De Niro and Samuel L. Jackson in ``Jackie Brown'' also appears in another film, `` The Switch '' (which was made into a movie in 2013 as `` Life of Crime ''). The FBI agent played by Michael Keaton in ``Jackie Brown'' also appears in `` Out of Sight,' ' directed by Steven Soderbergh. It's interesting to see Michael Keaton playing this character so faithfully.

Tarantino's works are also interconnected in behind-the-scenes settings, and the name of Alabama, the heroine of ``True Romance,'' appears in ``Reservoir Dogs.'' This "Tarantino Universe" is also likely to be modeled after Leonard's novel. Detroit and Florida are Leonard's favorite locations for his novels. The fact that Detroit is the city where Clarence was born and raised, and Florida is the hometown of Alabama, is probably a nod to Leonard, whom he admires.

Original story 2: Terrence Malick's "Escape from Inferno"