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

Source #3: "The Night People" by Nicholas Ray (Warning! The following contains spoilers about the ending of the film!)

When watching "True Romance," one can see various homages, from the psychedelic rock film " Performance " (1969) starring a young Mick Jagger, to " The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 2" (1986) starring Dennis Hopper, who gave a brilliant performance as Clarence's father. In terms of the escapades of a young couple, it could be said to be a variation of the aforementioned "The Big Bad Pig " and " Bonnie and Clyde " (1967).

One film that is rarely mentioned but had a major impact is the 1948 teen crime film Night People . It is an adaptation of Thieves Like Us by Edward Anderson, an unfortunate author who only published two novels in his lifetime, and was the directorial debut of Nicholas Ray, who would later go on to make Rebel Without a Cause (1955) starring James Dean.

The protagonist, Bowie (Farley Granger), is a young man who has been in prison for seven years. He escapes with a fellow inmate and becomes part of a gang of robbers. However, he falls in love with one of the gang's daughters, Keech (Cathy O'Donnell), impulsively marries her and elopes. He decides to live an honest life, but is drawn back into the ties of his criminal friends.

If you hear the names Bowie and Keach, and remember the Robert Altman film " Bowie & Keach " (1973), you're in the right frame of mind. "Bowie & Keach" is also a remake of the same Edward Anderson novel.

"Night People" is one of Tarantino's favorite films, along with "The Man from Inferno," and has many things in common with "True Romance." At the end, Bowie is betrayed by his friends and shot dead, and only Keach, who is pregnant with Bowie's child, survives. It's exactly the same as the ending of the original screenplay for "True Romance" that Tarantino really wanted, before it was changed to a happy ending.

Bowie, who is shy around women, also tells Keach his modest wish: "I want to hold hands and watch a movie at the cinema." In the end, this dream never comes true in "People of the Night," but in "True Romance," Clarence and Alabama meet at the cinema and watch a triple feature of kung fu movies next to each other. After watching " Live by Night ," it seems like Tarantino has made Bowie and Keach's unfulfilled wish come true with his own work.

"Night People" is one of the earliest masterpieces in the "male and female escapade" genre, and was the prototype for "True Romance." Please watch it to find out what kind of movie Tarantino had in mind when he wrote "True Romance."

Text: Akira Murayama

Born in 1971. Writes articles for magazines, newspapers, movie sites, etc. Representative of “ShortCuts,” a review site for distribution-based works.

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True Romance (c) 1993 Morgan Creek Productions, Inc. Package Design (c)2014 Morgan Creek Productions, Inc. and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.