Prewarning: This article contains spoilers for the film “True Romance” – watch the film before reading this, as obviously seeing the scene within the context of the entire film is very important. Also this movie uses some fairly strong racist language (much of which is within this scene) but is not, in any way, racist (the context, and reasoning for the language is revealed in this scene analysis if there were any doubts!). If you’ve already seen the movie then great – give the scene a rewatch and lets have a closer look at what makes it so great.
First you’ve got two fantastic actors at the helm: Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper. I mean these guys are masters, about as good as it gets. Then you’ve got a script from Tarantino (based on an original script by Roger Avary, I might add) and say what you want about Tarantino, the man can write some fantastic dialogue.
Now to set the scene. Christopher Walken’s character Vincenzo Coccotti is interogating Dennis Hopper’s Mr. Worley on the whereabouts of the latter’s son. Mr. Worley knows exactly where his son, Clarence Worley, is. Walken makes a fantastic bad guy, with his menacing appearance and incredibly badass opening lines ( “I’m the Anti-Christ. You got me in a vendetta kind of mood. You tell the angels up in heaven you never seen evil so singularly personifed than you did in the face of the man who killed you”). You know Mr. Worley is in for a rough ride, and keeping the whereabouts of his son hidden from these gangsters is not going to be easy.
He starts with a simple lie: “I haven’t seen Clarence,” and quickly gets a fist in the face for his trouble. His second attempt at lying is much more well crafted, with a bit of back story to make it more convincing, but even as Mr. Worley begins his story we can see Coccotti knows it is rubbish, nodding his head impatiently, waiting for Worley to finish his story so he can dish out a second dose of nastiness. Note the little tilt of the head Coccotti gives Worley once he is finished, a little sadistic smile, showing Worley he knows he is lying without even saying anything, almost as if he is glad Worley is lying – the sadist in him doesn’t want this little game of “show and tell” to be over quite yet. And so for his silver tongue Worley gets a very nasty cut in the palm, and a great little monologue from Coccotti about how he knew he was lying: “Sicilians are great liars. Best, in the world.”
Now comes the turnaround, the point where the scene goes from being good to great. Worley, rubbing his wounded hand and listening to Coccotti’s speech, begins to realise he isn’t going to be able to lie his way out of the situation – he must either tell the gangsters where his son is (and they will kill Clarence as a result) or he will be killed himself. As a good father, the former is simply not an option, so Worley, to avoid being subjected (and possibly bending) to any more torture must find a way to give himself a quick death. Now all this is nearly impossible to tell so early in the scene, but it is revealed in a moment and the first, subtle hint is Worley’s request for a cigarette (a cigarette that he refused earlier), his last cigarette.
What follows is a monologue from Worley on how “Sicilians have black blood pumping through their veins” – Worley plays on the racist nature of these gangsters, delivering a crippling insult to their entire race. (It is perhaps important to mention that they take this as an insult only because they themselves are racist. The film is not.) The insult is so big that the gangsters’ reaction is completely disbelieving – check Coccotti’s face and how the gangsters burst into laughter, for laugh is all they can do at this insane behavior: does he have a death wish or something!? Um, yes he does. Here Hopper delivers an incredible performance (when you actually consider the depth and complexity of what his character is going through psychologically). The two actors even manage to exchange some impromptu dialogue amidst all this ( “That means you, you’re part eggplant.” “Well you’re a cantaloupe!”). Then Coccotti, in hysterics, gives the kiss of death to Worley, and he knows it is the end. He takes a last drag on his cigarette, his task complete, and is blown away by Coccotti to the operatic crescendo of the film’s main theme.
What a fantastic scene, eh? Tony Scott (the director) wisely takes a bit of a back seat here – putting the characters in an atmospherically lit location and letting the actors and script do the work with a simple shot/reverse shot formula (plus minor variation). The music seeping in towards the end of the scene is a nice touch, but any more meddling would have been a mistake. The result, I think you’ll agree, is one seriously “awesome scene”.
