True Romance 4K Blu-ray Review & Comments

I'm half-way through watching this at the moment. Great film.

Take this with a grain of salt at the moment, but I've heard from a True Romance connoisseur that the scene between Patricia Arquette and James Gandolfini is still cut, even on the director's cut.

Apparently on the original UK VHS release
she stabs him in the chest with the corkscrew once more, shoots him with the shotgun at least once more and there are a couple more whacks with it too.

Like I said, I don't remember this scene to such an exact degree (and I saw it at the cinema as well as on VHS, DVD and blu-ray), but this is disappointing if true.
 
Great review. Mine was delivered on day of release. Can't wait to watch it!

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Another one to add to the list!

The scene between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken is up there with the very best!

Haven't seen this film for about 20 years. Just watched it and had to rewind that scene and watch it again.
 
Watched this for the first time but only via an HD stream as I was surprised I'd never seen it when this review came up.

Feel really stupid for not buying & watching the 4k release right off the bat now!

Best "tarantino" film hands down for me. Gone straight in to my top 10 all time I think!

To remaster the original faithfully into 4k HDR must have been quite an undertaking, but it was clearly crying out for it with all the classic Tony Scott vibrancy going on. Great to hear they've done a great job.
 
Another great review. Thanks very much, Cas.

I'm glad that you mentioned Alabama's sunglasses. I'd read a few rumours that video quality on the new UHD was very good and the thing that I was most looking forward to, visually, was seeing what they looked like on-screen. The new UHD didn't disappoint. I've always loved those glasses but the previous home media releases didn't do (or couldn't do) them justice. But I was very much wowed by the new release. They have never looked so realistically metallic and that turquoise blue really pops. A fantastic video presentation finally does True Romance justice.

I've loved True Romance since the very first time that I saw it. I'm probably the perfect age for this film, which is perhaps the greatest Generation X movie of them all. Me and my friends had all very much enjoyed Reservoir Dogs when it was released in 1992, when I was 22. We were excited when we learnt that the film-maker, Quentin Tarantino, had written the script for Tony Scott's new film. What a pairing that was. The director of arguably the most visually appealing films of the 90s teaming up with a young film-maker who embodied all the pop culture references and in-jokes that Generation X had grown up with.

One of my friends was lucky enough to go on holiday with his girlfriend to California in late summer 1993 and when he got back, he couldn't stop sing the praises of True Romance. Our little group was all stoked to see it after, so when it was released in the UK a few weeks later, we booked tickets to go see it in Leicester Square the weekend of release. It didn't disappoint and I've been a huge fan ever since and True Romance has sat easily in my top 5 movies since.

That winter we went back-packing in Thailand for a few months. In Bangkok I bought a pirate copy of True Romance on VHS that became my most prized video. It was uncut, in a letterbox format and had an outstanding video quality. Much better than most legal VHS releases of any films. The official True Romance VHS, when it eventually came out, was cut and only pan and scan. A few months later, I lent the VHS to one of my mates who, inexplicably, taped over it with a few episodes of Eastenders. I was absolutely livid, and from that day on I have never lent any of my VHS, DVD, Blu-ray or UHD to anyone ever again. Just not worth the risk as a film buff and AV enthusiast.

In 2016, I visited Los Angeles for the first time with two friends (one of them the mate who first saw True Romance in California back in 1993) and we visited many classic and cult film locations as part of our trip. From Laurel & Hardy to Blade Runner to Halloween to Point Break to Brian De Palma's Body Double, it was a dream for a life long film buff. As we were all True Romance fans, we visited a few of the filming locations, although many of them are no longer there. I've attached a photo that I took of the cinema where Clarence and Alabama first meet watching the Sonny Chiba marathon. Although that scene is set in Detroit, the exterior shots were filmed at the Vista Theatre in the Los Feliz area of LA. The steam coming out of the pavement was a special effect to make it look like cold, wintry Detroit. We also rented an apartment in Beachwood Canyon partly because that's where Dick and Floyd's Apartment is meant to be located.

It was just fantastic watching the new True Romance UHD last weekend. I hadn't watched the blu-ray for about 5 years previously and despite knowing the film inside-out it was so enjoyable watching the eye-popping new transfer.
 

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llent the VHS to one of my mates who, inexplicably, taped over it with a few episodes of Eastenders. I was absolutely livid, and from that day on I have never lent any of my VHS, DVD, Blu-ray or UHD to anyone ever again. Just not worth the risk as a film buff and AV enthusiast.

They did what??!!?? :eek:
 
They did what??!!?? :eek:
Haha.

The thing is, they would have had to tape up the removed tab as well so they knew exactly what they were doing by recording over it. I learnt an important lesson that day, other people don't treat your stuff as preciously as you do so as an AV fan, don't lend out your films. It may end in tears.
 
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Haha.

The thing is, they would have had to tape you up the removed tab as well so they knew exactly what they were doing by recording over it. I learnt an important lesson that day, other people don't treat your stuff as preciously as you do so as an AV fan, don't lend out your films. It may end in tears.

I stopped lending discs out when they came back full of fingerprints.

To tape over with Eastenders deserves a fate worse than Gandolfini in the movie!
 
Got my Dispatch email from HMV, they had a few back in stock, but is now out of stock again
 
The editing of the final shootout in the theatrical cut, is atrocious.
It certainly is, and so obvious that it's for the mpaa. There are a lot of different shots and angles used throughout the directors cut though, as well as a different ending where Alabama kills the cop, so it really is a Directors Cut, as opposed to just an "Uncut" version.
 
After Zavvi sent another disc out and Hermes actually delivered!

……to the wrong address. But managed to get hold of it.
 
Got my Dispatch email from HMV, they had a few back in stock, but is now out of stock again
Got mine delivered from HMV yesterday and watched it last night, amazing how great this looks
 
One of my favourite and most quoted films ever ...

I was one of the 2 or 3 people in the UK that bought a Laserdisc player in the early 90's and saw a review of the US NTSC import version of this that became only my second disc purchase.

At the time I didn't know the UK version was so heavily cut and remember going to a late screening at the cinema with some mates after too many beers and annoying everyone by loudly shouting "they cut that bit!" several times!

I don't own a 4K capable blu-ray player but may try and get a hold of this to justify buying one ;)
 
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Great review as always Cas.
They sure don't make films like this anymore!
This is on my to get list, one of my favorite films of all time.
Coincidentally The Critical Drinker did a Happy Hour of this recently which was an enjoyable listen
(Next month we also get Deep Cover released another 90s favorite
Hopefully you will do a review of that too?
)

Hi Dean, so we've just published our July Blu-ray roundup, and so you know, Deep Cover is almost certainly going to make the August Blu-ray roundup, which should be ready mid-month. Firm favourite of mine too, let's see what Mark makes of it!

What was new on Blu-ray for July 2021 News
 
I was hoping to pick this up but its vanished from stores, does anyone if its coming back?
 
You got a HMV near you, they might still have some left ?

They is a seller on ebay, selling for £37.99
I called my local Guildford brands and no luck. But grabbed the eBay listing you mentioned as it’s one of my favourite films.
 

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