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Clarence (Christian Slater) and Alabama (Patricia Arquette) are two drifting youths, a petty crim and a prostitute, who find each other and swear eternal love. But their happiness is short-lived: very soon they have a coterie of violent sadistic gangsters on their trail. Tony Scott’s thriller is a hip, fast and very violent homage to the action, thriller and noir genres. Scripted by Quentin Tarantino, the film features cameos by Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Val Kilmer and a very excellent Dennis Hopper, and is filled with knowing jokes and references to Hollywood, Hong Kong and exploitation cinema. The performances by Slater and Arquette are inspired. Their performances add a dimension of grace and substance to what is a film with a very 90s consciousness: amoral and obsessed by surfaces. A rollercoaster ride of a film - fun but not for the squeamish.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
307023
Language
English
Audience classification
R (18+)
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Sadism in moving pictures
Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers
Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers → Gangster films
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Masochism
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Sadism
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Sadism in moving pictures
Feature films → Feature films - United States
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Drugs
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Masochism
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Sadism
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)