How about being able to wait a week to see the review on "Siskel and Ebert" knowing the movie would still be in the theatres. Do movies even play that long today?
Devon Lott What up? Never know where you'll see someone on the tubes. I always loved True Romance. Just always wondered what it would've been if Tarantino had directed as well. But Tony Scott had some style with this one.
Cult Classic or not, if someone or Gene didn't like the movie, it didn't matter, i'm pretty sure if Gene still alive and knowing that he didn't give a shit.
Siskel watched films to subjectively where as Ebert had a tendency to be more wide eyed and see certain merits in films wether he liked them personally or not.
He was good in True Romance too. Brad Pitts best when he can do character roles, I think. He can really disappear. Nobody saw that Jesse James movie, but Pitt was fantastic in that as well.
True Romance is one of the most underrated movies of my lifetime. These two knobs don't have a clue. "Don't give me the finger! I'll have you killed!" Classic
True Romance is an absolutely fantastic movie! And one where I am so glad that they changed the ending of Tarantino's original story. How anyone could not completely fall for the "romance" of the picture, is beyond me.
A lot of women did pass as men in the old west. It was the only way to travel safely. If not as men, then as teen boys. Of course, it depended on breast size, big breasted women could dress and act like men if they wanted too,, and were tough enough to pull it off, but could never pass as men. But the old west, or at any rate, California at the time, was relatively unstructured, people came there to be in a place where nobody knew them and the rules were still being made. They came there to reinvent themselves, in many different ways. (Isabel Allende's book "Daughter of Fortune" covers a lot of that territory.)
Gary Oldman and Brad Pitt both could have been nominated for Oscars. It's awesome. Classic. It went over Siskel's head. He should have watched it again.
It's even better in the original cut, following the chronology of Tarantino's script. Tony Scott butchered it in re-editing because he thought it would be too confusing to general audiences. There is a fan edit floating around that restores it as much as possible to its original state, and it's almost like watching a whole new movie. The scene where it transitions from flashback to their arrival in California gives so much more meaningful impact to the events before and after.
when you binge-watch S&E episodes ... Siskel's consistent biases against excessive sex, violence, sometimes even profanity .. make his reviews predictable.
Ebert was a dick about excessive violence, especially toward women, often too. He made a point of comically loathing slasher films in general. They both could be thick as shit, man....
@@babymammoth34 I often think this is why Ebert has such a distaste for David Lynch. He got visibly angry about Rossellini's part in "Blue Velvet". It's hard not to see what a great film that is.
Not much like True Romance except the road trip to California part. And having Brad Pitt in it. Juliet Lewis played the same role in like 5 movies in that span of years, including NBK and this one. Kalifornia hasn't been in TV rotation so much, but was kind of big deal when it came out.
@@johnnyskinwalker4095 It's better than True Romance and Natural Born Killers imo. True Romance to me feels like Pulp Fiction lite, and Natural Born Killers is just too slick and Oliver Stone-y for my taste... too dripping with irony. Kalifornia is just a straight up movie, not full of that ironic self-awareness that was characteristic of so many 90's films.
@@xxcrysad3000xx Exactly. Kalifornia is far more sincere regarding it's use of violence. I saw the film for the first time last night and it made my skin crawl for all the right reasons.
True Romance is what a Tarantino movie would look like if played in chronological order. S/E missed the boat but they did have a rare quality where I could disagree with them but still respect their opinions. Maybe because they left their own open for criticism as well.
Well, I liked "The Real McCoy" a little more. I thought it was okay. Kim Basinger was good as Karen McCoy. She was in prison for 6 years, bailed out, finds a job, people couldn't afford it, and all she wants to do is to go and see her son, Patrick. When Atlanta crime boss Jack Schmidt (Terence Stamp) discovers her intention to go straight, he kidnaps her son to force her into one last job. Teaming up with an amateur (Val Kilmer), McCoy has to use all her cunning to pull off this heist and save her Patrick. I know that this movie is a failed opportunity when it borrowed from other caper movie, but, in my opinion, It was a decent film. Sorry, Siskel and Ebert, but I enjoyed "The Real McCoy" a little. Thumbs up for me. The Real McCoy 3/4 👍
Good grief!! Everytime I watch one of these old Siskel & Ebert shows, regardless of decade, it seems there are always two to three memorable to classic to cult films in the rotation!! It makes it seem like back then there were great films coming out week to week. Maybe there were. It doesn’t seem so much that way now, and there are so many more films hearing theaters weekly these days!! Back then you didn’t have the cute little indy houses in every city, and you didn’t have 16-20 screen monstrosities needing films. Back then, two screen, four screen, to maybe six or eight were the more norm. Maybe that’s why the movies had to be decent at least for the most part, just to get made, much less distributed.
True Romance is pure Cinema. If Roger and Gene would have returned to it, they would have realised it(and they did with many films like Diehard). It's like taking a Joel Silver-type 80s action movie but with a sharper mind at the helm(QT). So many great scenes, great acting, great dialogue and moments. This movie is a candy store of awesome. I've never seen a movie so on point for everybody from Tony Scott bringing in his usual beautiful cinematograpghy but backed by a great script this time by QT, all the actors are perfect for their parts. And Brad Pitt in his best acting job lol. Chemistry between Slater and Arquette is off the hook.
Its interesting how some of these reviews are off, as the test of time surely proved their longevity. True Romance is a lot more enjoyable than either of them made it out to be.
It's a funny question - No, is the short answer. True Romance came out in 1993 and Enemy of the State came out in 1998. Both films were directed by Tony Scott. So perhaps he borrowed a little from True Romance. It's hard to say but some times stories need to resolve themselves in a big shootout.
@@captaincaveman2040 throughout the movie he has conversations with him. He looks like elvis. He's in the siskel & ebert review. He's the character that says " killings the hard part, getting away with it is easy " it's hard to tell it's kilmer.
@@DrRiddlez2015 nope. The Hayes Code, the MPAA, and Michael Powell's FCC crackdown under Bush II were all right wing initiatives. This isn't a "both sides do it" thing.
LOL I love these guys but they got this one wrong,True Romance lives on and is still talked about today,who the hell remembers Kalifornia? I think I remember seeing it as a kid and have never wanted to see it again
Kalifornia is truly fantastic. Brad Pitt's finest performance. You rarely see such brutal and unglamorous depictions of violence in Hollywood movies. It's pretty much the polar opposite to what Tarantino does, though. It's aimed at adults.
I think these two critics would lament exactly the phenomenon you are describing: that very good movies are forgotten and mediocre ones are remembered (based on their perspectives of what's good and bad, I mean).
I am disappointed that Siskel didn't express more vituperative outrage over True Romance. It is juvenile, exploitative, and shallow - like almost everything Tony Scott ever directed. Few popular films from the mid-90s glorify violence in a more disgusting manner. It's pleasantly ironic that they reviewed Kalifornia on the same program, which at least has a critical attitude toward violence and American culture.
@@flaccidusminimus2170 I'd definitely put in the the "Cult Classic" category...This movie came and went in 1993 and over the many years it has gained a strong following, whether it's by men or not is irrelevant. "Kalifornia" on the other hand never really found an audience. The point is that this film apparently isn't for everyone but it has a strong fan base considering that it's a gritty Tony Scott film penned by a fledgling Quentin Tarantino released over two decades ago that wasn't a huge box office success.
The only part of 'True Romance' that I would criticize is that hammy-assed steel-pan/island groove original score by Hans Zimmer that plays throughout it.
@@Bladerunner-yd5lk Yeah I don't know. It's a bit of ass to me; very hokey and lovey-dovey ( I get that that's the point, though). In spite of that, I'll say something positive about it: it's a signature soundtrack, which Hans Zimmer is usually really hit-or-miss on. Sometimes he writes these memorable movements, and other times it seems like he just shits one out for a paycheck. Like I think he did great with the OST for 'Broken Arrow', for ex., which was very distinct; you hear that clean, country-Western baritone guitar riff once and it sticks with you; you always remember it as "the music from 'Broken Arrow'" (and also 'Scream 2' for some reason). But then there's like, say, the 'Black Hawk Down' OST, which sounds like every single generic score ever produced for films taking place in Africa: Brian Eno-like ambient keyboard + operatic North/East African vocals. All in all, nothing mentioned here--or anything else, for that matter--will ever truly top his finest work of all: the theme song from 'The Critic'.
The movie starts as a bad tv episode. It is elevated for a while by the phenomenal acting of Odlman, but also Gandolfini, walker and hoper, and then it continues for another insufferable hour.
@@parapoliticos52 Growing up in the 80's and 90's True Romance was one of those films that really surprised me. It made an impression. At the heart of it was this growing love between two lost souls who didn't know where they would end up, and when they found each other something sparked, something was electric and no matter the odds they weren't going to let it go. I don't know if it was the actors, the writer or the director but everything meshed in the right way. It was a love letter to movies and what movies can accomplish. This film along with Big Trouble in Little China will always be my all time favorites. Now I don't know or really understand your previous comment but like with all people stuck in a pandemic crisis resulting from our current administration's bungled response I will say peace and good luck to you.
For various reasons Joy Luck Club reminds me of a female Bridge Over The River Kwai. I think the sweep of history and intertwined story lines are perfectly executed.
