What it’s about
When quirky comic-store clerk Clarence (Slater) meets beauty Alabama (Arquette) at a Sonny Chiba triple feature, it’s love at first sight. Never mind that Alabama is a prostitute hired by Clarence’s boss to seduce him: the two are made for each other. Now the only thing standing in their way is Alabama’s violence-prone pimp, Drexl (Oldman), who Clarence has plans to bump off. When Clarence inadvertently picks up a cache of cocaine on leaving Drexl’s lair, he plans to cash in. But the mob, who’d originally invested in the drugs, wants Clarence to cash out permanently.
Why we love it
Yes, the lovers-on-the-lam genre has been done to death in Hollywood, but this film, penned by Quentin Tarantino (while he was still a video-store geek), is directed with electrifying flair by Tony Scott. And it's fun to boot! Slater's impish, slightly madcap charisma and Arquette's plump-lipped coquetry will make you root for these rebels, even after they knock off Oldman and hit the road carrying their illicit loot. This is pure, adrenaline-fueled pop filmmaking, with the best cameos (Walken, Pitt, Hopper, and Kilmer) of practically any film we can think of. Crank this one up on a weekend night — you'll have a blast.