Deep SHT / Script vs. screen
True Romance’s Original Ending
Clarence dies in Tarantino’s screenplay. The napkin is what the ending is about.
Screenplay
Quentin Tarantino
Director
Tony Scott
Drafts cited
March 1991 and August 1992
The question
Does Clarence die in True Romance?
In the film, no. In Tarantino’s screenplay, yes. Clarence dies in the big shootout, and the last pages then belong to Alabama alone, parked on the roadside with a .45 in her mouth. That is the True Romance original ending, and it is the version quoted in full below.
After I posted the True Romance Story Map/Beat Sheet, a reader asked how the movie had changed the significance of Tarantino’s ending. This is subjective water. You could argue for several love themes running through both the script and the film. But the climax is generally the ultimate expression of the theme, and Tony Scott changed the climax. I’ve read drafts dated March 1991 and August 1992, the latter being closest to the finished movie. The March 1991 draft ends with Alabama contemplating suicide after Clarence’s death, glancing at the “You’re So Cool” napkin, and deciding to live.
The March 1991 draft
Tarantino’s original ending, as written
Here is how the March 1991 draft reads once Alabama is alone in the car. Everything the script has been building, the courage, the money, the getaway, collapses in the end into one object on a dashboard.
The roadside, as scripted
INT. RED MUSTANG – MOVING – DAY
Alabama’s driving fast down the freeway. The deejay on the radio is trying to be funny. Then the song “Little Arrows” by Leapy Lee starts playing. Alabama breaks down and starts crying. She pulls the car over to the side of the road.
INT. RED MUSTANG – ROADSIDE – DAY
The SONG continues. She wipes her eyes with the napkin she pulls out of her pocket and tosses it on the dashboard.
She picks up the .45 and puts it in her mouth.
Hammer back
She pulls back the hammer and looks up to see her reflection in the rear view mirror. She turns it away and looks straight ahead.
Her finger tightens on the trigger.
Her eyes catch the napkin on the dashboard, partly opened and she can see the words.
ALABAMA
(reading from the napkin)
You’re so cool.
She tosses the gun aside.
Alabama gets out of the car, opens the trunk and takes out the briefcase. She looks around for, and finally finds, the Sergeant Fury comic book Clarence bought her.
And, with the comic book in one hand and the briefcase in the other, Alabama walks away from the Mustang forever.
FADE OUT.
What she lets herself look at
Read the stage directions for what she does with her eyes. She turns the mirror away so she won’t watch herself do it. The only thing she lets herself look at is the napkin, and then the script has her read it aloud. Then she takes the briefcase and the comic book Clarence bought her, and leaves the car behind.
You’re so cool.
The napkin, read aloud. March 1991 draft, final page.
The napkin scene, page vs. screen
You’re So Cool
Fans of the movie will remember that Alabama writes on the napkin for Clarence. In the March 1991 draft, however, the exchange has one more beat.
Lee continues looking at the merchandise. Alabama writes something on her napkin with a pencil and slides the napkin over to Clarence. It says “You’re so cool” with a tiny heart drawn on the bottom of it. Clarence takes a pencil and draws an arrow through the heart. She takes the napkin and puts it in her pocket.
Whose napkin it is
She writes the words and a tiny heart. He draws the arrow through it. Then she keeps it. That small action marks the distinction between the two versions: the napkin isn’t his, it’s theirs. Later, when the radio plays “Little Arrows” on the freeway, the script is calling back to the arrow he drew.
In the end, Tarantino returns to the napkin to say that love gives you courage. It doesn’t matter that Clarence is dead; Alabama will love him until the day she dies. His love for her gave him the courage to face Drexl, leave Detroit, and sell the cocaine so they could start over. Her love for him then gives her the courage to face life without him.
One object, two endings
The napkin trail
Follow the napkin through the March 1991 draft, station by station, and the ending explains itself. The trail is shared until the shootout. Then it forks.
1. The deal
While Lee looks over the merchandise, she writes “You’re so cool” and a tiny heart. He draws an arrow through it. Two hands, one napkin.
2. Her pocket
She takes it and puts it away. It’s still on her when the shooting starts.
3. The dashboard
Clarence is dead. “Little Arrows” comes on the radio. She pulls over, wipes her eyes with the napkin, then tosses it aside.
4. The trigger
The .45 goes in her mouth. Hammer back. She turns the mirror away so she won’t have to watch.
5. The words
The napkin lies partly open on the dashboard. She reads it aloud. Then she tosses the gun.
On the page: Alabama alone
Clarence dies in the shootout. Alabama then takes the briefcase and the Sergeant Fury comic and walks away from the Mustang forever. The napkin, with his arrow through her heart, is what talks her out of the gun.
On screen: the lovers together
Clarence survives. Instead, the couple rides off into the sunset. The napkin is hers to him, no arrow, and it never has to save anyone.
The napkin isn’t his. It’s theirs.
The one beat the film drops, and why the script’s ending depends on it
What the change does to the theme
Courage or the sunset
The script’s ending is about what love does for the one left behind. The film’s ending, by comparison, is about what love does for the couple. Scott’s version is different, simpler, and more palatable: their love overcame every obstacle placed in front of them. Isn’t it more pleasing to watch the lovers ride off into the sunset? After all, you sure don’t have to think as much.
Alabama walks away from the Mustang forever.
Final action line, March 1991 draft
Neither ending is wrong. But they are not the same story with two different last shots. One is a love story that ends in a survivor, whereas the other ends in a couple. The napkin, and who wrote on it, is where the two versions finally part ways. Read the True Romance beat sheet for the full structure of the film as released.
Quick answers
True Romance ending: quick answers
The ending on screen
Does Clarence die in True Romance?
Not in the film. In Tarantino’s screenplay, however, he dies in the shootout, and the last scene belongs to Alabama alone.
Does Alabama die in True Romance?
No, in either version. In the March 1991 draft she comes close: she puts a .45 in her mouth, reads the napkin, and tosses the gun aside.
Does True Romance have a happy ending?
The film does: the lovers ride off together. Tarantino’s screenplay ends with Alabama choosing to live after Clarence’s death, which is a different kind of ending, and arguably a braver one.
The True Romance screenplay
Which draft of the True Romance screenplay has the original ending?
The March 1991 draft, quoted above. Closest to the finished film, in contrast, is the August 1992 draft.
What is written on the napkin in the True Romance script?
“You’re so cool” with a tiny heart, in Alabama’s hand. In the March 1991 draft Clarence draws an arrow through the heart before she pockets it.
Go deeper
More True Romance
Story map / beat sheet
True Romance Story Map and Beat Sheet
The film as released, beat by beat, including the ending Tony Scott shot.
