Before he became a director himself, Natural Born Killers. While director Tony Scott was pretty faithful to Tarantino’s script for True Romance, Oliver Stone heavily rewrote his Natural Born Killers script to suit his own politically-charged filmmaking style and leaned into the satirical potential of celebrity murderers.
Tarantino hates the final movie. In an interview with the Telegraph, he said, “I hated that f**king movie. If you like my stuff, don’t watch that movie.” But since it’s drawn from his original script, Natural Born Killers still exhibits a handful of his defining trademarks.
Graphic Violence
The most obvious trademark in Tarantino’s filmmaking is his use of graphic violence. a notorious torture scene, Kill Bill is an opera of bloodshed, and while Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is mostly violence-free, its action-packed finale more than makes up for it.
With Mickey and Mallory tearing across America on an epic rampage, Natural Born Killers has earned a reputation as one of the most controversially violent movies ever made.
Bonnie & Clyde-Esque Criminals In Love
Ever since Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde helped to usher in the New Hollywood era, couples who are Heathers, Bound, The Sugarland Express, Fun with Dick and Jane.
Tarantino has created a few such pairings for his impressive rogues’ gallery of pulpy characters, including Clarence and Alabama from True Romance, Pumpkin and Honey Bunny from Pulp Fiction, and of course, Mickey and Mallory from Natural Born Killers.
Dark Humor
From the “gimp” scene in Pulp Fiction to qualify as a full-on comedy.
There’s a ton of pitch-black humor in Natural Born Killers. Even the flashback to Mallory’s tragic childhood is framed like a multi-camera sitcom called "I Love Mallory," complete with a laughter track.
Switching Between Color & Black-And-White
Ever since the invention of color film, filmmakers have had the ability to choose between color and black-and-white, instead of choosing the color of their movies based on technical necessity. While most directors choose just one, Natural Born Killers regularly switches between color and black-and-white.
Tarantino would later use this technique in a handful of his own directorial efforts. The opening shots of the Kill Bill movies are in black-and-white, while the House of Blue Leaves massacre changes to black-and-white on the “Nobody But You” music cue. Plus, after the midpoint twist in Death Proof kills off all the protagonists and they’re replaced with new protagonists, the new protagonists are introduced in black-and-white.
Memorable Minor Characters
Like the Coen brothers, Quentin Tarantino is renowned for creating unforgettable minor characters who leave a lasting impression with limited screentime. Christopher Walken made a memorable character out of Captain Koons in Pulp Fiction with a single, perfectly delivered monologue. Other examples include Sonny Chiba’s master swordsmith Hattori Hanzō in Kill Bill: Volume 1 and the satirical reimagining of Bruce Lee in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
There are a bunch of memorable minor characters in Natural Born Killers, like the sadistic Detective Scagnetti – who has the same name as Mr. Blonde’s probation officer in Reservoir Dogs, hinting at one of many Tarantino-verse familial connections – and Dwight McClusky, the foul-mouthed prison warden played by Tommy Lee Jones.
Excessive Profanity
Tarantino’s movies all feature excessive profanity. Samuel L. Jackson has Tarantino to thank for the fact that he’s inseparably associated with the word “motherf**ker.” It seems that a lot of Tarantino’s profanity survived Oliver Stone’s rewrites of the Natural Born Killers script.
One character who curses a lot in the movie is prison warden Dwight McClusky. In one scene, he says, “Mickey and Mallory Knox are without a doubt the most twisted depraved pair of s**t-f**ks it has ever been my displeasure to lay my g**damn eyes on. I tell you these two motherf**kers are a walking reminder of just how f**ked up this system really is.”
Pop Culture References
Tarantino’s movies are filled with obscure pop culture references, like the guys discussing Get Christie Love! and the hidden meaning of “Like a Virgin” in Reservoir Dogs or Vincent listing all the difference between European and American McDonald’s meals in Pulp Fiction.
After Oliver Stone got a hold of Tarantino’s Natural Born Killers script, he reframed the story as a satire of celebrity criminals who dominated the media in the ‘90s, like Tonya Harding, O.J. Simpson, and the Menéndez brothers. Toward the end of Natural Born Killers, there’s a montage of news clips featuring these figures to make the point that the America depicted in the movie is all too real.
