Natural Born Killers



Considered to be one of the most controversial films of the 1990s, Natural Born Killers is a film by Oliver Stone. It derives from a screenplay written by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it as an exploitation thriller, but Stone extensively rewrote it to the point where Tarantino had his name taken off the credits. Stone turned the story into a satire of the incestuous relationship between crime, the media and pop culture, and how the latter two glorify the former and turn mass murderers into cult heroes. The film tells the tale of Mickey (Woody Harrelson) and Mallory Knox (Juliette Lewis), who captivate the world with a cross-country murder spree. Despite being sadistic and largely unrepentant murderers, the media (led by a tabloid journalist played by Robert Downey Jr) turns them into pop culture icons.

While the equally corrupt detective who arrested them (Tom Sizemore) and the warden (Tommy Lee Jones) at the prison holding the two plot to have Mickey and Mallory killed while transporting them to a mental institution for psychiatric testing, Mickey uses a post-Super Bowl special interview to stage a riot in the prison and escapes with his bride to freedom, leaving a trail of carnage in their wake as the entire prison goes up in flames and the staff is savagely slaughtered by the prisoners.

A psychedelic and surrealistic film (one that has been called "The Most Expensive Student Film Ever Made") the film sadly fell victim to Misaimed Fandom as some fans actually ended up liking Mickey and Mallory and their ultra-violent killing spree, which was what Stone was condemning. Similarly, quite a few critics failed to see the condemnation of media hype, instead fixating on the perceived glorification of violence.

Tropes include:

 * Abusive Parents: Mallory's parents, and maybe Mickey's, too.
 * Well, maybe not abusive, but as a child, Mickey did see
 * Asshole Victim: Mallory's father and Jack Scagnetti.
 * Badass Beard: Wayne Gale
 * Bald of Evil: Mickey towards the end.
 * Berserk Button: The only person who calls Mallory "You stupid bitch" and lives is Mickey.
 * Bottomless Magazines: Nobody really seems to be particularly concerned with bullet counts here. A particularly obvious example happens during the prison riot, when Wayne fires a pistol with the slide locked open.
 * Broken Aesop: Debatable, but Stone does make the life of crime seem pretty attractive at times...
 * Chewing the Scenery: Wayne Gale, of course, and Mc Cluskey, with his "horrific fucking laugh"
 * Cult Soundtrack: The Trent Reznor-compiled soundtrack, which includes songs by Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, Dr. Dre and Tha Dogg Pound.
 * Deranged Animation: During some of the more psychedelic scenes, we're treated to random frames of Mickey running down a hallway and a perverse Felix the Cat attacking Mallory and getting shot.
 * Diner Brawl: Or a Diner Massacre anyway.
 * Dirty Cop: Jack Scagnetti and the prison warden.
 * Do Not Do This Cool Thing: Arguably the whole point of the movie, and a vicious satire of it.
 * Fake Nationality: Australian reporter Wayne Gale is played by American Robert Downey Jr
 * The Family That Slays Together:
 * The Farmer and The Viper: A variation is recounted to by a Native American who shelters Mickey and Mallory.
 * Freudian Excuse: Mickey and Mallory both had abusive fathers, with Mallory's dad molesting her and Mickey's dad killing himself in front of his son.
 * Scagnetti had a similar excuse, as his mother was killed by a spree killer.
 * Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Subverted HARD, possibly in staunch defiance of the trope played straight.
 * Hollywood Healing: For someone who has just bitten by a rattle snake, Mickey didn't have a problem engaging in a shootout.
 * If It Bleeds, It Leads: A ruthless satire of this trope.
 * I'll Kill You!: Everyone. Yes, everyone.
 * Important Haircut: Mickey, right before his interview.
 * Karma Houdini:
 * Not so, however,
 * Karmic Death:
 * Mood Dissonance: All the frakkin' time.
 * Outlaw Couple: Mickey and Mallory
 * The Plan: Subverted in that Mickey and Mallory didn't actually plan the riot. They instead attribute their miraculous escape to "fate."
 * Playing Against Type: Rodney Dangerfield as the sexually abusive father.
 * This film also kept Woody Harrelson from being typecast as "That idiot from Cheers," and instead started his current typecasting as the Crazy Prepared insane wingnut.
 * Revival By Commercialization: This film is pretty much single-handedly responsible for the success of the Cowboy Junkies version of Sweet Jane.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: Mickey's glasses.
 * Slasher Smile
 * Strawman News Media: Type 4.
 * Throw It In: Wayne Gale's Australian accent. Robert Downey Jr. observed and spent time with Steve Dunleavy, an Australian shock-TV host, and returned to filming with the accent. Not the last time he would use this accent, by the way.
 * Title Drop: "Shit, man. I'm a Natural Born Killer."
 * What The Hell, Villain?:
 * Villain Protagonists
 * Wag the Director: Very little of this film is derived from Tarantino's screenplay. Tarantino says that the only aspect of the film he'll acknowledge as being his are the character names Mickey and Mallory.
 * What Could Have Been: As this Cracked article points out, had Tarantino directed, using his orignal script, the film would have been a phenomenal success, in the style of Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs, along with launching his career a few years early.
 * Michael Madsen has commented that, had Tarantino retained ownership of the project, he would likely have starred as Mickey.
 * X Meets Y: Kalifornia meets Network


 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Mallory's mother has purple hair, mostly a Shout Out to Alex's mother in A Clockwork Orange.