| “ | Livin' fast, dyin' young, and leaving a good lookin' corpse.
|
„ |
| ― Clarence Worley |
Clarence Worley is the main protagonist of the 1993 action-romance film True Romance, which is part of the Tarantinoverse. He is a comic book store clerk and later drug dealer known for his obsession with Elvis Presley, comic books, and movies. Clarence is also Alabama Whitman's husband and Clifford Worley's son.
He was portrayed by Christian Slater.
Biography[]
Clarence Worley was the son of policeman Clifford Worley. His father being an alcoholic, Clarence was raised by his mother after his parents' divorce. He became an Elvis Presley fanatic and treated himself to the movies every year on his birthday.
During the events of the film, Clarence is approached by Alabama Whitman while attending a screening of the The Street Fighter trilogy at the cinema on his birthday. He spends the night with her and eventually discovers that she is a call girl. However, they all develop feelings for each other that night, to the point of getting married the next day. After confronting Alabama's pimp, Drexl Spivey, Clarence and the latter engaged in a brawl which ended with Clarence killing and stealing from Drexl. The stolen suitcase turned out to have contained cocaine Drexl had intended for Irish mobster, Blue Lou Boyle. Clarence and Alabama decide to leave for L.A. to sell the cocaine. The pair receive help from Clarence's father Clifford, who is later killed by Vincenzo Coccotti, who works for Boyle.
The pair then arrive in L.A., where Clarence intends to sell the drugs with the help of his old friend, aspiring actor Dick Ritchie. The couple stay at the Safari Motel in Los Angeles and meet Dick, who puts Clarence in touch with Elliot Blitzer, assistant to successful film producer and drug dealer Lee Donowitz. Clarence intends to sell $500,000 worth of cocaine for just $200,000, in order to unload the drugs and offer a potential buyer the deal of a lifetime, and he manages to persuade a reluctant Elliot to get in touch with Donowitz. The producer is immediately seduced by Worley and agrees to the deal, telling Clarence to meet him at the Beverly Ambassador Hotel for the exchange. However, Clarence and Alabama are unknowingly being hunted by Blue Lou Boyle's men. One of which, Virgil, stops by the pair's motel room while Clarence is out and beats Alabama while questioning her for the whereabouts of the cocaine. After discovering the coke under the bed, Alabama fights back and murders Vigil just before Clarence arrives, who flees the motel who her in his purple Cadillac.
The next day, the couple are joined by Dick and Elliot, drive to the Beverly Ambassador. However, Clarence is suspicious of Elliot's nervous demeanor and, on the pretext of making sure there's no trap waiting for them once they get to Donowitz, he pulls a gun on him in the elevator, but calms down and apologizes before Elliot reveals anything. Meeting up with Donowitz, Clarence talks with him about famous films before handing over the drugs and receiving the promised money as agreed. The young criminal then goes to the bathroom while Alabama counts the money. However, while he's away, a shootout breaks out between the LAPD (who were using Elliot as an informant and making him wear a wire), Donowitz's bodyguards and the mobsters trying to recover the drugs; Clarence himself is shot in the eye by Detective Nicky Dimes as he emerges at the end of the shootout. Believing his partner-in-crime dead, an enraged Alabama avenges him by shooting Dimes, while everyone else involved (except Dick, who managed to escape) was killed during the shootout. When Clarence turns out to be still alive, he and Alabama make off with Donowitz's suitcase containing the money. Clarence takes them across the Mexican border and they hide out in a town on the Pacific Ocean, where Alabama gives birth to a son whom they name “Elvis” in honor of Clarence's idol.
Personality[]
Clarence is well known for his love of Elvis Presley. This love is so great that he'd even go far as to say he'd "fuck Elvis" if his life depended on it. He even wears Elvis sunglasses and goes so far as to imagine that Elvis, called the Mentor in the movie, actually talks to him.
He also has a deep love for comic books which is wear he takes Alabama on their first date together.
Clarence is also shown to be very knowledgeable about movies. Some of his favorite movies includes Sonny Chiba movies, Mad Max, The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Rio Bravo, Rumble Fish, and the Lee Donowitz produced film Coming Home in a Bodybag.