Though not directed by Quentin Tarantino, True Romance (1993) has several connections in his shared movie universe - including to characters in Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Inglourious Basterds (2009). Tarantino wrote the screenplay for True Romance but gave the project over to Tony Scott (Top Gun) after deciding not to direct. The money received from selling True Romance’s script went to funding Tarantino's directorial debut Reservoir Dogs.
Tarantino has described True Romance as his most autobiographical film, with close identification to Clarence (Christian Slater), a 20-something-year-old comic-book store employee and Elvis fanatic. Clarence quickly marries call-girl Alabama (Patricia Arquette), and the two begin a life on the run when they accidentally end up with a suitcase full of cocaine. Even without his direction, True Romance is full of Tarantino-isms, such as a torture scene, Mexican stand-off, and extended dialogue scenes.
All Tarantino films and screenplays (except Jackie Brown) are related within the Tarantino shared movie universe as a “realer than real” or “movie-in-a-movie” film. The two are mutually exclusive, so a character from the “movie-in-a-movie” universe can’t show up in a “realer than real” film because they are the movies the “realer” universe watches. Characters from the “realer than real” universe tend to show up in or have connections to other films in the same universe, which happens to be the case with True Romance. Since True Romance is classified as a “realer than real” universe film, any characters can be connected to or interact with those from Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Some films from this universe don’t include direct connections to the others but feature the same Tarantino brand of Red Apple cigarettes and Big Kahuna Burger.
The most commonly understood connection from True Romance is Alabama Worley’s character reference in Reservoir Dogs. In Mr. White’s (Harvey Keitel) flashback scene, he explains how he had a former crime partner named Alabama who was a “good little thief.” The plot hole of why Alabama ends up working with Mr. White and not Clarence can be explained by how Tarantino originally ended True Romance with Clarence dying. If the connection relies solely on Tarantino's script, then in this universe Alabama would have gone on to a life of crime after Clarence’s death, which at one point paired her with Mr. White.
Another major connection is between True Romance’s Lee Donowitz and Inglourious Basterds’ Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz. Donny Donowitz was a member of the Basterds in WWII known for scalping Nazis and died in the cinema fire during Operation Kino. In an interview with Ron Bennington, Tarantino revealed that Donny was Lee’s father. In 1993, Lee Donowitz was a Hollywood film producer known for the movie “Coming Home in a Body Bag,” which may have been a tribute to how his father died in the war. Donny’s cover story at the cinema as an Italian cameraman may have influenced Lee to go into filmmaking to honor him. Considering True Romance wasn’t directed by Tarantino, it’s amazing how many direct connections the movie has to his shared universe.