Once Upon a Time in HollywoodThe magic of movies is in its way of transporting the audience to another time and another place, even if that time and place exists only in dreams. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a work of speculative fiction set at the end of the Sixties in Hollywood, California. It depicts the strong friendship between Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), who is an actor in decline, and his stuntman buddy, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), who "carries his load" without complaint. It also recalls one of the most harrowing nightmares to ever visit this dream factory, and one that marked the end of that era: the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders.
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Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood paints an impressionistic picture of this "last golden age of Hollywood". Characters are by and large pastiches of recognizable figures from Hollywood lore, as well as cinematic interpretations of real people, like upcoming actress and model, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), and her husband, Roman Polanski (Rafał Zawierucha)--both of whom happen to be Rick's neighbors on Cielo Drive. Rick built up his career playing a cowboy on a popular television series in the Fifties called "Bounty Law", and enjoyed some fame in assorted action movies, lighter-hearted fare, and basically everything befitting the mold of a Hollywood actor of his era. But as the Fifties gave way to the Sixties, his career began to wane, and he began getting typecast as the "heavy" (or villain) on assorted TV shows. And as Hollywood producer Marvin Schwarz (Al Pacino) puts it, his casting is emblematic of how the new blood must overcome the old to herald a changing of the guard. Marvin presents Rick with a new opportunity: reclaim his career in Italy, through a batch of quickie "Spaghetti Westerns", Eurospy flicks, et cetera. Rick takes this as a sign that he is finished in Hollywood, and all but weeps his woes into his whiskey sours. It is his long-time, true blue buddy Cliff, however, who is there to pick him up when he's down, and encourage him to keep trying. But Rick is a mess; for example, Cliff has to drive him everywhere because Rick lost his license due to too many DUIs. But Cliff never--absolutely never--complains; the only thing he hopes to achieve is getting back into work as a stuntman. But Cliff has a sordid past that overshadows him in Hollywood, as he is believed to have been responsible for the death of his wife while they were out on a boat one day--a story that draws parallels with of the death of Natalie Wood. Even still, after Rick gets him a job on set by a begrudging Randy Miller (Kurt Russell)--in spite of the feelings of Randy's wife, Janet (Zoë Bell)--Cliff manages to pick a fight with a bombastic Bruce Lee (Mike Moh), and trash Janet's car in the process, stopping that opportunity cold. But while Rick wallows in self-pity as he floats along in his pool, reciting lines for his upcoming role on "Lancer" back to himself, Cliff favors simpler tastes. He enjoys the company of his pet pit bull, Brandy, and they live together in a trailer out on an abandoned drive-in. (And he manages to stay in pretty good shape for someone on a diet of instant mac and cheese.) Rick and Cliff are both a couple of outsiders, semi-has-beens, and guys who would reach for greatness, but never quite get to the highest peaks of it. But what Once Upon a Time in Hollywood offers is that even when we can't always get what we want when we want it, our presence in the lives of others can have a dramatic change on the world.
Much of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood explores a day in the life of Rick, Cliff, and Sharon through their daily routines and how the world responds around them. Rick nurses a mighty hangover as he arrives on the set of "Lancer", and he is forced to endure the humiliation of being costumed in an outfit described as looking a bit "hippie" by director Sam Wanamaker (Nicholas Hammond)--and Rick has little tolerance for hippies. He meanders through the remote areas of the set before stumbling across his young co-star, Trudi Fraser (Julia Butters), who inadvertently shames him by declaring herself as a method actor, and carrying herself with far more decorum than her adult peer. Surprisingly, the two share a heart-to-heart over a paperback novel Rick is reading to pass the time, which he describes as being about a washed up "bronco buster" whose time has passed. Rick sees in Trudi what he has lost in his alcoholic excess. A bout of flubbed lines is followed by an episode of excessively harsh self-critique as he lashes out in a tirade in his trailer. (DiCaprio has stated that he has played Rick Dalton as being afflicted--but not diagnosed--with bipolar disorder.) And when Rick finally delivers his crucial scene as a sneering villain in "Lancer", it is the affirmation from an eight-year old that seems to fill him with the greatest sense of pride. While Rick endures his crisis, the "easy breezy" Cliff fixes Rick's busted TV antenna. With a beer can in his tool belt, he strips off his shirt and goes to work, looking the part of a quintessential alpha male. But there is no hidden darkness that rises up from Cliff; instead, he represents an ideal of masculine confidence, reminiscent of the cool cynical heroes of the era portrayed by the likes of Steve McQueen. Cliff thrice crosses paths with a young member of the Manson Family dubbed "Pussycat" (Margaret Qualley), who eventually hitches a ride with Cliff back to the sinister Spahn Ranch. Cliff is outnumbered by the collective of dirty hippies here, and in a moment where others might have flinched at the palpable tension, Cliff is a rock. He shares with Pussycat that he and Rick used to shoot "Bounty Law" there, and he takes this opportunity to do some amateur sleuthing, pressing the pseudo-flower children to let him touch base with an old acquaintance who owns the ranch named George Spahn (Bruce Dern). The scene preceding his reunion with George is an escalation of tension; a selection from Bernard Herrmann's score to Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain is just the cherry on top. But in spite of it all, Cliff always has the upper hand, like a true Hollywood hero, and not even the petty pranks of the perturbed "family" can unseat him from his saddle of machismo. And while the boys go about their business, Sharon Tate soaks in the life of an ingenue, buying a rare first edition of "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" for her hubby, then going to watch herself in The Wrecking Crew at the local cinema, shamelessly pointing out that she's "in the movie" to the ticket taker. In the dark of the theater, she watches the audience's reaction to her as she acts on the screen. Is it merely vanity that motivates her, or a desire to bear witness to the joy that springs forth from those who are entertained by her work? Had fate been more kind, perhaps we all might have known what would have become of the ill-fated Sharon Tate. This snapshot into a life--even if it is speculative fiction--lets us imagine what could have been.
It is almost impossible to speak of the message at the core of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood without talking about its ending. (Spoilers inbound.) Astute audiences will recognize the looming threat of those dark spree killings schemed by the notorious Charles Manson (Damon Herriman) that heralded the end of the "Free Love" era of the Sixties and signaled the paranoid darkness of the Seventies on the horizon. They will likely expect that this film will have one inescapable ending--a repeat performance of that grisly night on Cielo Drive. As Rick and Cliff go out for a good "drunk" on the town to mark the end of their partnership, the Rolling Stones' "Out of Time" plays ominously on the score, darkly foreshadowing the doom seemingly awaiting Sharon et al. In this moment, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood exploits the tropes of a true crime thriller, which can easily have an element of unseemly voyeurism to it. But audiences familiar with the oeuvre of Quentin Tarantino should know that not only is he self-referential like few other filmmakers, but that he had already defiantly bucked the trend of so many period pieces that just regurgitate actual history back at its audience in his earlier film, Inglourious Basterds, where he completely reinterpreted the end of World War II. Subsequently, the seemingly inevitable dark end that was supposed to await Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch), and her guests that night of August 8th, 1969, at the hands of Manson's villainous proxies doesn't play out as history dictates. When Tex (Austin Butler), Sadie (Mikey Madison), and Katie (Madisen Beaty) come to do the "devil's business", a drunken Rick Dalton harangues them in the cul-de-sac for driving a car with a noisy muffler at midnight, inadvertently drawing their ire upon him and Cliff. And these two "Hollywood failures" suddenly save the day, inviting Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to deliver a true-to-form "Hollywood ending" for all. This ending provoked varied responses among viewers, but it stands as a testament of how important each of us is in the grand scheme of things. Even though we may not do what it is that we believe that we should be doing with our lives, things happen for a reason, and that reason may not always be obvious until we see what life is like without our part in it.
Recommended for: Fans of a love letter to a bygone era in film history that drips with verisimilitude and flair. For audiences familiar with Tarantino's prior films, it should come as no surprise that the film's language is intended for adults. However, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood may be one of his most restrained films, deliberately paced to inure the audience into a day-in-the-life of Hollywood's assorted echelons while progressing like a psychological thriller, noir detective story, and action film all at once.
Much of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood explores a day in the life of Rick, Cliff, and Sharon through their daily routines and how the world responds around them. Rick nurses a mighty hangover as he arrives on the set of "Lancer", and he is forced to endure the humiliation of being costumed in an outfit described as looking a bit "hippie" by director Sam Wanamaker (Nicholas Hammond)--and Rick has little tolerance for hippies. He meanders through the remote areas of the set before stumbling across his young co-star, Trudi Fraser (Julia Butters), who inadvertently shames him by declaring herself as a method actor, and carrying herself with far more decorum than her adult peer. Surprisingly, the two share a heart-to-heart over a paperback novel Rick is reading to pass the time, which he describes as being about a washed up "bronco buster" whose time has passed. Rick sees in Trudi what he has lost in his alcoholic excess. A bout of flubbed lines is followed by an episode of excessively harsh self-critique as he lashes out in a tirade in his trailer. (DiCaprio has stated that he has played Rick Dalton as being afflicted--but not diagnosed--with bipolar disorder.) And when Rick finally delivers his crucial scene as a sneering villain in "Lancer", it is the affirmation from an eight-year old that seems to fill him with the greatest sense of pride. While Rick endures his crisis, the "easy breezy" Cliff fixes Rick's busted TV antenna. With a beer can in his tool belt, he strips off his shirt and goes to work, looking the part of a quintessential alpha male. But there is no hidden darkness that rises up from Cliff; instead, he represents an ideal of masculine confidence, reminiscent of the cool cynical heroes of the era portrayed by the likes of Steve McQueen. Cliff thrice crosses paths with a young member of the Manson Family dubbed "Pussycat" (Margaret Qualley), who eventually hitches a ride with Cliff back to the sinister Spahn Ranch. Cliff is outnumbered by the collective of dirty hippies here, and in a moment where others might have flinched at the palpable tension, Cliff is a rock. He shares with Pussycat that he and Rick used to shoot "Bounty Law" there, and he takes this opportunity to do some amateur sleuthing, pressing the pseudo-flower children to let him touch base with an old acquaintance who owns the ranch named George Spahn (Bruce Dern). The scene preceding his reunion with George is an escalation of tension; a selection from Bernard Herrmann's score to Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain is just the cherry on top. But in spite of it all, Cliff always has the upper hand, like a true Hollywood hero, and not even the petty pranks of the perturbed "family" can unseat him from his saddle of machismo. And while the boys go about their business, Sharon Tate soaks in the life of an ingenue, buying a rare first edition of "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" for her hubby, then going to watch herself in The Wrecking Crew at the local cinema, shamelessly pointing out that she's "in the movie" to the ticket taker. In the dark of the theater, she watches the audience's reaction to her as she acts on the screen. Is it merely vanity that motivates her, or a desire to bear witness to the joy that springs forth from those who are entertained by her work? Had fate been more kind, perhaps we all might have known what would have become of the ill-fated Sharon Tate. This snapshot into a life--even if it is speculative fiction--lets us imagine what could have been.
It is almost impossible to speak of the message at the core of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood without talking about its ending. (Spoilers inbound.) Astute audiences will recognize the looming threat of those dark spree killings schemed by the notorious Charles Manson (Damon Herriman) that heralded the end of the "Free Love" era of the Sixties and signaled the paranoid darkness of the Seventies on the horizon. They will likely expect that this film will have one inescapable ending--a repeat performance of that grisly night on Cielo Drive. As Rick and Cliff go out for a good "drunk" on the town to mark the end of their partnership, the Rolling Stones' "Out of Time" plays ominously on the score, darkly foreshadowing the doom seemingly awaiting Sharon et al. In this moment, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood exploits the tropes of a true crime thriller, which can easily have an element of unseemly voyeurism to it. But audiences familiar with the oeuvre of Quentin Tarantino should know that not only is he self-referential like few other filmmakers, but that he had already defiantly bucked the trend of so many period pieces that just regurgitate actual history back at its audience in his earlier film, Inglourious Basterds, where he completely reinterpreted the end of World War II. Subsequently, the seemingly inevitable dark end that was supposed to await Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch), and her guests that night of August 8th, 1969, at the hands of Manson's villainous proxies doesn't play out as history dictates. When Tex (Austin Butler), Sadie (Mikey Madison), and Katie (Madisen Beaty) come to do the "devil's business", a drunken Rick Dalton harangues them in the cul-de-sac for driving a car with a noisy muffler at midnight, inadvertently drawing their ire upon him and Cliff. And these two "Hollywood failures" suddenly save the day, inviting Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to deliver a true-to-form "Hollywood ending" for all. This ending provoked varied responses among viewers, but it stands as a testament of how important each of us is in the grand scheme of things. Even though we may not do what it is that we believe that we should be doing with our lives, things happen for a reason, and that reason may not always be obvious until we see what life is like without our part in it.
Recommended for: Fans of a love letter to a bygone era in film history that drips with verisimilitude and flair. For audiences familiar with Tarantino's prior films, it should come as no surprise that the film's language is intended for adults. However, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood may be one of his most restrained films, deliberately paced to inure the audience into a day-in-the-life of Hollywood's assorted echelons while progressing like a psychological thriller, noir detective story, and action film all at once.