By Caleb Tiedemann
There is no doubt about it, Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is amazing! Typical of Tarantino, it’s a fun film full of heart and love. Of course, those interpretations are subjective if you know anything of his filmography. Tarantino is very much one to push the limit in movies, a fact that I admire and love about his work. His lack of care about what other people think of his films really just unleashes him to create the wildest movies ever. OUATIH is probably Tarantino’s most relaxed film, toned down in violence, it delivers wonderfully in ways completely unexpected from the director. However, it should be of no surprise that he would flip the script and surprise audiences with something so uncharacteristic of himself.
OUATIH is a simple film. There are no real convoluted plot points or anything out of the ordinary. The movie takes place in a day of the lives of actor Rick Dalton and his stunt double, Cliff Booth in late 1960’s Hollywood. Rick, played by the marvelous Leonardo DiCaprio, is an actor who has fallen out of the limelight after leaving the television show that made him famous to pursue his acting career in movies. As with any gamble, there is a chance it does not pay off and, in this case, it does not. By his side, is his stunt double/friend Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt who offers both support and understanding in his buddy’s time of hardship. As an aging television star, Dalton has to come to terms with the fact that he is not only older but also not as popular as he used to be. Being in the limelight for so long makes this transition incredibly hard for him, and DiCaprio plays the part of a struggling and insecure actor so unbelievably well. There’s irony in there somewhere. The situation is made worse for Dalton when, living next door to him is up-and-coming movie star Sharon Tate and her husband, big-name director Roman Polanski. In a world of shining and fading stars Rick struggles with where to take his career, often abusing alcohol as his vice.
Meanwhile in the outskirts of Hollywood, trouble grows in the form of the Manson family cult. Charles Manson was a talented manipulator and white supremacist who feared an “apocalyptic race war.” He formed his cult in college by targeting those who were socially inept or emotionally insecure. Over the next couple of years, he formed a “family” of about twenty individuals; through LSD and “unconventional sexual practices,” he was able to turn them into his dedicated and devoted followers. For those of you who are unaware, this was a real cult. They were responsible for the deaths of seven individuals, namely actress Sharon Tate. Though the only events depicted in the movie are the attempted murders of Sharon Tate, it is nonetheless important to provide a backstory of history. Under the commands of Manson, he ordered his followers to “kill them as gruesomely as you can.” Later one of the murderers admitted that they killed Tate because, “we wanted to do a crime that would shock the world.” So, when watching this movie, I knew how it was going to end. Or I thought I knew. Tarantino often rewrites history in wonderful ways and this movie is no different. The end of OUATIH is one of the most absolutely insane things Tarantino has done.
The acting in this movie is wonderful, DiCaprio and Pitt both manage to be loveable and relatable as they realize their place in a tumultuous movie industry is constantly changing. Meanwhile Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate is a wonderful depiction of the golden age of Hollywood, its beauty, elegance, and grace, all destroyed by a senseless act of violence. It was what truly changed movies forever. The setting is beautiful. Tarantino completely remodels all of Los Angeles to fit his 1960’s childhood dream. The scenery, the sets, the costumes, it’s all gorgeous. Getting a behind the scenes look at how movies are made is an interesting change of perspective. The score and soundtrack are also great; using classic songs that just helped me to fall in love with this movie. It is a completely unique experience that had me fascinated and intrigued all the way through.
When I first saw this movie, I was kind of disappointed; this was the guy who gave us Pulp Fiction, Inglourious Basterds, and Django Unchained, where did it all go wrong? Yet at the same time I was completely smitten with this world he built, and I had no idea why. It was not his style, but at the same time it was, it felt different and that’s why I loved it so much. Throughout it completely subverts your expectations and builds up tension in an amazing way with fun characters and a real story. It’s magnificent. This movie has since become a comfort movie to me, one that is relaxing and fun until the final act of mayhem. Ultimately it is a movie I enjoy completely and sometimes competes with Pulp Fiction in my mind for the best Tarantino movie. It offers everything I want and amazes me with every watch. I strongly recommend this movie. ★
Final Grade: 10/10 (A+)
2 replies on “Review-Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)”
Your opinion is interesting take, my friend. Firstly, I would like some clarification on how it was a patronizing depiction of Tate. I did not see anything negative in how she was portrayed. Secondly, I’m not 100% sure how Bruce Lee’s portrayal was a racist one. What qualities of the portrayal do you particularly find a problem with? The original cut of the movie was 4 hours so I’m sure there are more missing scenes that aren’t present that portray him in different lights. Thirdly, bringing up Trump in a movie review column serves no purpose as the two are hardly correlated. I don’t care for any political figure past, present, or future and I’m sure “Trump’s Proud Boys” have more useless things to do than watch films. Fourthly, the time was supposed to be romanticized. Tarantino described the movie as a love letter to the Hollywood of his youth. I’m sure in the eyes of a nine year old everything was wonderful. You also claim that the “drugs and violence” are misrepresented. There was a fair bit of drug use throughout the movie and if you know the Manson cult well enough, you can insinuate that there was tons of usage. Also it was the 60’s, the age of hippies, peace, and love. Ask people alive from that age and they’ll tell you all about how popular psychedelics were. The ending of this movie is one of the worst Tarantino blood baths and in terms of how brutally violent it was, so saying a lack of violence is present, is not accurate. The sandbagging of the story is a valid opinion but Tarantino does historical rewrites for fun, often changing events. Sharon Tate’s murder ended the golden age of Hollywood and therefore taught people that these models aren’t untouchable. Tarantino’s edit lets the young woman live and continue in her movie career (or whatever happens in his universe). I don’t think Tarantino was trying to reveal any “new” details. He wanted to rewrite a time in his youth that probably changed how he perceived the world.
You must have seen a different movie. The one I saw was a patronizing depiction of a wonderful young woman, Sharon Tate, an insulting almost racist Trump era depiction of Bruce Lee, which I’m sure Trump’s Proud Boys loved, a romanticized depiction of the time and place, minus the drugs and real violence, and a total misunderstanding of the transformational changes going in that corrupt place and industry at the time, too numerous to describe here, not to mention a subtle sandbagging of the ‘official’ story of time by a corrupt prosecutor and agencies. Some films are retrospectively re-assessed up, and others are re-assessed down. I truly the latter applied here. Tarrantino’s blood-bath revisionism did nothing to reveal anything about this time and this case. It made money, and history deficient Young Gens loved it, but we’ll see how it stacks up over time.