Quentin Tarantino’s
“ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD“
As a sixteen year old on the night of the Sharon Tate killings, the effect was little more than a footnote in my brain’s card catalog. I had viewed all of her films (yes, I got into the theater to see “Valley of the Dolls” which I did not like). At the time, late 60’s, I wondered why anyone like Charles Manson and family would want to butcher people and hang Tate after stabbing her, a woman with child. That imagined visual kept me in a surprising intangible thought, something that I was not proud of and a dark place I did not want to go. And the family that was killed on the August 8-9 spree (LaBianca murders), along with Tate’s friends in the Polanski home that met their end, had a lasting impression of evil on me for my time on this earth.
The Hollywood scene was not of experiences for me, just what I could imagine about the place from many movies I had already viewed about that Southern California venue. I continue, to this day, have substantial contemplation in regard to the panorama of “Hollywood” that is in my psyche, even if it was not of a true in-person experience. It is out a surreal one of viewing movies set on Sunset and Vine, having wet dreams of various fabulous looking women that were hot as hell, and the nuances of those that inhibited the wild debauchery of Los Angeles. To this day, I rush to most movies that are set in SoCal, and my imagination continues to work overtime when I see such films as La La Land, LA Confidential or from the far past, the great The Stunt Man.
“Once Upon A Time in Hollywood” is a film to ponder, to discuss, to contemplate. Some do not like what this director, Quentin Tarantino, did in his movie. QT did not tell the true gospel here and sure as hell was not politically correct in his take. Do not like smoking in films? Tarantino will shout to you, tough shit. Do not like his take on the movie legend/martial arts great Bruce Lee? Again, you also can just go. Do not like the movie’s ending? Make your own motion picture. Everybody seems to have an agenda and QT has one, his, which is reflected in his films. His agenda tell PC to go to hell. He makes films the way he wants as this medium is of the director, not the viewer. Political correctness is foreign to Quentin Tarantino. This is what I like about his films. Do not get me wrong, I hate this man’s political views. I think he is a dumbass with regard to politics. But as a film maker, he is the real deal. HIs movies challenge you, and you do not feel disrespected as a viewer. His films are not boring. The worst thing about a film, good or bad, is indifference and being boring. QT does not make crappers. You might not especially like all of them and especially what he puts in them, but that is ok. You will have an opinion, good or bad. Do not like his movies? QT would say, that is just fine.
This 2019 summer entry is a fantasy as directed, edited, and produced by QT It does not represent the truth nor the facts of real life. It is a fairy tale of a real place at a real time. With that in mind, I am not of Hollywood. I can only perceive what my brain allows me to visualize. Dreaming of carnal experiences of Hollywood (literal dreaming as I sleep), of doing the hippity dippity with Marilyn Monroe as a fourteen year old, is all a vision quest, not of reality. Like what Quentin Tarantino did in this flick and has done in previous movies he has fashioned, with regard not only to sex, but of violence and the human condition. Reality? Yes, no, and sometimes.
In “Once Upon…” we have some melancholy infused in “what if these nice people” would have lived out a life. That is something that I took away from my experience from the final scene on the driveway of Polanski’s home. Yet this movie is more than a just a setup of a murder of some famous people. It is how this place in LA influences its inhabitants. How their emotions control them. The good and the not so good.
You see the characters, Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), and Margot Robbie (Sharon Tate) among others develop in full fleshed humans. Do not overlook these three characters.
DiCaprio has never been better, showing a range of emotions that make you feel for his situation in this movie industry. There are more than a few set pieces that allow this actor to show his abilities. Look for an Oscar nomination and a possible win from his performance.
Pitt again allows himself to play a character that is not as much a push as of his great screen presence. His take as the stuntman for Dalton, and also being his best friend, is one of his best. He again shows us just how much he is as an actor and not just another pretty face.
Robbie’s take on Tate is exquisite. We get to see that Sharon Tate was a newbie to the Hollywood scene. What is real or not here is subjective, as QT is always playing his audience. Tate, as I think QT wanted us to believe, was a unabashed fickle young actress that was still learning what being a movie star was. She had a bewilderment of Hollywood and was a loving person toward all in her world as shown by QT. Her viewing of a performance by the real Sharon Tate in “The Wrecking Crew” was a fabulous bit of acting by Robbie. You could just inhale her love of self and her emotional presence of having others “laugh” at her performance on screen. She would have loved to have been a star of the cinema if she had lived out a full life. (Fuck you Manson and burn in fucking hell you sum bag). Her inner beauty in this role was as significant as her physical beauty, which QT put on display without the obligatory nudity that many directors would have included. I believe Tate and Robbie would have more in common that we might think. Just watch her. As of Tate, you cannot get your eyes off this actress. Some wanted more of the Tate angle in this movie, but, this was not a movie on her. But anytime we can see Robbie on the silver screen we are in for a treat. She is one smoking women that is for sure. And her talent matches that stunning look. You think I like Robbie?
A few words on the Bruce Lee controversy. Tarantino has pissed off many Bruce Lee apologists. I am and always will be a Bruce Lee fan. Yet, I found the caricature of Mr. Lee as QT has filmed him in this film appropriate. The scene on the fictitious movie set where Pitt’s character Booth kicks the ass of a arrogant Lee was one of the funniest highlights of the flick. Someone needs to tell Bruce’s daughter (who got her panties all up on a wad) that this movie begins with the title “Once Upon A Time…” so please allow the director to take us places in the film where fantasy is a “fairly tale at least and a parody at most.” I enjoy flicks that tell the PC crowd to get lost. QT did that in this one and the issue of Lee and how we think about him is not going to change as of a work of Hollywood fiction.
The one theme I believe QT pushed was that the “rich and famous” are like us all. They have their problems, worries, and pleasures. They experience issues most of us have to endure. Money and fame does not exclude anyone’s despair or needs.
What if Charlie Manson did not exist? His family of shits never bonded? QT gives us some serious thoughts about this in the end of this presentation. QT will be discussed and cursed about this look (ending). But I will not accept that his film is not good as of the ending, or the focus was not dialed completely on these murders. QT did not tell a tale of truth. This movie is not about Charlie, or Sharon, or anyone in particular. The main character is LA, Southern Cal, and what it represents. Tate and such and are not about the truth. LA is also not of the truth. LA is of the image, what it says to the world. QT’s perspective is as what he remembers from growing up in the area and what Hollywood reflected in his mind and soul. That reflection is personal for QT and he lets us take a peek.
This is a great film. I enjoyed every minute and found the final fifteen minutes as good as anything he has ever done. I went from being in total suspense, to out-and-out laughter, to that sad place of what if. Argue if you want. Disagree if you wish. This “Once Upon A Time” is a winner as a motion picture, as was the previous “Once Upon A Times……in the West, in America, and the Revolution.” Tarantino is our modern day Sergio Leone.
from a post on FACEBOOK: Cody DivelyTop contributor
I find that ppl who misunderstand this film have no idea of the parallels between the real world events surrounding the Tate murders and the events in the film. He genius-ally intertwines his characters into 69 Hollywood hitting on the real events such as the characters on spawn ranch and what ppl do not realize is the lot there shooting with the little girl is from the series Lancer and the Bruce/Cliff fight is on the backlot of a Green Hornet episode. its about a actor who’s been cast aside by Hollywood and is at the point in his career that he never got the fame he thought he deserved and now hes just cast as the heavy for other pilots and he guest stars, this and the relationship of his stuntman.. The movie lot the little girl is on with Leo is Lancer, an actual TV show that was filming 1969. He has Bruce Li bc he trained jay, Sharon, and roman and trained Sharon for the wrecking crew, the movies Sharon is watching by herself in the theater. They show Kato (Bruce Li) bc green hornet was filming and wanted to show you how lethal Cliff was with his hands, Cliff killed a lot of ppl single handedly (thats why rick calls him Audie Murphy when they playing around) and his exploits are discussed further in the novelization. He placed his characters brilliantly into 1969 Hollywood and literally threw them into the real events surrounding the Tate murders even down to having the characters historically accurate on spawn ranch, down to Tex, and squeaky and her giving George favors for them to stay there, all true. Tex even stated he was here to do the devils work when arriving in the real murder. He shows Steve McQueen bc McQueen was supposed to be there the night of the murders and frequented the house on Cielo Drive often.. He showed the playboy mansion pool party bc Sharon and Roman were appearing on Hugh Hefner’s TV show that night when he had a talk show..Tex, and the girls in the car were the ones that carried out the act that night and the Folgers heiress was indeed there, the last place they dined at was the El Coyote restaurant and hence it being showed, the girl did sneak out at the end but instead of driving the car away she walked away from the incident.. everything is for a reason and when you understand the parallels its beautifully done and a masterpiece of cinema.
Cody Dively I totally appreciate the particulars you have posted above. Well done! (I will add, there are many viewers that found the movie not of their taste, or say they found it boring…..too slow….remarks in that vein. Your spot on research shows that when you do your homework on a film it can and does bring out why some films are most interesting and more than just what “you think you see” when you go to the movies. In my take of the movie, I view it as what I know about the subject matter, the location (LA) and it is all what I can imagine of the whole cookie from where I am mentally. My inner psyche. For you, your study through the mind of QT is stunning.
This is an amazing review.
It hits on all aspects of the film and how it all relates to the movie.
It ponders the reality and hits on the fantasy in positive ways.
Yes, Quentin Tarantino does things his way, but then, if he did not with the utter brilliance that only he knows, then we would not be discussing and dissecting his films to the point that we do.
He is a master at giving us another point of view and asking what if?
Hey, it’s Hollywood and this is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
George Vreeland Hill
thank you for your words George……totally appreciated.