“Hey! You’re Rick fucking Dalton. Don’t you forget it.”
It was immediately apparent with his first film that Quentin Tarantino was a voracious cinephile who would reference everything from old movies, to forgotten TV shows, to obscure actors but did so lovingly. He wasn’t just throwing in pop culture references to be hip, clever, or timely, he did so because he legitimately loves Hollywood and everything associated with it. Or rather, he loves his version of Hollywood. Tarantino looks at old Hollywood much like a child does, in that he sees how everyone is connected through a six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon-like chain of links. A child naturally assumes that every celebrity knows, and is friends with, every other celebrity just because they’re both famous. While we all know that’s completely false, back in the day, it was a bit more complicated.
One of the best elements of his latest film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is how Tarantino connects everyone through pop culture. Unlike today where everyone is inundated with a constant barrage of something new (like shows and songs and internet “stories”), people back then all shared the same experiences. Cliff Booth may never meet Charles Manson but odds are, they watch the same TV shows and Steve McQueen may never cross paths with Roman Polanski but if they turn on the radio, they’re going to be listening to the same music, and I think it’s this connectivity that Tarantino mourns the most in Once Upon a Time In Hollywood.
What Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Means to Us
I have three kids, so trips to the movies to see something not kid-related are rare. In the past five years, I’ve seen exactly two movies on the big screen just because I was so excited about them that I couldn’t wait until I could stream from the comfort of my couch while wearing pajamas. One of them was Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (the other was The Gentlemen, in case you’re wondering). While this didn’t turn out to be my favorite Tarantino movie, I still enjoyed the experience. It’s a bit of a slow ride, but the performances are fantastic. The meandering pace feels appropriate to the story, and the payoff at the end is incredibly satisfying.
–R.J. Mathews
I was able to see this movie in a screening before the general public and I am so glad I went. This movie is by far one of my favorite Tarantino films. I would have been bummed if I waited and had things spoiled for me. I do remember sitting there the whole time enjoying the characters on screen. Brad and Leo just nailed their roles and had great chemistry together. Even smaller roles in the film had great talent behind them. It was great to see Luke Perry in one final role and at the same time being introduced to Julia Butters as the no-nonsense child actor basically stealing the scene she has with DiCaprio. It’s awesome. And when it came to the big finale, well I knew how the real-life events turned out. But in typical QT fashion, he turned things on its head, which by the film’s own title makes sense. I remember sitting there thinking, “Oh my god this violence is going on forever.” It seemed like it was twenty minutes long and on my second viewing, it was more like two minutes. But the best part about that first viewing was hearing someone near me tell whoever they were with what really happened and hearing their shock that this part was made up. I mean wow… read a book or something. Jeez.
–K. Alvarez
Rewriting History
Tarantino is obviously enamored with the alternate history of actors, which he himself helped shape with the casting of George Clooney in From Dusk till Dawn, John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, and Pam Grier in Jackie Brown, among others. This clearly informs the Rick Dalton character but also the alternate history of history, which you can see in both the endings of this and Inglourious Basterds. And just like in the latter, OUATIH rewrites history so that movies themselves are responsible for conquering heinous monsters.
Hitler died at a movie theater and the Manson Family got beat to death because they decided to attack the wrong movie star. Which again, connects his fake Hollywood with the real Hollywood. He’s rewriting history to not only give Sharon Tate and the other victims a happy ending and to strip away the power of Manson and his family by erasing their deeds from history but to expand his fake universe by giving Rick and Cliff the fame they so desperately deserve.
When the credits start to roll, Tarantino wants you to think about the future of these characters but he also wants you to be sad that this Hollywood, both real and fake, is dead. It’s simultaneously hopeful and melancholic; a love letter to a bygone era and a last hoorah before the lights turn off and the doors get shut forever. This is the culmination of Tarantino’s entire career and although it’s his penultimate film, I wouldn’t be sad if he decided to retire with this one. He said everything he needed to say with this film.
Los Angeles, 1969
For those who have not yet seen this masterpiece, it follows three people in Los Angeles in 1969. Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), an actor who gained fame and fortune by starring in a 1950s television Western, is now struggling to find meaningful work in a Hollywood that he doesn’t recognize anymore. Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), his easygoing best friend and longtime stunt double who’s a WWII hero and the alleged killer of his wife. And their neighbor Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), whose real-life murder hangs over this film like a noose of suspense, getting tighter and tighter till you can’t take it anymore, which is released in the most satisfying way possible.
Tarantino and His Lasting Legacy
Like all of Tarantino’s films, the plot is almost incidental. It’s always there, but it’s the hangout vibe that’s the most important. Simply put: you’re either going to enjoy watching these characters do mundane things for most of the movie or you’re not. Tarantino writes real-world scenarios with real characters that do boring, everyday shit before the shit goes down so that when all the plot threads ultimately dovetail and the shit does finally go down, it hits harder and if that’s just not engaging enough for you, you’re going to dislike this film.
You’re going to see it as two and a half hours of nothing but talking, driving, and feet and I get that completely. There are films I recognize are good that I just don’t like simply because I don’t care enough and/or like the main character enough to be invested in anything that happens. But for me, these are about as good as characters get. I am 100% engaged and invested every time one of them is on screen. I would watch every single episode of Bounty Law if it was real. I would love to see his Italian films if they existed and I love imagining the projects that he hasn’t yet made that exist outside of this movie that Tarantino has mentioned in interviews and podcasts.
Likewise, with Cliff Booth, I would watch 90 minutes of him feeding his dog and just sitting on the couch watching foreign films. I want to know the future movies Sharon Tate would star in that Tarantino never brings up. I love these characters and love hanging out with them. And ultimately, I think that’s going to be Tarantino’s lasting legacy. His style of writing pop culture-infused dialogue changed everything, as did his narrative choices as well as his unorthodox casting decisions. However, while all of those are important, I think it’s his characters that will live on the longest. Less than a dozen directors have a catalog of characters that are as iconic and I truly believe these are some of his best. As of this writing, his last film The Movie Critic is barely in production, so no one knows anything about it but I hope it ties into this one. I think that would be a perfect bow to a perfect career.
“When you come to the end of the line, with a buddy who is more than a brother and a little less than a wife, getting blind drunk together is really the only way to say farewell.”
What’s your experience with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? Love it? Hate it? Start the conversation in the comments below!
