Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Writer-director Quentin Taratino is back on track with this, his 9th film. Tarantino's previous two films, Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight, had some good moments but I did not find them very rewatchable, especially with their inflated running times.  Both films contained some interesting characters and dialogue but focused more on violence and revenge, upsetting the balance from Tarantino's previous films.  I enjoy excitement but I prefer it to be wrapped in a story worth of the character dynamics that he excels at.  In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Tarantino tells a story from a positive perspective about the film world he loves so much and he mixes real and fictional characters to tell a little revisionist history.

When I first learned that Once Upon a Time in Hollywood would focus on the death of Sharon Tate, I was concerned that Tarantino might sensationalize it or tell some story of her husband Roman Polanski waging war on her killers since Tarantino had been so focused on revenge lately.  The murder of the pregnant Sharon Tate and several of her friends is one of the grisliest crimes of the last hundred years but fortunately Tarantino only uses that as the climax of the film and goes into a welcome and unexpected direction.

It has occurred to me that Tarantino has become a perdiod director.  Starting with 2009's Inglourious Basterds Tarantino has now directed four period films in a row.  As of 2021 Tarantino claims he is only going to direct one more film because he is now 58 years old and he feels directors after the age of 60 rarely produce their best work. I cannot agree with that.  Since turning 60 Martin Scorsese has directed The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, and The Irishman, all of which are fine films.  Clint Eastwoof has directed many classics past that age including Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, American Sniper, and Mystic River.  Steven Spielberg has made Lincoln and The Post.

Spoilers below:

The crux of the story focuses on a day and a half in the life of a television actor, Rick Dalton, played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Dalton's stunt double, Cliff Booth, played by Brad Pitt, in February 1969.  Rick, who used to star in his own Western TV show now works as a guest star in other shows and never was able to develop a film career, lives next door to director Polanski and Tate and dreams of breaking into their world.  I have read that Rick has an undiagnosed bipolar disorder, which fits his erratic behavior,  but his talent is unquestionable. Rick is impulsive and drinks heavily to numb his pain and many of his scenes focus on his self loathing in the aftermath of his binges.  Tarantino and DiCaprio created a fun character in Django Unchained but Rick is much more fully developed.  We see Rick both display and struggle with his immense talent giving the audience a real tour de force from DiCaprio.  I especially liked seeing DiCaprio in McQueen's role in The Great Escape.

Brad Pitt finally won an Oscar for Supporting Actor (as well as the same award in several other contests) for his work as Cliff.  Cliff plays specifically into Pitt's easy going but determined charisma and is distinct from Pitt's also memorable work as Aldo Raines in Inglourious Basterds.  Cliff knows that his survival depends on both supporting and not overshadowing Rick.  Since both actors have a similar status it keeps us from only watching Cliff when Rick is around especially since Rick only has questions and Cliff seems to have all the answers.  Cliff's spirit and values never change regardless of his surroundings and I believe that audiences responded to him because even though his methods might be rough as audience members we can count on him as Rick does.  Cliff will somehow get the task done.

Cliff, like many stuntmen, is about ten years older than the actor he doubles, which makes him kind of a big brother to Rick.  In the story he has a questionable past, having killed his wife with a speargun either in a fit of rage or by accident, which Tarantino wisely never clarifies.  Cliff fought in World War II and seems capable of murder or really handling anything that comes his way, but is also grateful for any success that he does have.  The sequence in which we see that Cliff lives contentedly in a messy trailer with his pit bull Brandy is a nice contrast to Rick, who lives miserably in a big house in an upper class neighborhood of Los Angeles.  Cliff's trailer is behind a screen at a drive through indicating that he lives behind the scenes.  As a dog owner I worried that Brandy spends so much time alone but Brandy is exceptionally well trained.  Tarantino gives a fun close up to his invented brand of the dogfood, Wolf's Teeth, which uses the tagline "Good for mean dogs" which hinted that Brandy will be used later in the story.  Cliff also seems like the kind of guy who would have a pit bull.  I think Tarantino wants to show that many people in the industry do not have expensive lifestyles and in fact are unnoticed as stuntman often are.

One of the best sequences is a flashback in which Cliff is doubling Rick on The Green Hornet which starred Bruce Lee.  During a break Cliff ends up sparring with Lee.  One of Cliff's weaknesses is that he cannot back down from a challenge and as a person of lower class he gets put down a lot by people who have more authority than he.  There are rumors that Lee used to fight with his stunt people on his productions which gives Tarantino a chance to put his protagonist up against Lee.  The contest is filmed in one extended take.  Neither man wins but the loser is Cliff who is dismissed and his already shaken reputation is hurt further.  Lee who is well connected and in demand, despite provoking the incident continues to star on the show.  

I enjoyed the scenes in which Tarantino shows Rick in character on the show he is guest starring on as it will be presented as opposed to showing how it would realistically be filmed with a lot of short takes and changes of lighting and angles.  It allows the audience to see both Rick's and DiCaprio's talent  could have become.  Rick has allowed his falling status to make him more narcissistic.  His scene with the child actress who is devoted to her craft inspires him.

Margot Robbie brings a sunny presence to the film as Sharon Tate.  Sharon's role is fairly small but is lives a relatively stress free existence but is trying to make her mark as an actress.  Tarantino seems to want to show us a little of the person who the public at large only remembers as the victim of a heinous crime.

Tarantino introduces us to the Manson clan by having Cliff give a ride to Spahn Ranch to a hippie girl who is played by Margaret Qualley, who is the daughter of actress Andie Macdowell.  The sequence is unsettling as Cliff starts to look for George Spahn, the owner of the ranch, who Cliff had once worked for.  It is unclear what the danger is other than the future killers are present.  However the effect is undercut a little since the hippies are presented as dirty and malicious but ineffective in the face of Cliff's true masculinity and I had the overall sense that there was nothing that Cliff could not handle.  Cliff's terrific line to Squeaky about the screen door would land a little better if he were delivering it to someone his own size.  Nonetheless Dakota Fanning is terrific as the nasty Squeaky who was not directly involved in the Tate murder but years later was imprisoned for pulling a gun on President Ford.

The climax of the scene, in which Cliff finds Spahn, played by Bruce Dern as a crusty blind old man, has little payoff except to show how ungrateful Spahn is that Cliff may have risked his life to find him.  

The production design is impressive as the house at the end of the road feels like the house in Psycho and Cliff's approach to it is reminiscent of Vera Miles' in that film.  For the most part though I find the sequence revolting.  The house is filthy, there is old food out, and Tarantino shows far too much of the hippies' grimy feet and I was glad when the film left the setting.  Notably, the one person who might have challenged Cliff, Tex Watson, is giving a horseback tour while Cliff is there.

The final act takes place about six months after the main story.  Rick, who spent a large piece of the film internally debating whether or not to work on spaghetti westerns in Italy, ultimately opts to do so and the film picks up on the night of the murders (August 8, 1969), which is also the day that Rick and Cliff return from Italy.  In a drunken state Rick hears the loud muffler on the killers' car and screams at them so loud they decide to target him instead.  Yet in the moment again, these hippies (who are armed this time) freeze when directly challenged by another figure, even though Rick looks ridiculous in his robe holding a pitcher of margaritas.

When the killers enter Rick's house, I thought the stage was being set for a big fight between Cliff and Tex, even though Cliff is high.  Tex is mauled ferociously by his dog Brandy instead, which I think is Tarantino giving him the worst possible death.  Cliff beats one of the women to death almost as viciously and Rick kills the other woman, Sadie, with a flamethrower.  The scene is bloody and gruesome, but in this film it is the exception as opposed to a general motif in Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight.  It is a little tasteless to see the muscular Cliff slamming a woman's head into countertops and door jambs but knowing the real-life crime these people committed takes some of the edge off.

In the end this attack saves the life of Sharon and her friends.  Tarantino shows us Rick earning his way into the Polanski inner circle and possibly going off to a better career.  But more tellingly cinematically he saves the life of Sharon and keeps this person in the world with us.  When Rick first speaks to Sharon he only hears her voice and when he climbs the hill of her driveway to meet her he is ascending in status.  Upon meeting her we see the scene from above as if from the heavens.

Cliff, however is driven down the hill in the ambulance headed into likely unemployment and possibly needing a new career since his leg may be permanently injured but he will find some way to get by.  But like in many bad situations the rich get richer and the poor are the ones who suffer the most.

A few other details that I noticed are:

• Costa Ronin is in the film and I completely missed him on the first viewing.  When I first saw it I was watching both the final season of Homeland and the whole series of The Americans, both of which feature Ronin pretty prominently.  Ronin is hard to miss because at a lean 6'4 he usually towers over his costars.  It turns out Ronin plays one of Sharon's friends and is only in a quick scene in a restaurant in the final act.
• Damien Lewis shows up briefly as Steve McQueen to provide exposition on Sharon and Polanski's marriage at the Playboy Mansion.  Lewis is a fun match for McQueen and it took me a moment to figure out who was playing him.  Lewis' presence means that Carrie Bradshaw's first and last love interests from Homeland are in the film.  If any of the others are there I missed them.
• Squeaky's story that she watches TV with the blind Spahn leads to some questions as to what exactly is happening there?  Also why is she so determined to keep Cliff out if there is nothing really to hide at that point?
• I like the scene in which Cliff drives home through downtown L.A. in his Kharmann Ghia.  The songs that play (Letter and Ramblin Man) speak to his individualistic spirit.
• Cliff's wife is played by Rebecca Gayheart.  Gayheart, who I first remember starring in commercials for Noxema in the 90s, and then as Luke Perry (who is also in this film)'s doomed wife in 90210, accidentally killed a child with her car in 2001.  I do not know if this is Tarantino's idea of a joke but having her character potentially accidentally killed in a high profile film feels icky.  If Tarantino wanted to just give Gayheart a role I would have chose another one.
• Margot Robbie and Leonardo DiCaprio played a couple in The Wolf of Wall Street, which is so different from this film I completely forgot about it until long afterwards even though DiCaprio's characters in both films is a heavy drinker.
• What is to become of Rick's marriage?  While in Italy he marries an Italian actress but abandons her to go drinking with Cliff on his first night home, when she is arriving in a new country.  After the events at the house Rick gives her a heavy sedative and goes to hang out with his cool neighbors instead of looking after her.  This does not bode well for them.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is the film Tarantino seems destined to have made and is a rich tapestry that reveals more to it with every viewing.  I hope he continues to approach his work in this vein regardless of how many more films he ultimately decides to make. ****