If it were up to me, I’d put a moratorium on movies about making movies. They all reek of Hollywood self indulgence…or a movie maker with no real ideas. As such, to make a great film about the moviemaking business only befits the uber talented directors, someone like say…Quentin Tarantino? Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood is Tarantino’s most direct love letter to filmmaking to date, literally setting his story during 1969 Hollywood. This is a Tarantino movie though, so obviously Sharon Tate has to pop up too…with a little Charles Manson thrown in.
The movie starts 6 months before the Charles Manson murders in August 1969. It’s a Hollywood in flux for Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Dalton, previously the hero of a 1950s Western TV Serial and some movies, sees himself playing the bad guy to prop up Hollywood’s up and coming new batch of heroes, and is starting to see the end of the line for his career. One of those new up and comers is Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), who’s basking in all the fun Hollywood has to offer in 1969, including marrying Roman Polanski and moving into the Hollywood hills next to Dalton. Gee, I wonder if the Manson “family” might find their way into Rick’s house too? God only knows with Tarantino…
Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood is probably the most self-indulgent Tarantino movie I have seen. The director openly talks about how Spaghetti Westerns, karate movies, and TV from 1960s Hollywood were his earliest memories and made him want to become a filmmaker. The first hour of this movie feels like an ode to Tarantino himself. The story spends a great deal of time on Western movie sets with Rick juxtaposed with Cliff driving around 1960s Hollywood just…hanging out listening to music, as if this is what Tarantino would have been doing had he been an adult during this time. It might be breathtaking for the director, but it can get pretty boring for the audience, as a lot of this time is spent wordless, taking away Tarantino’s biggest asset: his gift for spectacular dialogue and building great characters. Once Upon a Time gives Tarantino an excuse to shoot on the studio lots and big sets of the day he worships, finally making the perfect Western he himself would want to make. In addition, Tarantino probably feels a tad guilty liking this era of Hollywood with what Charles Manson did to a piece of it, so he feels obligated to right that wrong and show everyone how full of life and love Sharon Tate was before her life was cut way too short. Would have been nice to give Margot Robbie something more to do than just smile, dance, and show off her feet though.
The success of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood lies at Brad Pitt’s feet. Apparently many of the actors who wanted to be in this movie vied hard for the Booth role. For all the Sharon Tate hype, Margot Robbie’s barely in the movie. And Leo’s having a blast as Rick Dalton, but his part is meant to be more inconsequential. Tarantino sets up Dalton as your melodramatic fading actor, with happy go lucky Cliff literally driving him to and from his career. While Rick is pretending to be a seething, evil Western villain across from Timothy Olyphant’s good guy, Cliff is living it, like when he picks up a young girl (Margaret Qualley) and brings her to the Manson ranch. Tarantino brilliantly mirrors TV and movie Western showdowns with Cliff’s arrival to this really creepy place. Pitt is excellent here, playing a 1969 stuntman version of a Hollywood cowboy: he’s calm, he’s charming, he’s not to be messed with. Pitt is also really funny in Once Upon a Time…probably the funniest I have seen him in a long time. A showdown that is frightening is undercut nicely by Pitt’s drug induced confusion at the reality of the situation. He’s the glue connecting the Tate and Dalton stories together, not complaining, and having a blast doing it.
Filmmaker infatuation can lead to mixed results. Quentin Tarantino’s love of his past makes Once Upon a Time in Hollywood prey to his fascination with the era, instead of the characters within it. But when you’re as good as Brad Pitt, Leo DiCaprio, and Tarantino, you’re bound to find some greatness more often than not. Also props to Tarantino for casting Uma Thurman’s daughter in this movie, which will give rise to conspiracy theories about how this girl grows up and becomes “The Bride” from Kill Bill.