If you are like me, you watched the movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", and thought it was "okay, but nothing compared to other Tarantino movies". Boy was I wrong. Probably everyone has seen it, but not everyone begins to see the hand of Quentin Tarantino's masterful touches. It is filled with brief scenes that are filled with meaning; hence, the reason movie aficionados consider the movie Tarantino's absolute masterpiece, an especially those who work in the movie business
The story is really about several things going on in 1969: an actor who is washed up...the dying film genre of western movies and the stars of those westerns...the Charles Manson ranch and group of girls...the power of Roman Polanski at the height of his film making...and of course, Sharon Tate's life and demise
Leonardo DiCaprio plays "Rick Dalton" (a washed-up actor trying to make a comeback in the dying western genre); Brad Pitt as Dalton's stunt double "Cliff Booth"; and Italian actress Lorenza Izzo who plays "Francessca", Dalton's wife. Margot Robbie plays the role of "Sharon Tate", worthy of an Academy Award, IMO
Tarantino did dozens and dozens of little things, that not only indicate his obsession with Hollywood and retelling the real history of film making and the stars "exactly as it happened", but also liked to use artifacts from his other movies as a tease to Tarantino fans
Here's a short list of some of the things in the film that he used to show actual history and tidbits from his previous movies:
Margot Robbie (playing Sharon Tate), worked hard at studying Tate's life by wearing Tate's original jewelry for the entire time the film was being made, as well as wearing Tate's perfume from a half full bottle left in Tate's bedroom taken from the house where she was murdered. Towards the end, Robbie is sitting in a restaurant El Coyote, the actual restaurant where Tate ate her last meal, and Robbie sat in the same booth in the same seat area as Tate on the night she was murdered (attention to detail by QT)
Dittos with the restaurant "Musso and Frank's Grill", where Dalton and producer Marvin Schwarz (Al Pacino) met. The restaurant closed because of COVID, but it was still open in 2019 when the film was made and the owner had kept everything in the restaurant in its original state since its opening in 1919. In the 60's, it was a main stay for movie stars to eat (more attention to detail by QT)
The cars used in the movie were the same used in previous movies by QT. Dalton's cream-colored Cadillac was driven by Mr. Blonde in "Reservoir Dogs". Booth's (Pitt) car was a blue Karmann Ghia that was also driven by Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill", and the 1950s MG TD driven by "Roman Polanski", was an exact replica of the car Polanski drove when he was married to Sharon Tate before her murder. Tarantino took a beautifully restored black 59 Ford, and turned it into a POS that was identical to Manson's beat up car. The museum offered the original Manson car to be used in the movie, but Tarantino thought it was too creepy to use anything that Manson had in real life
Charles Manson's original car
Fake car used in the movie - car was made exactly as Manson's car
The Playboy Mansion scene was actually shot at the real Playboy Mansion of Hugh Hefner and the Playboy bunnies were actual girls who lived at the mansion. Some interesting people at the party were Steve McQueen (Damian Lewis) sharing a joint with Michelle "Michy" Phillips (singer from the Mamas and Papas and "the purest soprano in pop music", according to Time magazine, portrayed by Rebecca Rittenhouse), and Jay Sebring (Hollywood hairdresser to the stars and fiancée of Sharon Tate before a last minute breakup so she could marry Roman Polanski, played by Emile Hirsch). Polanski and Tate show up to the party in his little hot rod, then Tate takes off with Michy Phillips and runs into "Mama Cass", Michy's female partner in Mamas and Papas. As they get their party on, McQueen is now with Connie Stevens (played by Dreama Walker) and he explains to her the relationship between 5'3" Polanski, 5'8" Tate, and 5'4" Sebring. Connie Stevens was an actress and songstress who sang a song written by George Gershwin his brother, Ira called, "About a Boy".
During parts of the film in which Dalton is either practicing or playing his role in an old "Ranch Setting", it is the same setting used in his film, "Django"
A bus passes by with a big advertisement on the side of it promoting the "Big Kahuna Burger", a fictitious burger used in the movies, "Pulp Fiction" and "Reservoir Dogs". Also, plants a sidewalk seat with 93 KHJ "the Boss", a radio station that was king of Hollywood in 1969 (more attention to detail). Even the advertisements on the radio played in the background throughout the movie were taken from old recordings from '69
When Brad Pitt is cooking a crappy meal at home, you might notice a big blue coffee pot on the stove in his crappy apartment. It's the same coffee pot used in "The Hateful Eight", that was filled with poison and served to everyone in the building in a remote wilderness
When Tate (Margot Robbie) goes to a bookstore to pick up a book for her husband Polanski, she stops and admires and fondles a sculpture of a falcon. It just so happens that it is the exact falcon sculpture used in the movie, "The Maltese Falcon", which had been missing for close to 50 years as someone stole it from the set. It turned up at a flea market and Hollywood paid 300,000 dollars for it to get it back.
Also, the book that Tate had ordered was a classic 1891 Thomas Hardy novel that Tate loved because it was close to how she had grown up. The novel told the story of the harrowing and tragic life of the beautiful Tess, born into poverty and raped after being sent to live and work with what are believed to be wealthy relatives. The book was called "Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented". Polanski made a film based on the book, which he named "Tess". In the opening sequence of the film, Polanski dedicates the film to "Sharon". The film was nominated for six Academy Awards and winning three, including Best Picture
Charles Manson was introduced into the film as Booth (Pitt) sees a girl on the side of the street who is one of Manson's girls called Pussycat" (Margaret Qualley), while waiting at a red light and blasting "Hang on Sloopy" on the radio. Staying true to script, Qualley lets her arm pit hair grow in order to stay in character for Pussycat (more attention to detail by QT)
They meet up again later and Booth gets to know all the girls at Manson's ranch.
The real Manson girls
The film's Manson girls (which includes Sydney Sweeney and Dakata Fanning as "Squeaky Fromme" who later attempted to assassinate Pres. Gerald Ford
During one scene, the group of girls from Charles Manson's ranch are singing a song a capella, called "I'll Never Say Never, to Always"...a real song that was actually written by Charles Manson (a bit creepy if you ask me). The girls sang this in court as Manson was being tried.
In another scene we meet a guy named George Spahn (played by Bruce Dern), a real person who owned a ranch that he rented out to film production companies, and where the Manson family stayed at the time of the murders. He was blind and in his 80's around the time the Manson family moved in. Manson had offered Spahn sex with the women of his family in exchange for shelter. Booth is suspicious when he goes to visit Spahn and figures he might find him dead
Regardless, there are so many nuances to real history referenced in this movie, that it is almost impossible to truly get the gist of what Tarantino is trying to get across to the viewer. In short: the film is more of a tribute to those who work in Hollywood and know all the gory details of how Hollywood worked in the late 60s, as well as paying homage to his past movies by including cars, cooking pots, slogans on a bus, actors, etc., being inserted throughout the film. He has said it is his "last film" (we'll see) and he wanted it to be spectacular. In reality, it is...as long as you are a true history buff and are a fan of Tarantino's previous works
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Notes of interest: During the hippie movement of the 60's, the two hottest spots in the country were Haight Ashbury in San Francisco, and "Laurel Canyon" in LA. The song "Twelve Thirty" by the Mamas and Papas told of the love children moving to "the canyon". "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", staying true to exacting history, Tarantino shot the entire movie at Laurel Canyon
Kurt Russell is a true historian and helped Tarantino get everything right about the movie He received a small role in the film. Tarantino grew up in LA, so he had his own take on what was going on in 1969, but he admitted that Russell was a savant of history in LA at that time. In one interview, Russell says he grew up in the "belly of the beast" at that time in his life in Laurel Canyon, so he knew a lot of what was going on
Sydney Sweeney of recent rise to fame (especially in that SNL skit as a Hooters girl - LMAO - and the recent movie "Anybody But You") plays a role in the movie as one of Manson's girls.
Michael Madsen is one of Tarantino's closest friends and has been instrumental in picking music scores for QT's movies and gets to play in cameo roles in all his movies (except Kill Bill 2, in which he had a significant role). In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, he is Sheriff Hackett. Madsen always gets killed in Tarantino's films, but he gets to live in this one
Tarantino tends to write himself into cameos in his films in which he gets to play a role. Although he didn't in this film, if you look closely at the opening poster for the movie, he is depicted in a small scene running a camera
Roman Polanski worked closely with Harvey Weinstein, and the two were the most influential people in the movie business, and to get into movies, you had to get their attention. Polanski/Weinstein controlled the film industary, while Phil Spector controlled much of the music industry. They were three peas in the same pod...one, three rapists, and one who murdered a young woman for fun by making her pretend to give a bj to a handgun not knowing he would pull the trigger just to feel what it was like to kill someone
When Sharon Tate was murdered, she was 8½ months pregnant. Her husband Polanski was in London at the time. Her baby was cut out of her and also killed. Also killed in the mayhem, was Jay Sebring (Tate's previous fiancée) and Abigail Folger, heiress to Folgers Coffee, as well as a friend and her boyfriend, and a housekeeper
Original picture of Polanski and Sharon Tate
Roman Polanski has been on the run for decades after raping a 13-year-old girl. He has lived in France and Poland since 1978 to avoid extradition to the U.S. where he'd face 50+ years in prison. He is now 90 years old and still alive
Hard to fathom how successful he was getting the Beatles going and a myriad of other singers (Tina Turner, the Righteous Brothers, the individual Beatles after their breakup, etc.) before committing the most horrendous murder. The movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", really tells the story of all the big wigs in the music industry and film industry during the 60's if one keeps track, and even the Manson murders...and of course, Spector is right there in the middle of it. It's like the true history of Hollywood...but I digress
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