A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood’s Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.
Just because I’m not a big Tarantino fan doesn’t mean I enjoy knocking his work. Every time I sit down to watch one of his movies, I always hope it will be enjoyable and entertaining and his films are, at the very least, captivating. “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” is no different. Tarantino’s reverence for the ’60s is evident in every shot in this two hour and forty-one-minute opus but that isn’t necessarily a good thing. While you most certainly experience the feel and ambiance of 1969 Hollywood, the movie’s overall narrative is clunky and, at times, redundant.
There are three consecutive storylines that run concurrently and while they are partially connected, I feel had Tarantino concentrated on just one and made it the story’s central focus, the movie would have benefitted more as a result. As it stands, we cut from one narrative to the next and onto the last and then start over again. While Tarantino imbues each of the central characters with enough emotions to last into the ’70s, he also introduces an overabundance of secondary characters and glorified cameos that fill the screen to capacity, and while this element succeeds, some of these characters, as brief as they are, seem to have far more interesting character arcs than our lead protagonists and it’s just a shame that as long as the film is, there isn’t enough time to delve into their stories.
It is 1969 in Hollywood and Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a former TV star from the ’50s, is finding it difficult trying to navigate the current state of Tinseltown. With movies now more popular than they were during the height of his fame, he is reduced to taking on bad guy roles in TV shows with new up-and-coming stars who are younger than him and in much better shape. His best friend and stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) drives Rick all over town from audition to audition and occasionally, Rick is able to get him a stunt job on whatever show he’s working on. Rick lives in the Hollywood Hills and discovers that his next-door neighbor is none other than the hottest film director in town, Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha) and his beautiful actress wife, Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie).
As Rick struggles with losing his star power, Cliff meets a young hippy girl named Pussycat (Margaret Qualley), who lives on an old abandoned ranch where Cliff used to make TV westerns back in the day. She says that their charismatic leader, Charles Manson (Damon Herriman), would like to meet him but when they arrive at the ranch, they are informed that Charles left on business. Both Rick and Cliff grapple with their age as they watch the new stars of Hollywood start out on their careers and one of them is the aforementioned Sharon Tate, Rick’s new neighbor. A beautiful young blonde from Dallas, Texas, married to Roman Polanski, she has already made a name for herself starring in such classics as “Valley of the Dolls” with Patty Duke and “The Wrecking Crew” with Dean Martin and Elke Sommer. Of course, we all know what happened to Ms. Tate at the hands of the Manson Family on August 9th, 1969, and periodically, the movie reminds us of this by flashing the date up on the screen as we count down to the inevitable finale.
When the film reaches its final act, just like he did with “Inglourious Basterds,” Tarantino takes history as we know it and completely rewrites it in order to satisfy his vision. I won’t spoil it for those who plan on seeing this but it’s nothing like you will be expecting. In true Tarantino fashion, the movie culminates with excessive, grisly violence and a myriad of precarious humor that is, at times, downright hilarious.
I consider “Reservoir Dogs” and “The Hateful Eight” to be Tarantino’s two best movies and with expectations high for “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” I couldn’t help but get caught up in them, hoping that he would at least rival, or surpass “The Hateful Eight.” For films such as this, it’s best to view them with as little expectation as possible, that way, you will probably enjoy them more. The movie is nearly three hours long and at least one hour could have been trimmed from the total runtime. DiCaprio is an actor I have long admired but here, at times, it feels like he isn’t giving it his all, like Tarantino is restraining him for some reason. Brad Pitt, on the other hand, is laid back and easygoing and practically steals every shot he is in by sheer star power alone. His loyalty to DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton is unwavering, even when Rick gets married and informs him that he won’t be able to pay him any more, Cliff remains steadfast to Rick and his new Italian wife Francesca (Lorenza Izzo).
Tarantino is excited to share his vision of 1969 Hollywood with the world but he crams in so many characters, plotlines, subplots, and backlot vignettes, if you’re not paying attention, even for one second, you could lose track of what is going on. Naturally, he fills his movie with terrific music and cinematographer Robert Richardson captures the essence of an ever-changing landscape, not just in Hollywood but the world in general, and when you realize this, you most certainly find yourself empathizing with Rick and Cliff and wonder what their futures will consist of. Right after watching “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” I immediately disliked it but over the past few days, it’s grown on me and I realize that it is much better than I hoped it would be. Watch it yourself and make up your own mind.
Now available on Digital HD and on 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™ and DVD Dec. 10th
