Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywoodâ€
is a mad, wild romp through a film geek’s mind—a hallucinatory homage to
America’s dream factory. It’s also a funny/sad farewell to a time when people
believed in the dreams the factory once delivered on a regular basis. Rick
Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an actor who once had a popular TV western series
called “Bounty Law.†The series got canceled and he’s making a living playing
villains in guest star roles in other TV series. His agent Marvin Schwarzs (Al
Pacino) advises him to go to Italy to make spaghetti westerns lest he finally
fade into bad guy oblivion. Dalton’s friend, stunt double, and confidence
booster, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), thinks it would be a great idea, especially
since Dalton’s drinking is beginning to impact his career.
Tarantino plays this story line out against the backdrop
of Hollywood as it was between February and August 1969. He has us follow the
two friends behind the scenes of studio backlots, in restaurants, and parties
at places like the Playboy Mansion, where we are inundated with references to
dozens, if not hundreds, of films and TV shows of that era. Hardly a frame of
film rolls by without a movie poster appearing on a wall, a black and white
image on a TV set somewhere of some old show, or a word of dialog spoken that
does not hearken us back. Hollywood Boulevard was even given a facelift, with
false 1969 fronts placed over the current buildings. Booth lives in a house in
the Hollywood hills next door to the home of director Roman Polanski and his
beautiful wife Sharon Tate. He only wishes he could establish contact with them
to give his career a boost.
As Dalton struggles to conquer his alcoholism and
remember his lines, we follow Cliff around downtown LA running various errands in
Cliff’s Cadillac Eldorado. He eventually picks up a young female hitchhiker
named Pussycat (Margaret Qualley). He turns down her offer of sex fearing she’s
under 18, but agrees to drive her out to the Spahn Movie Ranch where she’s
living and where he and Rick used to film Rick’s series.
When they get to the ranch, the movie takes a detour into
dark territory. Cliff finds a group of mostly female hippies living there and
Pussycat asks where “Charley†is. When she learns Charley is out somewhere she
says it’s too bad and tells Cliff: “Charley would probably like you.†Cliff wants
to visit with ranch owner, his old friend George Spahn (Bruce Dern in a part
originally intended for the late Burt Reynolds) but Squeaky Fromme (Dakota
Fanning), the leader of the girl hippies, says it impossible. Cliff is not one
to be trifled with and forces his way into George’s bedroom and determines,
even though he’s in bad shape, he’s not being taken advantage of.Tension builds when Booth finds the tire on Rick’s
car slashed. He has a violent confrontation with the scuzzy hippie who did it.
The scene is filled with Tarantino’s patented brand of tension, but only serves
as a teaser for what is to come.
And what is to come? Plenty, but to reveal the
astonishing ending to “Once Upon a Time . . . “ would be to ruin it for anyone
who hasn’t seen it yet. It is an ending both shocking, gratifying, and oddly
enough, hilarious beyond all expectations. It provides a cathartic release
after two and a half hours of building tension and inner rage that leaves you
breathless at the end. Tarantino’s writing has never been sharper. His ability
to foreshadow events, and to plant story ideas that become important and useful
at the climax are masterful. His skill as a director is at its peak. He gets
performances out of DiCaprio and Pitt I never would have thought they could
deliver. They supposedly based their characters on Burt Reynolds and his stunt
man buddy Hal Needham. I can see Reynolds in DiCaprio’s performance, but to my
mind Pitt seemed more like Hollywood stunt-man legend Jock Mahoney, who had
that same calm, confident swagger in real life that Pitt affects.
One of the highlights of “Once Upon a Time . . .†is the
much-talked about scene between Cliff and Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) on the set of
“The Green Hornet.†Lee is shown arrogantly boasting that he could defeat
Cassius Clay in a fight, which causes Cliff to laugh out loud. Lee says he
would teach him a lesson for laughing but his hands are lethal weapons and if
he accidentally killed him he would go do jail.“Anybody who kills anybody by accident goes to jail,†Cliff says. “It’s
called manslaughter.†Which prompts a quick round of hand-to hand combat. The
outcome is a bit of a surprise, but Lee, to say the least, makes quite an
impression.
There are so many things to like about this film, but it
is not without its shortcomings. Tarantino’s foot fetish is becoming a joke and
a distraction. His treatment of Sharon Tate is pretty shallow, as some critics
have complained, but only if you are looking at her as a real human being and
not the symbol of a lost age, as Tarantino intends. The film is a bit long, but
frankly I wouldn’t cut a single frame, and in fact I hope the Blu-ray contains
additional footage that wasn’t used. All in all, this is the movie of the year,
and a must-see for anyone who loves old movies and TV shows.
John M. Whalen is the author of "Tragon of Ramura". Click here to order from Amazon.