I find Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to be Quentin Tarantino’s best film. Yes, I love the nasty fights in Kill Bill, and the quotability and narrative style of Pulp Fiction. And even though the clever ending of Inglourious Basterds proclaims it to be his masterpiece, I still believe he has never made a film as well-written, gorgeous, and heartfelt as this late-1960s Californian epic.
The story begins at what Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) feels is the ending of his career. He’s a washed-up alcoholic television actor known for the western series Bounty Law. Due to (multiple?!) DUI arrests and a driver’s license suspension, he has to be driven around by his stuntman and best friend Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Both separately and together, they explore Tarantino’s replica of a time long gone, the golden age of Hollywood.
Tarantino indulges in all the beautiful spoils of the 1969 Hollywood setting, with white-hot violence (only as revenge, in Tarantino style), playboy parties, and hippies sauntering the Los Angeles streets. Living right next door to Dalton is Roman Polanski (Rafał Zawierucha) and his wife, actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), who are seen at colorful, drug-ridden parties with other ‘69 A-listers, their level of success only a few steps out of reach for Dalton.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is golden and gorgeous in every way, with Dalton, Booth, and Tate exploring all areas, both physical and metaphorical, of the setting. Tate drives around town and goes to a cinema to watch herself in The Wrecking Crew. Dalton stars in various westerns, clawing and clamoring to keep his career together as he feels his star power fading into mere guest appearances. Booth drives around the city listening to Los Bravos and Neil Diamond on the radio, and picks up a hitchhiking hippie and brings her to her mysterious home in Spahn Ranch. Their narratives converge on a fateful night on Cielo Drive, where Tarantino rewrites a bit of history.
The beating heart of the film is its sweet portrayal of Sharon Tate. Tarantino’s revisionist ending allows us to imagine what could have been, had things been different. Maybe the golden age of cinema would have never ended, maybe innocent people could have been spared, maybe a washed-up actor with his flamethrower and his stuntman/best friend with a violently loyal pitbull could have saved the day. When we hear Tate’s voice on the speaker at the end, it is bittersweet. In Tarantino’s version of the story she lives – as she does in cinema history – but reality was far more cruel. The film honors her, her sweetness and beauty, her legacy, just as it honors her bygone era, the golden age of Hollywood, before all that innocence was lost.
The Brattle is screening Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in honor of none other than the late Rick Dalton. Dalton is said to be survived by his wife Francesca, but I’d like to believe he’s also survived by his stuntman and good buddy Cliff Booth. Rest in Peace to a problematic, alcoholic, intensely passionate, constantly chaotic relic of old Hollywood. Rick Dalton, your spirit lives on.
Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
2019
dir. Quentin Tarantino
162 min.
Screens (on 35mm!) Friday, 8/4 through Sunday, 8/6 @ Brattle Theatre – Click here for showtimes and ticket info
In loving memory of Rick Dalton, 1933-2023
