Summary:
An aging TV star and his stunt double try to achieve fame and fortune in the last years of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
My Thoughts:
I suppose since I help to run a blog and podcast about films, it sort of goes without saying that I absolutely love movies. I generally love movies about making movies (like “8 ½”), I love classic Hollywood flicks (“The Great Escape”), I love stories set in and around the 60s (AMC’s “Mad Men”), for the longest time I’ve had an interested in Roman Polanski (“The Tenant”) and his ill-fated wife Sharon Tate (“The Fearless Vampire Killers”), and of course, I think Quentin Tarantino (“Pulp Fiction”) is one of the finest working writers and directors today.
I felt like this movie was tailor-made for me; it’s got a bit of just about everything I love and more, and after only one viewing, I feel confident that this movie is in my top three Tarantino films. It’s a bold, hilarious, intricate, nostalgic, tense, and completely original love letter to Hollywood and an age that’s left us far behind.
There will be quite a few spoilers in this review, but I’ll warn you before I get into them; the top part will spoiler free.
“Hey! You’re Rick F*cking Dalton, don’t you forget it!”
Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio, “Django Unchained”), once a famous television star, now finds that roles are starting to dry up, and his agent (Al Pacino, “Dick Tracy”) suggests he get into the Italian film industry in an attempt to save his career. Rick’s stunt double/driver Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt, “Inglourious Basterds”) will also be out of work if Rick doesn’t start landing gigs. Meanwhile, Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha, “The Soviet Sleep Experiment”) and his wife Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie, “I, Tonya”) move in next door to Rick, and Rick takes this as a good sign; “I could be in the next Polanski movie!” he says excitedly. As Rick prepares for another role, Cliff finds himself driving round LA, eventually coming in contact with a hippie named Pussycat (Margaret Qualley, “The Nice Guys”) whom needs a ride to Spahn Ranch (that combined with Tate and Polanski’s appearance should ring some bells for those of you up to date on your Hollywood history). Will Rick and Cliff ever make it big in Hollywood, or will they forever be reduced to villain-of-the-week roles on popular television shows?
So, let’s first talk about the thing that brought us to this movie in the first place, the man with the vision: Tarantino himself. Tarantino’s writing is top tier in this film, I won’t say this is better than “Pulp Fiction” (I may in the future, with repeat viewings), but it is one of his best written scripts. Much like “Pulp Fiction” this film does not follow a typical plot structure where the characters are intent on accomplishing one thing; we simply spend time with these characters, learn who they are, and watch them grow. Tarantino likes to draw out these scenes and let the dialogue progress naturally (or, at least, naturally from the mouth of Tarantino); it gives us time to get to know the characters without feeling like their development is being spoon-fed to us. The thing I love most about this script, however, is the sheer amount of Hollywood that Tarantino crammed into this movie; I’m sure I’ll watch this movie a dozen times in my life, and I’m sure every time I’ll catch more references. I said above that this is a film made for movie lovers, but I’ll take that a step further: this is a movie for people who are freaking obsessed with movies and the history surrounding them.
Some of the minor events in this film are references to real things, and if you know your history even the smallest of scenes take on so much more meaning. For example: Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, who is played by Dakota Fanning (“Coraline”) in this film and only has a small role in this movie, went on to try to assassinate Gerald R Ford in ’75 and ended up spending time in prison until 2009. Though for many people the scene where Sharon Tate walks into the book store and purchases a first edition of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles (great book! Hardy’s prose is like honey) might seem a little strange, that scene hit me like a ton of bricks. In real life, Tate gave Polanski Tess of the d’Urbervilles right before Polanski went to Europe to work on a movie called “A Day at the Beach”, and she was murdered by the Manson family before they ever saw each other again. Polanski eventually adapted the book into the film “Tess”, and dedicated it to Sharon. The song “Always is Always Forever” sung by the hippies as they dumpster dive is probably the most famous song written by Manson (remember he wanted to be a musician before ordering his followers to kill a bunch of people- Tate’s murder was the most famous, but they killed more people). The portrayal of George Spahn (Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”) and their ranch was pretty darn accurate too; George was actually going blind, and the Manson Family did help to run his horse business. There are also some great references to Tarantino’s other flicks; fellow TMM reviewer Karl pointed out that one of the Spaghetti Westerns referenced in this movie was made by Antonio Margheriti, which was the name the Basterds used to get into the movie premier at the end of “Inglorious.” Those are only a few of the references I caught, but let’s move on to the characters.
“It’s official old buddy, I’m a has been.”
Rick is absolutely hilarious, and I honestly think it’s one of Leo’s best roles to date. He’s self-obsessed and self-deprecating; he’s a drunk; he acts like a child; and he’s an absolute idiot in the funniest and most loveable ways possible. Rick is every actor’s self-doubt personified, and that plays into the themes so incredibly well. Rick’s journey, his goal of the whole movie, is to be accepted by Hollywood, to be welcomed into the movie business with open arms. As a fading TV star, however, he finds himself on the outside of a gate (a literal one, at times), and he’s doing all he can to fight his way in. There’s a great scene between Rick and Trudi (Julia Butters, “13 Hours”), a child actor, where Trudi pretty much lays out the law of the land for Rick and explains to him what it means to have a work ethic and to take what he does seriously. Rick is a child, and he needs someone at his own level of maturity to explain things to him. One of the scenes afterwards, when Rick messes up his lines and has a meltdown in his trailer is one of the funniest scenes Tarantino has ever shot. Rick shouts at himself, promises he won’t drink anymore, and then immediately goes for a whiskey shooter, then gets mad at himself again. It’s both an eye opening and hysterical look at Rick’s personality, and it only gets better from there. I wouldn’t call Rick’s character dynamic, but he does sort of change a bit by the end of the film.
Cliff’s character seems a far more reserved role than I’m used to seeing from Pitt; he was great, but I don’t think he was given as much to do as Rick (up until the end, at least). The most interesting parts of Cliff’s character come through in the flashbacks we’re shown, like his impromptu fight with Bruce Lee (Mike Moh, “Killerman”), or the well-known ‘secret’ surrounding his wife’s death. Cliff is a strong silent type who looks almost exactly like Robert Redford in “Easy Rider.” If fate had been kinder, it probably would’ve been Cliff who was the actor, and Rick who was the stunt double, and that adds a kind of quiet irony that follows Cliff’s character throughout the story.
Sharon Tate’s character becomes almost a personification of the Hollywood dream. When we meet her, she is just starting to become known; a few people know her from “The Valley of the Dolls”, and she’s able to go see herself on the big screen in “The Wrecking Crew”, but she’s not famous enough that she’s recognized on the street. The scene where Tate waltzes into the theater to watch herself on screen, and is delighted to find that everyone is laughing along with her performance is probably exactly what every actor has always dreamed of. As the film goes on, we gradually see Tate more from the perspective of other people than we do from her own POV. Her life might not actually be a dream, but it is perceived as one from the people around her: she’s a young, gorgeous starlet who is married to one of the greatest working directors in Hollywood. That could be anyone’s dream.
The Empire Strikes Back
Warning: Spoilery Bits Follow.
This film is, more than anything, a love letter to Hollywood’s Golden Age, an age which some say came to an end in ’69, marked by the Manson murders, which happened at Cielo Drive on the night of August 8th/ morning of August 9th. Those murders were brutal; far more brutal than anything we see in this film. Tarantino’s version of revisionist history feels totally justified if you know how freaking brutal those murders were. There are moments that are lifted directly from the court transcripts, which make it feel far more intense and real, like, for example, Tex saying, “I’m the devil and I’m here to do the devil’s work.”
Let’s go over the murders first, because without prior knowledge of what happened, Tarantino’s ending might seem a touch over the top.
Polanski outside his home after the vicious murder of his wife and four others.
An eighteen year old student named Steven Parent was shot four times and slashed across the wrist with a knife. Abigail Folger was stabbed twenty eight times. Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch, “The Autopsy of Jane Doe”) was shot once and stabbed seven times. Voytek Frykowski (Costa Ronin, “Russian American”) was beaten with the butt end of a gun in the head until the grip broke, shot twice, and eventually stabbed fifty-one times. Tate, eight months pregnant with Polanksi’s unborn child, was stabbed sixteen times. Manson also instructed the killers to leave “something witchy”, so in Tate’s blood, they scrawled ‘Pigs’ on the door. If you look to the left, you’ll see Polanski himself sitting outside his home after the murders; ‘Pig’ is clearly visible on the door.
Tell me that the violence that happens at the end of this movie isn’t in some way cathartic for the horrible things that happened that night and I will completely disagree with you. I knew the story of the Manson Murders well, so when Tarantino brought those murders into his world of revisionist history, I wanted to cheer. What exactly happens? Well, let’s just say the Manson family gets a whole lot more than they bargained for, and I was freaking thrilled. I wanted nothing more than to see Tex get his stupid face bashed in; and the end result is just as satisfying as when Hitler’s face is turned into swiss cheese at the end of “Inglourious Basterds”.
The attack at the end of the film is equal parts hilarious and brutal. But it goes on to feel metaphorical; it’s not just like a home invasion gone wrong, but it’s a symbol of Hollywood fighting back. As the Manson murders are sometimes referenced as the event that killed the golden age of Hollywood, this rewriting of history to where the Manson family dies makes it feel as if the Golden Age could continue for some time. The final fight becomes not just a fight for their lives, but a fight for the future of Hollywood itself.
As the film wraps up, Tate invites Rick up to her place (behind the closed gates) for a drink. Rick has finally worked his way into the film industry proper, and we get hints that, perhaps he will go on to star in one of Polanski’s next pictures.
In this universe, since Tate wasn’t murdered, it’s very possible Rick would’ve met Polanski, and it’s even more possible that he’d have had a shot at getting a role in one of Polanski’s next films; if not the titular character in “Macbeth”, perhaps Jake Gittes in “Chinatown”.
Verdict:
This has everything I’d ever want from a Tarantino movie and more. It is one of the most Tarantinoy Tarantino movies in every aspect (just try to count how many bare feet shots there are, I dare you), and it’s a film I’m already itching to see again. For a massive fan of both the Golden Age of Hollywood and Tarantino himself, it’s practically perfect.
Right now, this is my favorite film of the year. ‘Love’ is honestly not a strong enough word to properly illustrate how I feel about this film; I’m not even sure the English language has a word for how strongly I feel about it.
Review Written By: