ON this weeks Patreon show we continue our top ten films of all time. I dedicate this episode to mu love affair to the Tarantino masterpiece that is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. 

Some rough show notes below. You can find the episode on Patreon.

BREAK DOWN

Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood visits 1969 Los Angeles, where everything is changing, as TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) make their way around an industry they hardly recognize anymore. The ninth film from the writer-director features a large ensemble cast and multiple storylines in a tribute to the final moments of Hollywood’s golden age.

BOND CONNECTIONS 

Lazenby The 80-year-old wrote: “Once upon a time in Hollywood… Jill St. John and I at The Weekend Mail Ball in London 1970.“The year before we were invited to a house party at our friend Sharon Tate’s place in LA. The driver didn’t turn up. 

IMDB TRIVIA (I find a computer indispensable)

  • China refused the film a certificate for release in the country, strongly hinting that the issue was the way the film portrayed Bruce Lee and that an edit which eliminated the Lee-related material would get approval for release. Quentin Tarantino responded by publicly stating he would not edit any of the film to ensure its release in China.

I do love that. Perhaps for political reasons, but a little fuck you to China, you know, I hate all that, lets change the badge on the Top Gun jacket because it might offend the Chinese sensabilities, urgggh 

  •  Steve McQueen, played in the film by Damian Lewis, had reportedly planned to visit Sharon Tate on the evening she was killed but ultimately didn’t.

Incidentally we are watching Billions, and there really is some Steve McQueen vibes going on with Damian Lewis. One really feeds into the other here. I sometimes wonder if Damian Lewis thinks, act like Steve McQueen would act and you can’t go wrong. 

DIFFERENCE OF OPINION

And first thing to say, is that much of the irreverence that people have about this film, is mostly the stuff that I enjoy. A lot of reviews I read are of it is drawn out, just long protracted scenes of Brad Pitt driving around, I have nothing but affection for seeing Brad Pitt drive a 1966 Cadillac DeVille around Route 90 and Hollywood Boulevard, which by the way, knowing the Traffic in LA, must have been an almighty ballache to close all that off for filming, so it’s understandable these driving scenes are long. 

TARANTINO ON VIOLENCE

Tarantino Films seems to come with its own level of controversy, and I think when Tarantino films first came out the violence in his films were all that people wanted to talk about. You cut to 2019, and violence seems to be the norm, and Tarantino is certainly done talking about violence in his films, you only have to ask Krishnan Guru Murthy. 

THE VIOLENCE IS BOTTLED AND REACHES A CRESCENDO

And the violence in this film is very much bottled up. The entire film is careering towards this finale, that is savage, and dare I say hilarious. 

It’s very much the twilight of that ERA, and the Manson Murders which is the true life story-centre of which these characters pirouette , and so with that, the violence feels extremely holstered, and when it erupts, boy does it erupt. And the suspense is so incredible, you almost want it to erupt. 

I say I caught this in the cinema, and there were moments I felt genuine dread for these characters. Because you know what Tarantino is capable of. You can invest in his characters and then see them brutally carved down, almost at any point. Think Travolta in Pulp Fiction. The late Michael Madsen Reservoir Dogs. 

PITT IN SPAWN RANCH

And there was a genuine feeling of oh shit when Brad Pitt went to Spawn Ranch and had to go out back to see George. And he has to go further back, further back into the old shack where all of Manson’s disciples are infesting the place. 

I’m unsure really as to what Tarantino film is the best, I know Mark Kermode prefers Jackie Brown because it’s the one Tarantino film where not all the characters talk like a Tarantino character. And I understand that. For me there was a Tarantino lull around the Kill Bill era, I enjoyed those but I certainly don’t seek those out, or Deathproof, that was just an all round misfire. 

ON PITT

But you have a mix of real star power in this, fused with what you can understand to be Tarantino’s true calling. Writing about the history of Hollywood. And having this as a book before it was a film, which I have read. Actually listened to with Juliette Lewis doing the audio commentary, it really fleshes out the Cliff Booth character more which I loved. 

Pitt is intensely likeable in this, and worthy of his oscar. Although it never looks like he does much. A good comparison made by Mark Kermode on Cruise and Pitt, Cruise is very serious in his films, he really wants to convince you, whereas Pitt sometimes looks like he is embarrassed to say the dialogue. He does that in F1. 

And he is very cool, very louche, not just in this but in more or less every film I can think of him in. Perhaps not Meet Joe Black. He’s very gaga gogo eyed in that.