Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
I bought the movie the other day and watched in in 4K. I read a review about it last week & figured it's the kind of movie i'd like. I've enjoyed some Quentin Tarentino movies in the past & others i didn't like so much. But one reviewer wrote that this may be his best ever, including Kill Bill & Pulp Fiction. So i had to see it before the Golden Globes tonight & the Oscars in a month or so. And i'm glad i did!!
I absolutely loved this movie! It's a good thing i didn't read Hungry 101's review since it gave away the ending, which i must have watched a dozen times already! I watched the movie friday evening and watched it again last night! I found it that good!!!
I still remember the late 60's and early 70's so the fact the story occurs in the 60's made it very appealing to me. I love nostalgic movies & tv shows that are well made. This is why Mad Men remains one of my all-time favorite tv series. YOU FELT LIKE YOU WERE BACK IN THE 60'S!!
The same goes with this movie. I love old classic cars and there are so many old cars from the 60's in that movie! The clothes were all a throwback to the 60's and same thing with the movie business back then. I still remember watching old tv shows like Mannix, the FBI and Wanted: Dead or Alive! I also enjoyed cameos of actors portraying the likes of Steve McQueen, Sam Wanamaker, Connie Stevens, Michelle Philips and Mama Cass. And of course, Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring & so many others....including the hippie girls under Charles Manson's spell.
The Jay Sebring character got a lot of time in the movie. Everyone who saw the movie 'Shampoo' must know that the character portrayed by Warren Beatty was in fact the late Jay Sebring, who was killed alongside Shannon Tate. The casting for this movie was spot-on: DeCaprio & Pitt as the main two characters, Margot Robbie as Shannon Tate, the actors portraying Sebring, Folger, Frykowski, Tex Watson and the Mansion girls. The actor portraying Bruce Lee looked just like Bruce Lee!! I loved the many cameos....from Kurt Russell to Al Pacino to Damian Lewis in the McQueen role. It was great!
The best parts for me mostly involved DiCaprio & Pitt: first when DiCaprio made appearances in tv shows like The FBI and then in that western pilot where he brilliantly played the bad guy. And then Brad Pitt when he showed up at the western ranch where Manson's hippies resided. I loved it!!! And of course the brilliant ending: i laughed and cheered so much i kept on rewinding the movie and watching that scene again and again!!
I understand why Tarentino showed the Sharron Tate character as much as he did. Were it not for her the Manson murders never would have attracted that much national (and international) attention. Other than a few movies she was in (Valley of the Dolls, Matt Helm, etc) not much was known about her other than the fact she was married to one of the most popular movie directors (Roman Polanski) at the time. But Tarentino gave her a personality in the movie and gave us a glimpse of the person she was before she died tragically. She was beautiful, she loved life and was loved by many. There's no doubt she likely would have become a big movie star had she not been murdered.
I also enjoyed the Al Pacino character and how he explained to DeCaprio that his career was on the downturn since after his popular tv series was cancelled he was now stuck appearing in numerous tv shows where he was now always the bad guy and always getting beat up in fights in those tv shows. That's how once popular movie stars end up when their acting career starts to fade. I had never looked at it this way but thinking about it made me see how true that was.
The main characters portrayed by DiCaprio & Pitt are based on a mix of different real-life characters. DiCaprio the actor may be Burt Reynolds and his best friend the stuntman may have been a portrayal of Reynold's best friend Hal Needham. But the DiCaprio character's appearance in a popular 50's western tv series was also a portrayal of Steve McQueen from "Wanted: Dead or Alive". His character later ends up making spaghetti westerns for a well-known Italian director. This reminded me of Clint Eastwood leaving Hollywood to make spaghetti westerns for Sergio Leone in the late 60's and early 70's after becoming famous in the old western tv series "Rawhide". Oh yeah....i also loved Pitt's fight with the Bruce Lee character. Hillarious!!
And before i forget: I LOVED THE MUSIC IN THIS MOVIE!
All in all it's a very well made movie with great characters and great actors portraying them. I loved the cars, loved the scenery, the authenticity and the storyline. Hey, i love nostalgia and when a tv show or movie of the 60's/70's is well done i more often than not will give it props and this movie deserves all the props it'll likely get come Golden Globes & Oscars time!
For me: 4 stars out of 5.