Honestly, most people went into the theater in 2019 expecting a bloodbath. They saw the posters with Leo and Brad, they saw the 1969 setting, and they knew the Manson Family was involved. People braced for the worst. But what Quentin Tarantino actually delivered with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was something way more interesting, and weirdly, way more tender than a standard historical thriller. It’s a fairy tale. The title literally tells you that, but we all sort of ignored it until the credits rolled.
Rick Dalton is a mess. He’s a fading TV cowboy who cries in his trailer because he can’t remember his lines and realizes he’s becoming the "heavy" that younger, better actors beat up to look good. Cliff Booth is his stuntman, his driver, and basically his only friend. They’re driving around a Los Angeles that doesn't exist anymore, listening to KHJ Radio and smoking way too many cigarettes. It’s a vibe. That’s the best way to describe the first two hours of this movie—it’s just a vibe.
The Reality vs. The Revisionism in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
If you look at the actual history of August 8, 1969, it’s bleak. It’s the end of the "Summer of Love." In the real world, Sharon Tate and her friends were murdered at 10050 Cielo Drive. But Tarantino isn't a historian. He’s a guy who loves movies more than reality. By inserting Rick Dalton—a fictional character—into the house right next door to the Polanski residence, he creates a buffer. He creates a world where the monsters lose because they accidentally pick the wrong house.
Rick is a loser in the industry's eyes, but in the context of the film's climax, he's a hero with a flamethrower. It’s catharsis through revisionism. We saw him do this before in Inglourious Basterds when he killed Hitler in a cinema. In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, he’s doing the same thing for the 1960s. He’s trying to save the innocence of an era that he clearly misses.
Why Sharon Tate is the Heart of the Story
Margot Robbie doesn't have a lot of lines. Some critics hated that. They thought she was sidelined. But if you watch how Tarantino films her, she isn't a character in a traditional sense; she’s a symbol of a Hollywood that was still full of hope.
The scene where she goes to the Bruin Theatre to watch her own movie, The Wrecking Crew, is probably the most honest thing Tarantino has ever shot. She puts her feet up, hears the audience laugh at her physical comedy, and she beams. It’s pure. She’s just a girl happy to be working. By keeping her separate from the Rick and Cliff "action" for most of the movie, Tarantino preserves her. He keeps her away from the grime of the Manson ranch.
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The Spahn Ranch Scene is a Masterclass in Dread
Even though the movie is mostly a "hangout" film, the sequence where Cliff Booth drives Brandy (the pit bull) and the hitchhiker Pussycat to Spahn Ranch is terrifying. It’s a Western standoff, but nobody is drawing a gun. Not at first.
You have all these hippies—Squeaky Fromme, Tex Watson, Clem—just staring. They look like ghosts inhabiting a graveyard of old movie sets. It’s a meta-commentary on how the old Hollywood Western was being replaced by something much darker and more realistic. Cliff is the old guard. He’s a WWII vet who isn't scared of a bunch of kids living in dirt.
- He realizes George Spahn is being exploited.
- He refuses to be intimidated by the numbers.
- He beats the hell out of Steve Grogan for slashing his tire.
It’s one of the few times the "tough guy" trope actually feels earned because it’s clashing with the burgeoning cult culture of the late sixties.
The Details That Make the World Feel Real
Tarantino is obsessed with texture. You see it in the neon signs of the Van Nuys Boulevard, the way the car engines sound, and the specific brands of beer like Old Milwaukee. The production designer, Barbara Ling, basically rebuilt blocks of Hollywood to look like 1969. They didn't just use CGI; they actually changed the storefronts.
Even the fake movies within the movie—14 Fists of McCluskey or the episodes of Bounty Law—look exactly like the mid-century media they are parodying. Rick Dalton’s career trajectory mirrors real-life actors like Ty Hardin or Edd Byrnes. These were guys who were huge on TV but couldn't quite make the jump to the "New Hollywood" of the 70s.
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The Controversy of Bruce Lee
We have to talk about the Bruce Lee scene. Mike Moh plays him as incredibly arrogant, and he gets into a fight with Cliff Booth. A lot of people, including Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee, were rightfully upset. It felt like a caricature.
From a narrative perspective, the scene exists to show that Cliff Booth is a dangerous man. If he can go toe-to-toe with Bruce Lee, he can handle anything. But it’s a weird moment. It’s the one part of the movie where the "expert" knowledge of the era feels a bit mean-spirited. It’s Tarantino’s playground, and he’s making the rules, even if those rules rub people the wrong way.
Why This is Tarantino’s Most Mature Work
Most of his movies are about revenge. Kill Bill is a straight line of vengeance. Pulp Fiction is a puzzle box of crime. But Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is about aging. It’s about the fear of being irrelevant.
When Rick Dalton is on the set of Lancer talking to an eight-year-old actress named Trudi Fraser (played brilliantly by Julia Butters), he’s vulnerable. He’s a grown man seeking validation from a child who takes her craft more seriously than he does. That’s not typical Tarantino "cool." That’s actually pretty sad and human.
The movie spends nearly three hours building up this feeling of dread because we know what happened in real life. We are waiting for the tragedy. And then, he pulls the rug out. He gives us a happy ending that history didn't give us.
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Actionable Takeaways for Film Buffs and Rewatchers
If you’re going to watch this again, or for the first time, keep an eye on these specifics to get the most out of it:
- Watch the background TVs and radios: Almost everything playing in the background is a real broadcast from that specific week in 1969.
- Look at the feet: Yes, it’s a meme, but Tarantino uses it to show the casual, barefoot nature of the hippie movement versus the buttoned-up, booted Hollywood of the past.
- Track the Manson Family members: Most of them are played by "nepo babies" like Margaret Qualley, Maya Hawke, and Harley Quinn Smith. It’s a weird layer of Hollywood royalty playing the people who tried to destroy Hollywood.
- The Ending Gate: The final shot of the gate opening at Sharon Tate’s house is symbolic. Rick finally gets invited into the "inner circle" he’s been staring at from his driveway the whole movie.
How to Experience the Story Further
If you can't get enough of this world, Tarantino actually wrote a novelization of the movie. It’s not just a script-to-book transfer. It’s a completely different experience. It gives Rick Dalton a much deeper backstory, explains Cliff Booth’s mysterious past (and yes, it clarifies what happened to his wife), and spends way more time on the movies of the era.
It’s rare for a director to be this obsessed with their own creation that they write a 400-page book about it, but that’s where we are.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood isn't a movie you watch for the plot. There barely is one. You watch it to live in a specific moment in time. It’s a love letter to a city that was about to change forever, written by a man who wishes it never had to.
To dive deeper into the real history, research the transition from the Studio System to "New Hollywood." Look up the careers of actors like George Maharis or Fabian to see the real-life inspirations for Rick Dalton’s anxiety. Understanding the shift from the glamorous 50s to the gritty 70s makes Rick’s struggle feel a lot more poignant than just a guy worried about his paycheck.