FILM REVIEW: ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD

In a departure from what I normally do on my blogs, here’s a film review:

My take on  

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019)

written and directed by QUENTIN TARANTINO.

BRAD PITT, QUENTIN TARANTINO and LEONARDO DiCAPRIO

I have to confess immediately that I have not liked one previous QT film (Apologies: a lot of initials coming up!) I’ve found all of his previous movies heartless and empty. 

In my view OUATIH is one of the better QT’s – the PULP FICTION, RESERVOIR DOGS end of the scale, with DEATH PROOF, DJANGO and HATEFUL EIGHT down at the other. It may actually have the most ‘heart’ of any QT, and BRAD PITT 

and LEONARDO DiCAPRIO,

giving excellent performances, are just about the only QT characters I’ve ever warmed to and engaged with.

(MARGOT ROBBIE as Sharon Tate, on the other hand, is given so little to do – apart from looking dazzled by her own stardom – she might as well not be in the movie.)

MARGOT ROBBIE and the real SHARON TATE

So OUATIH may be the warmest and most likable QT – until it’s marred by typically OTT violence at the end. (The issue of how QT depicts violence against women surely has to be addressed.)

OUATIH is also sprawling and unfocussed. QT is clearly in love – probably too much in love – with his setting. He’s so keen to show off his knowledge of the pop culture of L. A. in 1969 – the locations, the contemporary music, TV and film – the background becomes the foreground, swamping the movie. I reckon one hour of the film is pure travelogue.

Which leaves less than two hours dealing with four or five storylines, (each of which could be a movie in itself,) so each strand is pretty slender.

There’s not a hint of tension until at least half way through, when Pitt visits the Spahn Ranch.

The Spahn Ranch

The Manson murders scenario isn’t introduced until two hours + in, far too late to build up suspense.

DAMON HERRIMAN

portrays CHARLES MANSON

Now I know it’s part of QT’s style not to follow a linear narrative, which is maybe why his movies don’t work for me. I much prefer traditional storytelling. But two storylines did interest me. 

One is the strange, menacing community in the desert (i.e. the hippies at Spahn Ranch.)

The other is a film within the film – the pilot of the TV Western ‘Lancer,’ where DiCaprio is the heavy played in the actual episode by JOE DON BAKER. I heard that QT’s original intention was to make a straight western based on ‘Lancer’ – which might have been more satisfying. (BTW the ‘Lancer’ pilot ‘The High Riders’ turns up on Youtube sometimes and is excellent.)

JOE DON BAKER and JAMES STACY in the ‘Lancer’ pilot ‘The High Riders:’ 

The same characters portrayed by LEONARDO DiCAPRIO and TIMOTHY OLYPHANT in OUATIH:

As it is, OUATIH has two classy lead performances and is striking in parts. But the whole was, for me, too shapeless to be memorable.