Oppenheimer wins 7 Oscars (Best Picture) (film & awards)

[RFK Jr.’s Brain Worm]

In some ways, I wish I had never seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Don’t get me wrong—I personally love the movie—but any successive rewatches will always be tinged in my mind.

When I saw it in theaters on opening weekend, I was mostly just tagging along with my friends. I had seen Pulp Fiction years and years ago, but no other Tarantino movies. I knew of Tarantino’s love of blood, feet, and the N-word, but not much more about him as a filmmaker. Unlike some of my other friends, however, I knew most of what actually happened with Tate and the Manson family. I was tensed for the whole movie, especially in scenes with Tate, because I knew what actually happened. Let me tell you, it was an amazing payoff for me. Knowing how the story goes, I won’t ever get that same tenseness, but I still find it to be a very enjoyable movie, even if it is a bit long (and there’s too many feet).

The tension I felt in the movie reminded me of Game of Thrones. You know from the beginning that there’s a big threat looming, but everything goes on as normal until the threat makes itself an actual problem.

In my mind, the scene with Julia Butters (the child in the Lancer pilot) basically spells out the movie. It’s about a relatively washed-up has-been who’s trying (and struggling) to make his way in the New Hollywood exemplified by his neighbors (as Dalton himself references when Polanski and Tate drive up to their house).

Meanwhile, Cliff Booth is up on the roof fixing Dalton’s TV antenna, which is a rather obvious metaphor for Dalton’s TV career (not gonna lie, I didn’t get that until I saw it pointed out a week ago). Honestly, he did most of the heavy lifting throughout the movie. He drove Rick wherever he needed to go, he fixed the antenna, and he did most of the work in killing the Manson murderers.

Those last two paragraphs wrap back around to the scene I mentioned about Polanski and Tate arriving home. While the two are driving up their driveway, Dalton goes on about how they’re rising figures in the new Hollywood. I like to sum up the movie as “A man who wants to meet his neighbors and who ultimately does.” He gets to meet them at the end of the movie, where the assumption is that his career has been rejuvenated after his trip to make the Spaghetti Westerns. But first he had to overcome all of his internal issues.

I will say, it is a bit longer than it needed to be. I’m not really sure what I would cut, but maybe something like 10-20 minutes could be cut. Just not the Karmann Ghia scenes. I love that car. Maybe the flashback/imagining of Rick Dalton being in the Great Escape? I’m still confused by that scene.

I didn’t see Al Pacino as an issue. It was nice to see him as a small supporting role, more as a veteran of the industry in both his actual career and his role in the movie. Granted, I haven’t seen that much with him. I appreciated the dig at Polanski early on in the film when they say he looks like a twelve year old.

Edit: I loved the soundtrack too. Twelve Thirty by the Mamas and Papas made it really eerie as the Manson murderers walked up the street. Out of Time by Mick Jagger was a nice theme for them return to LA. My one issue is that Brother Love’s Traveling Salvation Show starts with “Hot August nights...” when the movie is still on February even though the end of the movie is in August on a very hot night.

I’d give the movie 9.25 out of 10. Not perfect by any means, but well worth the three rewatches I’ve done, with another planned for this weekend.