Around the world, many people watched the movie without knowing the history of the Manson family or their crimes and then became interested in the real events after watching the movie as it was made in this reaction.
The guy who we saw approach the house early in the movie looking for Terry was Charlie -- it was the same actor who portrayed Manson in Mindhunter! Terry Melcher was a record producer (and son of actress Doris Day) who Manson believed had promised him a record deal -- He had lived in that house on Cielo Drive until early that year. Though Manson was aware that Melcher (and then girlfriend Candace Bergen) no longer lived there, he nonetheless intstructed his cronies to murder everyone at the address and to "...do it well, and leave something witchy." according to Randall "Tex" Watson, one of the participants.
I read Helter Skelter as a kid in the 70s so I went into this wondering wtf was Tarantino going to do with this real life sick event. I was SO happy when I realized he was changing the ending. 😊 RIP Sharron Tate & company.
I think you'd have appreciated it more if you understood while watching it that this is the alternate reality movie, similar to the Inglorious Basterds. You'd also have got that their little Charles Manson cult was more dangerous than they looked when Brad Pitt visted them.
Before watching "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood," you should have watched the made-for-TV movie "Helter Skelter." Cliff's visit to the ranch is even more terrifying if you know that the Manson family did, in fact, murder a Hollywood stunt man. The first time watching this film, I was terrified that Cliff wasn't going to leave the ranch alive.
One of the big inspirations for Rick Dalton is Robert Conrad, who had a somewhat similar career to Dalton during the 1960s, and a stuntman personal assistant/friend/work partner. Connrad also inspired the troubles Cliff Booth had with the stuntman community.
Bruce Dern is one of biggest stars in Hollywood. He actually was one of big TV actors (like Leo's Rick Dalton), then became a A-list movie star in the 1970s and never left. He's also Laura Dern's father.
Cliff Booth's backstory of killing his wife on a boat was inspired by the death of Natalie Wood, who fell of their yacht and drowned off Catalina Island on the Thanksgiving Weekend 1981. On the yacht were also her husband Robert Wagner, the skipper (an employee of the Wagner's) and Christopher Walken (Natalie and Chris were shooting the movie 'Brainstorm' at the time). Any wrongdoing of any of the men, most notably Wagner, could never be proven.
I wanna give a shout out to the actor Nicholas Hammond, even though he has a small role in this movie. He plays the very colorful and eccentric director, Sam Wanamaker. Absolute scene-stealer! Pretty impressive considering the phenomenal cast in this movie.
40:00 nope he's as high as he looks. You're extremely capable on LSD. I dropped acid one time in Detroit and ended up at a house party playing beer pong, which I'm usually awful at. That night though I could actually see an arc that led directly to where I wanted the ball to go and my body could make it follow that arc every time. I was bouncing it off the wall and stuff and never missed a single shot. Dock Ellis once pitched a no-hitter in major league baseball while high out of his mind on LSD.
The era in the film could be called "Middle Hollywood." Old Hollywood would be silent films up to some point in the '50s, because it had a very distinctive culture. This was the next thing after that, which ended at some point in the '80s. "Golden Age" is a moving target, because people in Middle Hollywood called Old Hollywood that.
I’ve watch most of the RU-vid reactions to this movie. And it always kind of shocks me how young people today just have no idea what’s going on here. I mean no disrespect by pointing it out. I was born ten years later but Manson was an ever present figure in pop culture even so many years later. Maybe it’s because I’m from LA. The murders, the aftermath the interviews over the years loom so Large over The culture. It’s just odd to me.
The music is not only period accurate, but so are the advertisements and the DJs including "the Real" Don Steele, "Humble Harve" Miller and Charlie Tuna. KHJ was the most popular AM music station in LA at that time. At the Playboy party, Damien Lewis is playing Steve McQueen and he's talking to Dreama Walker playing Connie Stevens (though she looks a lot more like Joey Heatherton). In Rick's episode of "FBI" he was playing the role originally played by Burt Reynolds (note how ostentatiously he chews gum in the scene, an homage to Reynolds).
This film would be much better understood and appreciated if viewers were to read up on the Manson family murders. Tarantino loves to correct history. In this case, the Manson family members , who did murder Sharon Tate and her guests, come to the wrong house and get what they deserve. The Tex Watson quote, " I'm the devil and am here to do the devil's business" is an actual quote from the real Tex Watson.
