'Once Upon a Time In...Hollywood': If '60s America Had a Happy Ending

How Tarantino's latest film reclaims the 1960's for the dreamers. (MAJOR SPOILERS!!!!)

By:Josh McCormack

Sharon Tate is alive and well. 

Although an attempt at her and her friend's lives was made on the evening of August 8th, 1969 by Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Krenwinkel and orchestrated by a cult leader by the name of Charles Manson, it was stalled before any harm was done to the then pregnant Sharon Tate or her friends vacating the Polanski household. This is due to the heroic efforts of Tate's neighbor and former Bounty Law actor Rick Dalton and his stuntman/best friend Cliff Booth who killed all three intruders before they could harm them or their next door neighbor. 

The heroes of the silver screen turned out to save the day in the real world as well. 

Or at least that's what Quentin Tarantino told me. 

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Once Upon a Time...In Hollywood presents a version of Hollywood where dreams can come true and second chances can happen to people who were thought to be forgotten. It's a world where the hippie counter culture now has a chance to live in harmony with the conventional thinkers, perhaps giving them more time to change the minds of conservative Americans. And a world wherein the guys who save the day in front of the movie camera do the same thing when the cameras aren't rolling. 

This is America as it never was in the 1960s and how it can never truly be. The heartbreak of watching Tarantino's latest opus does not come from seeing Sharon Tate get murdered, as she did in real life, but rather seeing an ending where she survives and welcomes our lead character with open arms into her home and knowing that this feeling of comfort Tarantino has given us is completely phony and there's nothing we can do about it. 

With Tarantino being the subject of controversy himself in recent years, I also can't help but wonder how much of this film is the seasoned filmmaker coming to terms with the fact that he is starting to become out of touch with younger filmgoers and that his edginess that was so refreshing in the 1990's just seems like the remnants of a bygone era to many of my generation. Rick Dalton (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) is facing this same issue and is making it worse for himself by his utter disdain for the changing culture. This element of the film alone makes it perhaps the most personal work of Tarantino.

This story of second chances and reclamation is also a buddy picture and one that really shows what a heartfelt director Tarantino can be when he chooses to show that side of himself. Rick and his stuntman pal, Cliff Booth (played with utter coolness by Brad Pitt), provide a fantastic sounding board for two old school action stars ranting about the state of their careers and the state of Hollywood. Yet Cliff provides a healthy dose of optimism to counteract his buddy's cynicism, even though he is hiding a dark past. The segments wherein Cliff leaves the story to engage in his own side story finding out the secrets of the Manson family might be the movie's weakest element, but it's wholly paid off by the movie's finale. 

However, it's really the moments in which these characters luxuriate in each other's company that we see Tarantino's optimism shine through in a time period where most would look at the 1960's with a dose of cynicism. Some have seen this as the director being nostalgic for a time period and being regressive, but I disagree. I think it feeds into the fairy tale aspect of the movie where the '60s could wind up being as full of love and friendship as the Hollywood movies of the time told us they were. He knows that these times weren't what we were led to believe in media, but he changes the narrative of the events to fit the world he wants it to be. 

The film is Tarantino's most meditative as well, completely immersing its audience in the world of 1969. Long segments of the movie exist with no dialogue and let you sit with our lead characters as they drive through Hollywood and take in the incredibly well-realized world around them. Many have been criticizing Tarantino for his lack of dialogue from Margot Robbie's interpretation of Sharon Tate and while I think the lack of dialogue from female characters in film and Tarantino's treatment of women in his movies are both absolutely worthy conversations of having, any criticisms of Sharon Tate in this movie seem to take away from what the movie's actually doing. 

This a Sharon Tate who is not just a headline. She loves to have fun with her friends, she loves to see movies, and she finds utter joy in seeing audiences get pleasure from her film work. All of this is conveyed without dialogue and not because Tarantino wants to give his female characters less to do, but its instead a testament to Robbie's incredible performance that she can make us fall in love with her with just her facial expressions. 

This is Tarantino's happiest film. One where even the violence is the most cathartic because it is done to the real life villains of the '60s. While over the top and certainly at odds with the rest of the movie's tone, the finale is the biggest "fuck you" to anyone who has ever been a Manson apologist. As someone who saw "edgy" kids walking around their high school hallways with Manson t-shirts and trying to use his nonsensical interview quotes as some sort of mantra, this relegates Manson and his fanatics to what they deserve to be; nothing. Charles Manson did not represent some sort of counter culture. His stupidity and warped world view not only destroyed the ideology of the '60s, but it led to the destruction of the "love and peace" movement so many wrongly thought he was a part of. 

In this "happily ever after" Manson is nothing but an obscure footnote in history, our two leads get a second chance at becoming legends, and Sharon Tate lives on to be a mother and a successful movie star. It's simplistic, but America gets a second chance. The wheels of progress are able to avoid a big snag and the future is uncertain, but bright.

If only it happened that way.