What’s up, Wisecrack? Michael here, and it’s time, yet again, to talk about one
of Wisecrack’s favorite filmmakers: Quentin Tarantino. The cinema-brat-turned-auteur has
been warping our movie-loving brains since the 90s. With films that peddle in quippy
dialogue,
“Is it bad?”
“As opposed to good?”
Meta fourth-wall breaking,
“Come on, let’s get into character.”
And, yes, a hearty dose of extreme violence, we thought we had a pretty good read on Tarantino…
And then came Once Upon A Time in Hollywood -- the most meditative and seemingly plotless
film Tarantino’s ever made. For a film with the looming specter of Charles Manson at the
forefront, it was mostly pretty… mellow? Much of the story consists of three Hollywood
folks going about their day -- driving, watching a movie, acting, fixing a roof, you know,
the usual. And then, well--
There’s the ol’ Tarantino we know and love...
So what exactly was the director trying to say here? Dozens of think pieces have attempted
to answer this question, with most labeling Once Upon A Time as a love-letter to 1960s
Hollywood. But we see the film a little differently -- more as a eulogy: not just to a bygone
era of filmmaking... but perhaps to Tarantino himself.
Why? Let’s find out in this Wisecrack Edition: Is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood the end of
Quentin Tarantino? And, of course, more spoilers ahead .
First, a quick recap. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood follows a day-in-the-life of fading
western TV-star, Rick Dalton, and his stunt double slash designated driver, Cliff Booth
in late 1960s Hollywood. Rick’s struggling to revive his career, and to add insult to
injury, Hollywood it couple, director, Roman Polanski, and actress Sharon Tate have just
moved in next door. If Rick could only get into one of their hip pool parties, maybe
he could be a star again. But for most of the film, not much happens - Rick guest-stars
as the heavy in a new Western series, Cliff makes an ill-fated stop at Spahn Ranch, and
Sharon Tate has a day at the movies. Cut to six months later… and we get the infamous
Manson murders, played out a bit differently than history remembers. With the threat neutralized,
Sharon invites Rick into her home, and history is rewritten.
But Tarantino isn’t just playing out a violent comeuppance against history’s least savory
cult. With Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, we think the director is actually commenting
on the current state of his film career -- and showcasing how this could be the beginning
of his end. He does this in three different ways.
First, let’s talk about the setting.
Once Upon a Time takes place during the late 1960s, a period of transition for Hollywood.
The previous half-century had seen the “Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.” During this time,
the studio system reigned supreme -- controlling all aspects of filmmaking, with actors, directors
and writers all under strict contracts. Each studio would simply plug their talent into
different features -- be it musicals, dramas or thrillers -- and voila, they’d have a
hit.
Then in 1948, this system was dismantled by the US Supreme Court which left the studios
reeling from a loss of power and money. Their once-tightly controlled talent were now released
from their contracts, left to fend for themselves. And where did these abandoned stars go? To
television. Fittingly, the fictional Rick Dalton, who came to prominence in the 50s,
is a product of this changing economy, blossoming to stardom on the small screen.
As TV became more popular, sales at the multiplex began to dwindle. By the mid-60s, studios
were making fewer films on bigger budgets, hoping to hedge their bets on guaranteed hits.
But nothing’s ever guaranteed in Hollywood. Once-reliable box office successes -- from
musicals like Doctor Doolittle to historical epics like Cleopatra - were suddenly bombing.
Increasingly desperate studios became open to taking increasingly bigger risks, and gave
younger filmmakers greater creative control. These visionaries ushered in the era of New
Hollywood, aka the "American New Wave.” Fittingly, Rick’s dreams of reviving his
career don’t rest on impressing a big-wig producer or studio mogul; rather, he fantasizes
about befriending the hot new filmmaker next door (Roman Polanski). This aptly symbolizes
the shift in power that occurred as the director became the true authority of the New Hollywood.
The films produced in this era bucked against tradition, showcasing taboo subject matter
like sex, drugs, and violence.
Fittingly, Rick’s career is rejuvenated by a series of roles in Spaghetti Westerns
-- a subgenre which also bucked against the typical Western archetypes via frank and often
explicit depictions of violence and sexuality.
Tarantino himself has labeled the late 60s as one of the key moments of change in the
film industry.
According to Quote Tarantino, “By 1967 things were starting to change… and by mid-’68
it was clear what was going on. By 1969 it was pretty much official, and by 1970 it was
just the way it was.”
Cut to 2020, and the film industry is in a similar flux. With the rise of streaming services,
audiences have more choices than ever before. As the theatrical market has steadily declined,
studios are releasing fewer films, hedging their bets on big, tentpole, IP friendly blockbusters.
Sound familiar? There hasn’t been a period this tumultuous for Hollywood since, well,
the 1960s.
Filmmakers like Scorscece and Spielberg have spoken out about the changes in the industry,
particularly their displeasure with the way Hollywood only releases franchise films, like
say Avengers: Endgame, yet ignores smaller, adult-driven fare. The film world they once
knew, where a small Sundance film like Reservoir Dogs could become a hit, seems gone for good.
Just look at the films that come out of Sundance today… Or don’t -- because, sadly, chances
are you haven’t seen or heard of any of them. The four biggest purchases of last year’s
festival -- Blinded by the Light, The Report, Brittany Runs a Marathon, and Late Night sold
for around 13-15 million each, but were met with a deafening silence in theaters.
And while, a Sundance film like The Farewell can become a modest hit, that increasingly
seems to be the exception rather than the rule. To put it plainly -- there just isn’t
much money to be made in indie film these days.
Take it from Quentin Tarantino--
“Look, I think a lot of us making movies are facing a dark night of the soul. I know
I am… We are wondering if we’ll still be doing it this way 15 years from now. And
my guess is not.”
In the same interview, the director wonders outloud: Do movies matter anymore? Are movies
important? Are movies part of the conversation?”
Tarantino uses Rick and Cliff to parallel his own impending obsolescence. Just as Rick
laments:
“It’s official, old buddy... I’m a has-been.”
Tarantino, too, questions if he still has a place in Hollywood. A self-aware student
of cinema, he knows how fickle the industry is and how quickly the tide can turn. He seems
to be asking: is there a place for films like his in Hollywood anymore?
THE META
Tarantino further comments on his place, or lack thereof, in today’s Hollywood in the
most Tarantino-y way of all: by going meta. Specifically, by referencing his earlier films.
Of course, Tarantino has always been a master of movie references. You can’t watch more
than five minutes of Reservoir Dogs or Kill Bill or Pulp Fiction, without some reference
or callback popping up.
We could spend hours doing this… and Tarantino’s proud of it --
“I steal from every movie ever made… Great artists steal; they don’t do homages.”
But Once Upon a Time in Hollywood takes this a step further, constantly referencing the
director’s own films.
Now, Tarantino has been self-referential before…
“Get me a pack of Red Apples.”
...but never to the extent we see in Once Upon a Time. The film is RIFE with metareferences:
“That’s the Red Apple way.”
Rick Dalton’s TV series, “Bounty Law," is filmed on a set called Melody Ranch, the
same used for filming on Django Unchained. Dalton co-stars in a scene opposite Michael
Madsen, playing almost the same character as he did in The Hateful Eight. And Rick’s
most recent film, The Fourteen Fists of McClusky, shows him torching and killing a bunch of
Nazis, just as Shoshanna did in Inglourious Basterds.
When Cliff, Rick, and his new wife return from Rome, they walk by a mosaic wall in LAX,
the same wall Jackie passes in the opening of Jackie Brown.
Kurt Russell and Zoe Bell star as a stunt team, a call back to Death Proof; an ad for
Pulp Fiction’s Big Kahuna Burger appears on a bus billboard.
Oh, and let’s not forget about the feet. After awhile, you can’t help but wonder
if he’s making fun of his highly-publicized foot-fetish.
And when Sharon tries to see her own movie for free, the usher doesn’t initially believe
she’s in it, an event based on Tarantino’s own life.
These meta references position Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as a reflection on Tarantino’s
career, with the film itself becoming a testament to his previous triumphs. Yet these references
seem tinged with sadness, as if Tarantino is equating his past glories to a bygone era
of filmmaking. If a changing culture left Rick Dalton behind will it do the same to
Tarantino? When Tarantino burst onto the scene in the mid 90s, he was lauded as the future
of cinema, the filmmaker who would change Hollywood forever. But as the years have passed,
Tarantino has gone from a fresh new voice to a reminder of what movies used to be.
At the same time, Tarantino has gone from the hero who saved indie cinema to the villain
who has corrupted the youth of America. Likewise, Rick Dalton goes from playing the hero, the
morally righteous lawman on Bounty Law, to playing the villain. On Lancer, he even threatens
to kill a child.
“Murdoch Lancer puts $50,000 in my lap or I heave this little pitcher down a well.”
When the Manson family decides to kill Rick instead of Sharon, they blame the actor for
teaching them how to “murder”--
“If you grew up watching TV, that means you grew up watching murder and every show
on TV that wasn’t I Love Lucy was about murder… So my idea is we kill the people
who taught us to kill.”
This is a common complaint lodged against Tarantino: that his films have created a generation
of viewers so numb to violence that they are now capable of committing horrific acts of
violence themselves. Tarantino deliberately draws this connection to reflect on how his
harshest critics perceive his work.
But just when we’re getting kind of used to quietly-self-reflective Quentin Tarantino,
he pulls another fast one on us by introducing his third tactic: Changing the Narrative.
By now, the director has effectively posed the question: Can he beat the odds and maintain
a career in an industry rapidly leaving him behind? Well, in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood,
agent Marvin Schwarz provides Rick a possible solution: He tells the fading star -- the
only thing that matters is the audience’s perception of you. If the audience perceives
Rick as the villain, then they will only accept him as that. In order for Rick to get out
of the doldrums of his career, he needs to change the narrative.
And for the first two-thirds of Once Upon a Time, Tarantino takes this advice to heart,
playing against the perception audiences have come to expect from his work. Look no further
than the Spahn Ranch sequence. This is a quintessential Tarantino scene -- a long drawn out stand
off between Cliff and the Manson Family… Usually this scene would build to an eruption
of violence just as the stand-offs in Reservoir Dogs and Inglorious Basterds did…
Yet, in Once Upon A Time, right when things are coming to a head, violence on the brink
of erupting… Cliff just leaves.
Once Upon a Time also up-ends Tarantino’s typical casting process. In the past, he’s
used actors of bygone eras, giving them a new role and reigniting their dormant careers.
See John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, Pam Grier & Robert Forster in Jackie Brown, David Carradine
in Kill Bill. Similarly, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood is filled with actors from past
glories… yet none of these former stars appear for more than a scene or two.
Instead, Once Upon a Time is anchored by the two biggest movie stars and the biggest rising
star in Hollywood. The cumulative effect? We watch the largest stars on the planet interact
with fading actors of the past, adding a real sense of melancholy to the film. Just as time
moved past these once-familiar faces, it will one day, too, move past DiCaprio, Pitt, Robbie
and maybe Tarantino himself…
Or will it? Tarantino has long maintained he will only direct one more film after Once
Upon a Time in Hollywood, retiring at a perfect ten. Yet the final third of Once Upon A Time
changes this narrative once again, with Tarantino bucking against his own obsolescence.
The last act opens with a montage of Los Angeles institutions -- Chili Johns, the Chinese Theater,
the Cinerama, Muso and Frank’s and El Coyote -- all turning on their lights. These restaurants
and theaters have been around long before the 60s and still endure today, just as strong
as ever. Time has not left them behind. In the climax of Once Upon a Time, Tarantino
proudly doubles down on his own violence -- as Rick and Cliff kill the Manson Family in the
most gruesome fashion possible. Tarantino cathartically uses his trademark violence
to torch the critics who have spoken against him and his films. It’s in this climactic
bout of violence that the director doesn’t so much as give in to his trademark gore…
but reinforces it as his brand. Just like all the monuments in LA have endured, Tarantino
isn’t going anywhere.
The film concludes with Rick finally snagging an invite into Sharon’s mansion, as if Tarantino
too is wondering if there’s still a place for him at the ultra-exclusive pool party
that is Hollywood. And with Once Upon a Time earning a cool ten Oscar nominations, and
snagging two wins, a new best for Tarantino, the question seems to answer itself. But what
do you guys think? Is Once Upon a Time indeed a meditation on Quentin Tarantino’s own
career? Or are we just reading way too much into it? Let us know what you think in the
comments. As always, a big thanks to our patrons for making our channel and podcasts possible.
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