Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt
8/10
I don’t care for Tarantino films but I wanted to see this one because of its setting in the decade I grew up in (or failed to grow up in). The film pleasingly uses LA’s hit radio, television, movies, cars, neon signs, and attire to put us back in 1969, a year of fun and limitlessness, confusion and violence. The main characters are Rick Dalton, a fading TV star (DiCaprio), and Cliff Booth, Dalton’s stunt double and friend (Pitt). Both actors do great jobs. Pitt won an Oscar, DiCaprio should have won one. His performance as an actor trying to salvage his career, ably conveys frustration, anger, hopelessness, and resilience.
Only rarely does Tarantino present likable characters. Most in fact are rather cartoonish, like Vince and Jules for example. But the leads here are both amiable and we feel for and hope the best for them. The heart of the film is Rick and Cliff’s friendship which endures hard times, obnoxious industry people, and lastly a violent attack.
Cliff intermittently encounters members of the Manson family and even visits the Spahn Ranch where they live. When one of them slashes his left-front tire, he beats the snot out of him and makes him put on the spare. Cliff also more than holds his own against an annoying Bruce Lee on the set of The Green Hornet.
This of course brings us to the violent collision at Dalton’s house next to where Sharon Tate is staying. The film plays with history as the grisly murders are avoided when Rick, Cliff, and a sweet pit bull mete out rough justice on the Manson intruders.
There’s less violence in this than in most Tarantino flicks, and that’s welcome. In fact, the film suggests that the mayhem in TV and Hollywood helped create the anarchy and violence of the year the film’s set in.
© 2020 Brian M Downing
Brian M Downing is a national security analyst who’s written for outlets across the political spectrum. He studied at Georgetown University and the University of Chicago, and did post-graduate work at Harvard’s Center for International Affairs. Thanks as ever to Susan Ganosellis.