Quentin Tarantino	...	(Director)
Quentin Tarantino	...	(Writer)
Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Rick Dalton
Brad Pitt	...	Cliff Booth
Margot Robbie	...	Sharon Tate
Emile Hirsch	...	Jay Sebring
Margaret Qualley	...	Pussycat
Timothy Olyphant	...	James Stacy
Julia Butters	...	Trudi Fraser
Austin Butler	...	Tex Watson
Dakota Fanning	...	Squeaky Fromme
Bruce Dern	...	George Spahn
Mike Moh	...	Bruce Lee
Luke Perry	...	Wayne Maunder
Damian Lewis	...	Steve McQueen
Al Pacino	...	Marvin Schwarz
Nicholas Hammond	...	Sam Wanamaker
Robert Richardson	...	Cinematographer
Fred Raskin	...	Editor

Comments: I spun through this after having just watched "Reality" looking for a Sydney Sweeney sighting. A few lines and a walk by is all I got, but it made me want to watch the whole thing again. Yep. It's a blast of a movie. I get the criticism that it's a little hodgepodge, all over the place, but I find that part of it's charm. I'm less interested in full narrative than in moments. There's a lot of them here

This film benefited greatly having Brad and Leo. I can't imagine anyone else as Cliff, because Cliff is basically Brad. Leo is a skilled enough thespian to be able to act bad-acting, good-acting, and show you the difference. He must have studied with Paul Giamatti.

I started watching this film about 10:00pm and thought I'd just get a taste before passing out. A few minutes into it Brad is driving his little car home and "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" comes on. It lit a nostalgia bomb so I thought I'd take a break and listen to the whole song. Gadzooks! No Bob Seger on my iPod! I took to the internet to remedy that situation. Needless to say I discovered a few other tasty morsels I had to indulge.

So here it is nearing midnight. What's the use?

Long story short: I didn't get to sleep until after 2:30am

Tarantino knows his shit. He's like Thomas Mann doing a "Greetings, my gentle readers" thing, where he keeps you aware of the fact that he's telling you a story. This gives him freedom to fuck around. There's no belief that needs suspending. Tarantino also knows how to get the goods from his actors, and to get them to go a step further: The way Tex rides his horse; the way Leo shakes his ass just like Sharon Tate in one of the film's best edits; the way Sharon's eyes drift as she pretends to drive. There are so many little amazing things in this flick it's crazy. Details fly out of Tarantino's ass. He kept his indulgences to a minimum, too. I counted only three lines of dialog that were "just because".

The love, the joy. I usually don't like it when a director's ... whatever ... are all over a film, but here it's like watching a masterclass in how to make a film. What kind of film is it? It's a hang out film. I could have spent six more hours hanging out with these characters. It's a perfect storm of talent when characters emerge already overflowing with history. Just looking at people's faces: Sharon's while she watches herself in a movie; Leo's after that magnificent eight year old pumpkin puss compliments his acting.

My only quibble is the scene--and I don't even remember where it was now--where Leo seemed to be high on coke. He was too nervous and fidgety for the moment. Maybe it was there for a reason that escaped me. Oh, and hippy girl's armpit hair could have been done a little better, a little sexier.

ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD doesn't have the game-changer quality that PULP FICTION had. The times are different and Tarantino's position in the times is different, but this is just as much fun. Smooches, Quentin.

Summary: A faded television actor and his stunt double strive to achieve fame and success in the film industry during the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969 Los Angeles.