Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is an alternate universe take on the late 1960s Hollywood and the brutal murder of Sharon Tate in particular, something that just does not sit well with this reviewer. I’m probably in the minority here, but I’m just not a big fan of Quentin Tarantino. He’s made some interesting movies (Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, his episodes of E.R. and C.S.I.), and a few rather disturbing ones (Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill Vol. 1), and the rest fall kind of in-between. His latest, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, falls into that latter category, almost a parallel to Inglorious Basterds in its alternate universe style of story telling. Set in 1969, the film follows washed up actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stuntman sidekick Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Dalton was a mid-level movie star until hitting it big with a western TV series that ran for several years on NBC before his alcoholism caused the quality to decline and eventually its cancellation. He is trying to make ends meet with guest appearances on various one-hour TV dramas, usually playing the villain of the week. Cliff’s job as Rick’s stunt double has also taken a hit, having been accused but never convicted of the murder of his wife, and now works mostly as Rick’s driver and gopher. For the next 2+ hours of the movie’s running time, we as the viewer follow Rick and Cliff as they navigate around Hollywood, ocassionally cutting away to Rick’s neighbors director Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha), actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), and her ex-fiancee Jay Sebring (Emile Hirsch) and the ensemble’s run-ins with serial killer Charles Manson (Damon Herriman) and his minions. If one were not familiar with Tarantino’s work, you would assume the movie would conclude with the tragic and brutal murders of Tate and Sebring. But this is Tarantino’s “vision” or fairy tale story of these events (hence the Once Upon a Time title), making **SPOILER ALERT** Cliff and Rick the heroes of the piece. Yes, the ending is still brutal (in expected over the top violence that Tarantino is known for), but the director gets his happy ending much like he did in Inglorious Basterds, and you can feel the director’s outright love for this period of American movie making. The performances here are excellent, from leads DiCaprio, Pitt, and Robbie, to supporting and cameo performers like Margaret Qualley and Dakota Fanning as Manson groupies Pussycat and Squeaky Fromme, Timothy Olyphant and Luke Perry as leading actors from Lancer, Al Pacino as agent Marvin Schwarz, Nicholas Hammond as director Sam Wanamaker, Kurt Russell as Stunt Coordinator (and uncredited narrator) Randy Miller, and Bruce Dern as ranch owner George Spahn. For the most part, production designer Barbara Ling gets the look of late 1960s Hollywood correct, and fits in seamlessly within the story. My main problem with the movie was with the unnecesary running time of 2 hours and 41 minutes, with scenes that seem to go on forever (the entire filming of Lancer, especially) that could have been trimmed to allow for running time much closer to two hours.
The Production: 3.5/5
Video: 4.5/5
3D Rating: NA
Sony’s Blu-ray presentation is quite good, presenting the film in an AVC-encoded 1080p transfer that retains the film’s theatrical; aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The movie was shot by cinematographer Robert Richardson prmiarily on 35mm film stock, with some use of 16mm and Super 8mm. Colors are heavily stylized to have that late 1960s/early 1970s look that movies from that period often exhibited, with a lean toward warm yellows. Detail is excellent, from Brad Pitt’s beard stubble to the dust of the Hollywood western backlot. Blacks are deep and inky, with exceptionasl shadow detail overall.
Audio: 4.5/5
Sony has provided the Blu-ray release of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood with an excellent DTSHD MA 5.1 audio track (the UHD Blu-ray, not reviewed here, received a DTS-HD MA 7.1 track instead). The track makes good use of the popular songs from that period providing a nice wide front soundstage with excellent fidelity and dynamic range (something that AM radio station KHJ that everyone in the movie listens to could never reproduce). This is a fairly front-heavy presentation, although music and atmospheric effects do ocassionally spread to the surrounds. Dialogue is clear and understandable throughout.
Special Features: 3/5
Additional Scenes (1080p; 25:01): Seven sequences are included – Old Chatanooga Beer Commercial, Circa 1969; Red Apple Commercial, Circa 1969; Hullabaloo – Rick Dalton Sings “Green Door”; Bounty Law; Lancer – The Meeting of Two Brothers; Charlie Talks to Paul Barabuta and Waves to Cliff; and Rick Dalton and Sam Wanamaker Talk on Set.
Quentin Tarantino’s Love Letter to Hollywood (1080p; 5:00): The cast and crew wax nostalgic on the film.
Bob Richardson – For the Love of Film (1080p; 4:34): A look at the movie’s Director of Photography and shooting on film.
Shop Talk – The Cars of 1969 (1080p; 5:58): A look at the various cars used in the film.
Restoring Hollywood – The Production Design of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (1080p; 9:18): A look at how Barbara Ling and her crew worked to achieve the look of Hollywood from 1969.
The Fashion of 1969 (1080p; 6:39): A look at the film’s costume design.
DVD Copy: The film in 480p with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, plus the sewven additional scenes.
Digital Copy: An insert contains a code to redeem a digital copy on Movies Anywhere.
Overall: 4/5
I found Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood to be entertaining but ultimately a bit too long. Sony’s Blu-ray puts forth a nice presentation.
Todd Erwin has been a reviewer at Home Theater Forum since 2008. His love of movies began as a young child, first showing Super 8 movies in his backyard during the summer to friends and neighbors at age 10. He also received his first movie camera that year, a hand-crank Wollensak 8mm with three fixed lenses. In 1980, he graduated to "talkies" with his award-winning short The Ape-Man, followed by the cult favorite The Adventures of Terrific Man two years later. Other films include Myth or Fact: The Talbert Terror and Warren's Revenge (which is currently being restored). In addition to movie reviews, Todd has written many articles for Home Theater Forum centering mostly on streaming as well as an occasional hardware review, is the host of his own video podcast Streaming News & Views on YouTube and is a frequent guest on the Home Theater United podcast.
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