The Golden Age of Hollywood

Rating: 8/10 (21 June 2020)

" Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" had some of the most impressive backdrops and props that anyone who lived during the 1960's will immediately fall in love with this film. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood takes place back in 1969 when TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) take on the Hollywood life. Rick Dalton while meeting with Marvin Schwarz (Al Pacino) in a bar, discusses the possibility that his acting career could be coming to a downwards slide. Throughout the movie these two movie stars push for success, and to experience everything that Hollywood's Golden Age has to offer in Las Angeles. The theme throughout this movie is the struggle to survive. Throughout this movie, stars Rick and Cliff continually talk about different moves they could make in Hollywood that would bring them both back into the spotlight and turn their career back in the right direction. This theme is similar in some ways to the theme in "The Pursuit of Happiness". The difference between these two movies is obvious. Quentin Tarantino takes a different twist on protagonists during his films. He never makes his characters out to be heroes, or anything similar. In "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", Quentin shows the lifestyles of both Rick and Cliff during their struggles. He paints their characters to have mistake riddled pasts, with no intentions on improving their morals or lifestyles in the future.
The setting of this film is very accurate for the time period. The detail that was put into this films backgrounds and props especially made those who lived in the 1960's to fall in love immediately. "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" The entire set is made to look like it truly is 1960's in Hollywood. The houses, costumes, and even the commercials and advertisements are authentic to the time period. This adds to the drama of Rick and Cliff's struggle as they battle through obstacles that actors would have had to face in that time period. Aside from the background and props, the music and sounds used also take you back to a thriving 1960's LA California. One unique twist that Quentin Tarantino threw into the filming of this movie, is that he shot the movie with 35mm Anamorphic cameras. This added to the film feeling like it perfectly fit into the time period. Quentin wanted to film this movie with the same type of film that would have been used when filming movies back in the late 1960's. This added to the incredibly realistic setting that this movie was filmed in.
In the Golden Age of Hollywood many actors were fighting to make a name for themselves. This was a tough time to be an actor as everyone was competing for this promising career. Quentin Tarantino does a fantastic job of grasping the struggles and hardships an actor who thought he already had success, only to feel it start to slip right out of his hands would feel as he fought to keep his name in the spotlight.