Tarantino's Hollywood rewrite

Rating: 10/10 (17 May 2020)

Not many directors could get away with rewriting one of Hollywood's most iconic murders.
Unless they're Quentin Tarantino.
In "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood", Tarantino combines the Charlie Manson murders with a fictional story about a legendary Western actor and his stuntman/best friend in late-sixties Hollywood.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Rick Dalton, famous for Western movies and the (fictitious) TV show "Bounty Hunter" (which Tarantino wrote complete episodes of during the film's preparation). His best friend is his long-time stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Rick can see his career ending as he's being typecast as 'heavies' rather than the hero. In one of the film's best scenes, Rick blows up in his trailer after fluffing his lines while shooting the pilot for "Lancer" (a real Western), but gathers himself to deliver an outstanding performance. He's also next door neighbours to Sharon Tate and Roman Polanksi. The delightful Margot Robbie portrays Tate as a sunny, happy, upcoming actress.
DiCaprio must be feted for the realistic and sensitive portrayal of Dalton's minor stutter. The stutter comes out in subtle facial tics when he blocks on a word or struggles to start a sentence. It's almost as good as Colin Firth's legendary performance in "The King's Speech".
Meanwhile, Booth (killing time while waiting to pick up Dalton from the set of "Lancer") picks up a teenage hitchhiker and ends up in the Manson Family colony at Spahn Ranch (former home of "Bounty Law"), which is full of hippies hanging out or inside watching TV.
This visit leads to the finale, when a handful of the Manson Family go to Dalton and Tate's Hollywood community with the intention of killing some celebrities. Rather than killing Tate (who's enjoyed a nice night out), they mistakenly break into to Dalton's house, where Booth (who's staying there after a big night out) and his adorable pit bull Brandy kill two of the intruders, with Dalton finishing off the last one with a flamethrower (no surprise seeing how much Tarantino loves grand, violent set pieces). The movie ends with Dalton introducing himself to a very much alive (and heavily pregnant) Tate, Polanski and their friends.
While the rewriting of history may shock some (the Manson Family plot could have been fleshed out a bit more, but Tarantino obviously trusts his audience to fill in the gaps and do their research), if fits in with the film's fairytale 'what if' vibe (reflected by the title), and the successful melding of fact and fiction, with one flashback detailing Booth's on-set fight with Bruce Lee (Mike Moh).
Like the best of Tarantino's films, "Once Upon..." will only get better with age and subsequent rewatches, helped by the huge cast and sixties soundtrack.