1969's Tate-LaBianca Murders: An Alternate Ending

Rating: 7/10 (27 November 2019)

Most films you can distill to a simple "This film was about...", not this one. There are so many things it's about. It's mainly a slice of life from the late 60s at the time of the Tate-LaBianca murders (Manson). But it's chiefly about American muscle in the form of Cliff Booth (stuntman) and Rick Dalton (western actor). Cliff (Brad Pitt) shames Bruce Lee in studio lot fight, shames one of Manson's hippie boys, and drives a big 'ole Cadillac El Dorado or something like it. Rick Dalton (DiCaprio) uses a flame thrower from one of his films to torch another Manson hippie during the grand finale home invasion. And in this tinsel-town fantasy tale of the Tate-LaBianca murders, the Manson clan gets their asses kicked, which is of course how we'd all like to think it should've happened once upon a time in Hollywood...