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I fully enjoyed all of these elements and, for the most part, the entire movie.
But I was also disturbed by it in a way that I have not been able to shake.
Rick is a man frightened of the changing tides around him, specifically in terms of his career.
Rick doesnt like that.
But in Tarantinos version, it goes to … the wrong address.
Earlier in the movie, he uses the term hippie as a pejorative.
(Just in case this point might be missed, he even refers to Tex as Easy Rider.)
the young people rattling the status quo circa 1969.
Charles Manson and the brainwashed members of the Manson family technically were not hippies.
They were killer sheep in hippie clothing.
Actual hippies were not murderers.
They also were the rejecters of mainstream society who questioned the rules under which it operated.
The hippie thinks the important thing is the rainbow.
It doesnt matter too much whether there is a pot of gold at the end.
And there probably isnt.
Yes, some of them could be disruptive in their activism, and yes, some hippies got arrested.
People like Rick Dalton.
Cliff Booth, on the other hand, is not initially threatened by them.
As Ricks best buddy, Cliff has at least one moccasined foot firmly planted in Ricks world.
Cliffs job, when you get right down to it, is just hanging out.
His ultra-zen attitude toward everything is pretty hippielike, too.
Which, to me, sounds a lot like thinking the important thing is the rainbow.
He also has no qualms about buying an acid-laced cigarette from a hippie.
His cowboy wiring gets triggered, and he kicks the crap out of one of them pretty badly.
But its also shocking in its lack of mercy.
Meanwhile, Rick Dalton is blissfully unaware that any of this is happening.
Shes already been mauled and nearly burned to a crisp, but sure: Fire up some more fire.
The implication of this moment: Hes Rick fucking Dalton.
And this crazy screaming hippie isnt going to forget it.
At first, all of these outcomes strike a satisfying note.
The real-life murderers get their comeuppance.
The cowboys, Cliff and Rick, emerge as the heroes who defended themselves and their property.
It feels like justice.
I know, I know: Thats what Tarantino does.
She also characterizes this approach as transgressive at this particular moment in America.
We cant have a movie like this, she writes.
It affirms things the culture wants killed.
Thats how it works in Hollywood.
Meanwhile, the stuntman is pushed offscreen with a semi-serious injury and completely forgotten.
Unlike Cliff, he does not know these people are from the Spahn Ranch.
To be clear: Im not accusing Tarantino of unfairly demonizing the Manson family.
Those people earned demonization.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywoodnever addresses the loaded nature of Ricks use of the word hippie.
In fact, its an extremely apolitical film.
Richard Nixons name is never mentioned, as best as I recall.
The war in Vietnam comes up, but only briefly.
The movie exists largely in a vacuum where none of that matters.
But of course, that stuff always matters.
At least I couldnt.
They see our history as a source of shame.
The radical left is one term that Trump and other Republicans use to describe members of the Democratic Party.
You understand what Im saying?
Did we know we were lying about the drugs?
Of course we did.
This Republican playbook, it seems, is still being widely circulated.
We know about the robbery plans.
Vincent and Jules do not.
Even back then, the buddies in the Tarantino movie didnt have all the info.
Jules tells Vincent that hes planning to give up the whole hitman thing and just walk the Earth.
Vincent cant even wrap his head around what that means.
They got a name for that, Jules.
Its called a bum.
You know what other name they used to have for bums?
But instead of firing a gun at both of them, Jules diffuses the situation with a conversation.
He wrestles with its meaning, which is to say, Tarantino wrestles with its meaning, too.
The truth is, youre the weak, Jules tells Pumpkin, and Im the tyranny of evil men.
But Im trying, Ringo.
Im trying real hard to be the shepherd.
I think thats what really bothered me aboutOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood.
