Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood ending: Tarantino’s revisionist vision of 1960s Los Angeles explained
- No one should be surprised that, in a film where the iconoclastic director weaves fictional characters into historical events, there is revisionism at work
- After all, in Inglorious Basterds, Tarantino had a Paris cinema owner arrange the death of Adolf Hitler. So brace for his take on the Manson murders
Warning: This story spoils the ending of Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood . Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood is an affectionate snapshot of Los Angeles in the late 1960s, largely focusing on two fictional characters: Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a washed-up actor relegated to guest spots on television procedurals, and Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), Rick’s long-time stunt double with a hazy past.
But from the moment we discover Rick lives next door to the Cielo Drive residence of actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and her husband, director Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha), real life informs a feeling of dread that quietly lurks throughout the film.
The infamous residence is where members of Charles Manson’s cult brutally murdered Tate, along with three of her friends, in August 1969. Much of Once Upon a Time takes place in February of that year, but following a six-month jump in time, the dread ramps up.
Viewers probably expect Tarantino to have blended fact and fiction by folding Rick and Cliff into the narrative, given their prominence in the film. But how would that impact his depiction of the horrific event itself?
Again, spoilers ahead: Keeping with the film’s reverie, the director ended up rewriting history entirely – in this version, it’s Manson followers Tex Watson (Austin Butler), Patricia “Katie” Krenwinkel (Madisen Beaty) and Susan “Sadie” Atkins (Mikey Madison) who die in a bloodbath typical of Tarantino’s films, and that has already become this one’s most-debated scene. (In another alteration of history, Maya Hawke’s Flowerchild – the movie’s name for Linda Kasabian, who kept watch during the real murders and became a key prosecution witness in the trial – panics and takes off while the others walk up the private road leading to the houses.)
The climactic scene begins when Rick, disturbed by the sound of a malfunctioning car exhaust, leaves his house to confront whomever is lingering outside. Believing the Manson followers to be hippies looking for a place to smoke, Rick yells at them until they back their car down the road.
They recognise him as unforgiving bounty hunter Jake Cahill from the television series Bounty Law, which Rick starred in at his prime, and forgo orders from “Charlie” (Damon Herriman) to kill everyone in the house next door. Instead they decide to seek revenge on the Hollywood star who they believe helped introduce their generation to images of violence: “My idea is to kill the people who taught us to kill!” Sadie says.