Those who loved this film...


Please tell what aspects of this movie you liked made you love it ?


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Memories of my youth.
Cliff seemed like a real man, a traditional man. He did what needed to be done, and lived with the consequences of some of his choices.
How Cliff and Rick treated each other with respect. There was no envy or jealousy.
The western themes.
The movie /tv show making.
Watching Rick overcome his difficulties.
All the details only the knowledgeable would appreciate.
The joyful feeling it had, while at the same time having a dark cloud come in every once in a while to remind us of the history.
The acting.
The cars and the driving.
The cathartic ending.

And from a believer's point of view, this:
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/upon-time-power-movies/

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Lots of people complain about the driving sequences, but for some reason I loved those scenes.

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I could have watched them all afternoon. : )

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Yup.

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For sure the driving sequences were some of my favorite! Especially showing how poor Cliff's was.. driving soo far away from Rick's neighborhood the first night.. hehe, damn.

Otherwise cool tunes, chillen in the car, it was great fun showing the "1969 cityscape"

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Everything Daggerboard said. Perhaps you had to be young at that time to fully appreciate the movie.

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Yeah, I think that's true. I can't blame anyone for not liking it. For me, it just gets better every time I see it.

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I think it might be a generational thing. I am just about the same age as Tarantino and this I completely relate to. I loved the entire feel of the movie. I felt as if I was transported back to my childhood. There were so many references packed into this movie that it felt almost as if the movie were actually made in 1969. As a young child television and radio made a deep impression on my mind and all of that came flooding back to me while watching this movie. There were so many instances where I had the same feeling for something that I had way back in 69 and not all of them good. For instance, 1969 was a very turbulent year and even the young child in me could feel it. There is one scene where Cliff and Rick are driving up to his house and there is a spooky ad for Ray Bradbury Theater playing on the radio. Now, being so close to the Sharon Tate house also gave that scene an extra creepy feeling, like, OK, here we go. We're now heading into the mouth of the beast. Through the entire movie people who know about Manson and the murders, probably were feeling that same sense of dread for what we thought was to come. Fortunately, that didn't happen and it was a welcome relief. That ending was so unbelievably cathartic for me and probably many others. I liked that we saw the Manson Family members getting their asses handed to them by Cliff. It was really awesome.

The acting was so good also, especially by Brad Pitt. He was so in the role. No matter what was going on, Pitt was there. Whether it was killing or beating hippies, kicking Bruce Lee's ass or just simply fixing the TV antenna; Pitt was riveting.

I could go on more, but I probably suspect that you didn't like it, so much that I say may not resonate with you. I loved the movie. It was so different from anything Tarantino has done in the past.

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Beautifully said. You reminded me things I had forgotten about. For instance, I loved the end with Rick Dalton standing there with his margarita yelling at the hippies to get off his private road. It just felt good.

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So much of it felt so good, but then there was that undertone of dread throughout. It was sort of like how many people felt way back in 69. Even though I was young, I could still feel remnants of a better time, while fearing what the future held. Rick is sort of symbolic of how Americans felt at the time; we remembered our glorious past, but had definite worries about where the next years and decades would take us. We felt better times were behind us and that what was to come could be filled with chaos and unrest. Cliff was sort of that guy who would save us from it all, while the Manson Family were the ones who would lead us down that dark path. The Manson Family did contribute somewhat to so much of what came after the tumultuous year of 1969. It wasn't just one event, but it was a slew of others. Seeing Cliff beat and kill those Manson followers was sort of the catalyst that could not only save Rick's career, but also save us from a not so shiny future. The old "They Lived Happily Ever After" may have fit in quite well here.

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You're right, I know exactly what you're talking about. I was six at the time and remember those feelings.

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I was 5 and it is so strange to look back on how my mind operated back then. I remember being in my grandmother's kitchen and actually ponder the state of the world in 69. Media probably had a big effect on my young mind, so the more adult thoughts of a young child probably weren't that unusual.

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For me, a Brit and possibly a little younger, there was a feeling of dread whilst the movie ran but that was focused on awaiting Sharon Tate's brutal death. When Tarantino gleefully rewrote history I thought it was great.. I guess there is a case for claiming he manipulated us by building Sharon's niceness and then blatantly giving us the ending we wanted. I don't care, I loved the film and I'll love it more next time because I won't have to dread the ending.

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Yes, watching it a second, third and fourth time is a totally different experience from the first watch.

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Great post!👍
We’re around the same age so we share the same nostalgia on display In OUATIH.
* I remember the Mannix theme music being played as I was whisked off to bed at around age 6.

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We had babysitters on Saturday night and stayed up until we passed out. The Mannix theme coming on meant that creature feature was just an hour away. I rarely made Creature feature seeing I would be up so early for Saturday morning cartoons. I tried so hard to stay up for it though.

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I think that sense of dread you speak of is more prominent in Zodiac. Actually, I think it's way worse in that movie. You know what's coming in the murder scenes and it's just hard to watch at points like the attack at the lake.

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Bruce Lee getting launched into the side of a car

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That was good. It got the biggest audience reaction of the film when I saw it.

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Rick Dalton’s journey did it for me. I am a fan of B films and especially Italian B films. I’ve seen so many of the same American actors in the 70’s appearing in those productions in many cases probably for the same reasons Dalton did.

His melt down in the trailer about screwing up his lines and the drinking was captured damn perfectly, at least I can say the drinking part was. The scene where he gives a great performance and the opinion of the little girl means the world to him is the first time ever in a QT film that I have personally felt emotional.

The entire dynamic between Dalton and Booth is just amazing to watch. I really feel like QT branched out into new territory with this one. I was born after 69’ but with a good grasp of history and film I feel like I picked up on all the little references of the time.

I can honestly say I loved every part of this film and it’s hard for me to relate to those who say it’s boring.

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The only other time I felt emotional watching a Tarantino film was in Jackie Brown when Max Cherry was introduced to the Delfonics by Jackie.

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I really do love Jackie Brown also and Pam Grier is a one of a kind but I certainly didn’t feel it like in OUATIH. I’ve tried to see everything Grier has been in and so far I think Coffy is my favorite. I wish QT had used her in films after Jackie Brown.

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Me too. Grier was great in Jackie Brown. It is my favorite Tarantino film.

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Jackie Brown is such an underrated film. It doesn't pack as big of a punch as Pulp Fiction, but it's probably Tarantino's most perfect, and most complete, film. Pulp Fiction is Tarantino's greatest cinematic achievement; it's more stylistically ground-breaking, and with a depth to it that very few films have ever achieved, but Jackie Brown is a better movie, if that makes sense.

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I totally agree with you and I also think its underrated because it a rather low stakes story.

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So many things... it's one of Tarantino's best, in my opinion. Among the things I enjoyed:

1. The depth of the plot
2. On a subtle level it wasn't just nostalgic in that it recreated 1969 LA, it recreated movies as they were made in 1969.
3. The humor
4. The Bruce Lee scene!
5. Brad Pitt absolutely nailing the part of a John Wayne archetype come to life.
6. Leonardo DiCapri equalling Pitt in what may have been the more challenging role.
7. All the subtle touches, things that only come to light upon reflection/ repeat viewing.
8. Tarantino gave us his first truly happy ending.
9. The entire Spahn Ranch sequence; so eerie, so incredible
10. The climactic fight, and the way Tarantino is able to show action onscreen without resorting to useless cuts or shaking a camera and instead presents battle in such a way that the audience always knows where each participant is, and the fight flows realistically and understandably.
11. Even though the film had a languid pace, I always felt a sense of forward motion. I was unnerved and on the edge of my seat during my entire first viewing, never quite able to feel get my bearings and with no idea at all what was coming next. This is a very, very rare quality in a film, and one I deeply appreciated.

I went into a lot more detail about most of the above in a post I wrote here:

https://moviechat.org/tt7131622/Once-Upon-a-Time-in-Hollywood/5d4073e80b25b80834d1343f/Comparing-Booth-and-Dalton-Spoilers

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What was 'the depth of the plot', my dear friend ?

Please elaborate, sir.

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Much of it was elaborated on in the post I linked, and in some replies in that thread.

In short, I liked that the plot had so many layers and elements to it. Most films have a linear story that is very much surface-level-- A happens, then B, causing C, and so forth-- and you more or less follow it as it goes along to its resolution. There was a surface-level plot here, but I think about 80% of the plot was layered beneath it, and it is really only upon reflection and discussion after seeing the film that it all begins to reveal itself.

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That is an interesting way to look at the two main characters but I’m not seeing how it makes the entire plot deep. It still doesn’t make the movie worthwhile

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I'm not sure what else to say, other than that I enjoy the fact that the plot is made up of many complex, subtle layers that must be worked out and pieced together. It's a film that keeps on giving, long after you've seen it.

I liked it, you didn't. Maybe that's the best summation?

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so what are these layers?

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There are many layers of bullshit in his comment.

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You have to be kidding. In the middle of this clunker other people were watching other movies and at one pt reading books. I would have been happy doing either too. This movie should have been and hour long if it had any pace and direction.

It is like he has to refilm every nostalgia remembrance of culture of the time that enters his scatter brain. Documentaries of the 60s are more interesting.

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The laid back vibe, that you were just going along with these people as they hung out in LA. Unusual for a modern American movie.

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I really like the Mod style, the big American gas guzzling cars, the household decor, the music...I swear my mom had half of that stuff in the house growing up

The scene at the Spahn Ranch where Booth meets an old pal and lays down the law for the psychos...

Dalton's several breakdowns while playing an on-screen tough guy...I loved the scene with Leo and that bright little kid, Leo is the gift that keeps on giving

The finale which I wont spoil but was so outrageously wild that I think I laughed throughout except I may have gasped at times!

This one is one of Tarantino's very best
movies

I liked all of the 'driving around' scenes too
This movie was pretty much perfect

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Great post!

“The scene at the Spahn Ranch where Booth meets an old pal and lays down the law for the psychos”

The Spahn ranch scene is taken right out of a Bounty Law episode. Cliff gets to be Rick in a real life showdown in an antiquated movie set!

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Such a good scene

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Great scene. I was very anxious and the suspense was high.

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So it seems like what people like most about this movie was the nostalgia?

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Not only that, but it is a big part of what I liked about it. The ending definitely made me feel really good. I was so anxious throughout the entire movie, so when all of the violence was directed toward the Manson Family, all my anxiety washed away.

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Well not just that but you have to respect the amount of time and effort and attention to detail required to bring a 1960's Hollywood to life. And other than that it was a good original story, the acting was great, the photography was great and it was just all around world class film making. I get that the story seems rather small in contrast to other QT films and some may be disappointing with that, like whats the point? But in terms of his other films this one reminds me alot of Jackie Brown which was also a rather small story and by that I mean the stakes are not really that high. I also am a really big fan of Jackie Brown which alot of people are not. Honestly I did not expect to like this film as much as I did.

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