Thighs Wide Shut

Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski set up barber shop at the 21st Cannes Film Festival, 1968. photos by Jack Garofalo [more]

Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood
Squeaky Foam
Official Site | Trailers & Mo
R | 165 min

It took Quentin Tarantino 10 tries to figure out the perfect time, place and artifice to put on display all of his cinematic hopes, dreams, knowledge and references into one spectacular bundle.  His Manson Family drenched love poem to late 60s Los Angeles –  Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood – is the pinnacle of his career, and is 7/8ths great.  It’s that final 1/8th of the flick that throws all those fantastically creative juices running on all cylinders up until that point right down the toilet.  In a way, it’s a totally wasted opportunity 

No spoiler alerts here, but history is history.  Fact is fact.  You can stretch the truth, but you cannot just change history.  QT rewrites history how he sees fit, and in Hollywood‘s case, it’s un-fit for society.  The history he rewrites may be OK for those who know what actually happened.  But for those who don’t, it’s a disservice.  I declare Helter Skelter on the ending!  I’d also say see Helter Skelter, but you’d need a DVD player to see it (it’s not streaming)

This movie was well on its way to being his JFK, or his Zodiac.  This was going to be the best film to explore the Manson Family AND Sharon Tate, from both sides.  Instead, QT gotta do what QT gotta do, and QT always has to go over the top, when it was not even remotely required

Q, if you wand to play with your dolls in the valley however you see fit, why not just change all the names and make everything thickly veiled, like Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master?  Then you would be truly free to do whatever you want!  (without any backlash or dismissing by me!)

Hollywood works like one giant Simpsons episode written by Tarantino.  Throwbacks, nods, and winks ooze everywhere, and each one of the allusions caught is fun for those who can pick up on them.  But the fun will eventually turn grim.  You know and see where it’s all going, and you want it to actually go in the direction you believe it’s going in.  And when it doesn’t, I just wanted that ending to go away.  Truth trumps made up stuff

Verdictgo: 7/8ths is still great, so Jeepers Worth A Peepers

Hollywood is in the spotlight a theater near jews and white nationalists 

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…