For Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film, the provocative filmmaker decided to spend a summer in Los Angeles in 1969, when the dynamic of Hollywood was changing in the wake of a counterculture surge. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is an homage to a time that witnessed the end of an era of films made with rugged, swaggering bravado in favor of modern, stylish androgyny. Fictional Western stars like Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his loyal stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt) find themselves at a crossroads facing an uncertain future, unsure of how to proceed when effervescent stars like Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and her peers are on the rise.
In the background of Rick and Cliff’s navigation of Hollywood’s upheaval is the story of Charles Manson, his cult of followers, and the tragic murder of Sharon Tate and three friends. Part of the details Tarantino chooses to focus on are historically accurate, while others are pure embellishment. Like many of his recent films (Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained) you can expect some creative revisionism. Here are 5 things in the film that are accurate, and 5 things that are fictional.
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE: CHARLES MANSON’S CULT EXISTED
Charles Manson has become a symbol of the twisted and macabre in pop culture ever since the rise of his cult in the late ’60s. A deeply troubled man with a history of being in and out of prison and mental institutions his whole life, he was able to cajole several young women to be the first members of his “Manson Family”.
The reasons behind Manson’s cult have often been disputed, as have the reasons for the many murders his followers committed in his name. The biggest motivation may have been to incite a “race war” that was supposed to cleanse the world of its own growing toxicity.
FICTIONAL: MANSON’S CONTACT WITH RICK DALTON & CLIFF BOOTH
In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Rick Dalton and his stuntman Cliff Booth have interactions with Charles Manson, which never occurred. At that time in Los Angeles, Manson was living on the ranch of George Spahn, where numerous Westerns series like the one’s Dalton starred in were filmed.
Manson used Spahn’s ranch as his cult headquarters, forcing his young female followers to sleep with the feeble and blind Spahn in order to secure themselves the location. Spahn had no idea what he had gotten himself involved in by the time the murder of Sharon Tate and four others occurred at the hands of Manson’s acolytes.
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE: SHARON TATE WAS MURDERED BY MANSON FOLLOWERS
One of Hollywood’s brightest rising stars, Sharon Tate was stabbed to death by Manson’s followers in 1969, shocking Tinsel Town to its core. The hysteria around Charles Manson’s homicidal cult was palpable in those days, and Tate’s death (when she was eight and a half months pregnant with husband Roman Polanski’s child) proved that even the rich and famous weren’t protected from his rabid followers.
Margot Robbie plays Sharon Tate in the film, and aside from bearing a striking resemblance to the actress and model, she was also allowed to wear several pieces of Tate’s own jewelry, with the blessing of Sharon’s sister Debra. Sharon Tate’s most famous film to date is Valley of the Dolls.
FICTIONAL: RICK DALTON
Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Rick Dalton, the aging star of Western television shows, wasn’t a real person, though he may be based on several real people. In the 60s, Western films were still popular, and tv shows like Bonanza were in full swing, but a cultural shift was happening in Hollywood. Audiences wanted upbeat, “modern” films that featured new music and fashion.
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood takes place at the height of the hippie era, which directly clashed with a lot of the archetypical ideals featured in Westerns. Social norms were getting lax, and gruff men like Dalton didn’t seem to fit in anywhere, except by their approximation to rising stars like Sharon Tate, whom Dalton lives next door to in the film.
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE: STEVE MCQUEEN WAS ALMOST INVOLVED IN THE MANSON MURDERS
Steve McQueen, ubiquitous Hollywood “cool guy”, was a friend of Sharon Tate and hob-nobbed with the Hollywood hipsters alongside her in the ’60s. He was a friend of her husband, Roman Polanski, and frequently came by the house to have drinks, dinner, and attend the lavish parties for which the Hollywood couple was known to throw.
True to the facts, Steve McQueen was nearly present the night the murders took place, when Sharon Tate and three other close friends were having a small after-dinner get together at her house. His eye had been caught by a girl he recently met, and so declined her invitation to hang out with the mystery woman instead, narrowly escaping what might have been a grisly end.
FICTIONAL: THE HUGH HEFNER MANSION AND BUNNIES
Though Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski were very much seen attending all the most famous Hollywood house parties of the era, they were never in Hugh Hefner’s famous Playboy Bunny mansion. In Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, that pair is seen at the colossal residence, with the playboy playmates meandering around in their iconic bunny outfits.
In reality, Hugh Hefner didn’t purchase the mansion until 1971, two years after Tate’s tragic murder. Playboy bunnies were fixtures of the Playboy Clubs from the 60s until the 80s, where models (soon to be dubbed playmates) walked around in a corseted teddy, bunny ears, a bowtie, collar, cuffs, and a cottontail, entertaining patrons or serving drinks.
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE: FOUR FOLLOWERS CARRIED OUT THE MURDERS
On the night of August 8th, 1969, four of Charles Manson’s followers proceeded directly to Tate and Polanski’s house, instructed to “kill everyone inside”. Tate and Polanski weren’t targeted specifically. Polanski was out of town, and Tate was present with hairstylist Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger (heiress of Folger’s coffee), Wojciech Frykowski, and Steven Parent. The slayings were done by Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda, Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel.
Watson had a gun, the women had knives. Most victim’s died from being stabbed over a dozen times. Watson famously declared, “I am the devil. I am here to do the devil’s business” when the victims asked why the group had come into the house.
FICTIONAL: CLIFF BOOTH
Brad Pitt plays Cliff Booth, Rick Dalton’s stunt double, who was created (like Dalton) for the purposes of the film. He’s worked with Rick for years and become his confidante, driver, gofer, and best friend. Most importantly, he’s Rick’s cheerleader, encouraging him that his time isn’t up and that he won’t just be remembered for playing heavies and scumbags opposite rising stars.
Cliff is featured giving a ride to a young woman named “Pussycat” out to the Spahn ranch where Charles Manson and his followers live. His tire is stabbed and it almost seems like he might become the first victim of the followers. But the situation, like the man, never existed.
HISTORICALLY ACCURATE: BRUCE LEE’S APPEARANCE
There’s a fun scene in the film where Cliff has a fight with a haughty Bruce Lee, famous martial art star and fashion icon of the 60s and 70s. While Cliff himself never existed, Bruce Lee was actually somewhat important in the murder of Sharon Tate. A small piece of evidence at the scene of the crime was linked to Lee, though any suspicions were later dropped.
Lee had been complaining to Polanski about losing a pair of glasses, possibly at his house. A pair of glasses similar to the kind Lee would wear was found at the scene of the crime, and for a brief time, Polanski actually accused Lee of being involved in the horrific murder of his wife by Manson’s followers.
FICTIONAL: THE ENDING
Perhaps because the story of Charles Manson and the murder of Sharon Tate has been told and retold countless times, Quentin Tarantino decided to give his audience a different version of the tragic events. In his film, when the four Manson followers proceed to Tate and Polanski’s house on the night of August 8th, they encounter Rick and Cliff on a bender.
Rick decides to launch into a drunken rage on the “hippies,” not knowing their intent on starting a race war by blaming the deaths of some “political piggies” on the Black Panther party. They decide he fits the “pig” title just as well, and try to murder him, his wife, and Cliff, but aren’t prepared for the can of whoopass they’re about to receive from the Hollywood veterans.
