People USA – August 05, 2019

DRAMAMovie-star swagger. That’s what we’ve been

missing in this sequel- and reboot-choked summer—

and finally we get to see two of the most appealing

actors on earth, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt,

loose, funny and having the time of their

lives in director Quentin Tarantino’s riff on

Hollywood at the end of the 1960s. Ironi-

cally, they’re playing guys whose careers

are pretty much washed up: Di Cap rio is

Rick Dalton, the onetime lead of a TV west-

ern who’s having trouble finding work as

the culture shifts around him. Pitt plays

Cliff Booth, Rick’s longtime stunt double,

gofer and drinking buddy. Be mused by the

hippie culture, they have ominous run-ins with

flower children who turn out to be the followers of

Charles Manson. And Rick happens to live next door

to director Roman Polanski and his actress wife, Sha-

ron Tate (Margot Robbie, sunny and gor-

geous but otherwise wasted). If you think

you know what awful things are going to

happen, guess again. Oh, there will be

blood, but Tarantino blends fantasy and

real history here in an original and unpre-

dictable, if somewhat meandering, movie

that’s his best in years. Groovy music, fash-

ion, cars and cameos (Al Pacino, Kurt Rus-

sell, Bruce Dern... ) abound. (July 26, R)

MOVIE| Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Quentin Tarantino take a wild ride to the 1960s

PEOPLE August 5, 2019 35

THE BEST STUFF TO W

ATCH,

READ

& LISTEN TO

THIS W

EEK!

Edited by

Tom

Gliatto

Pitt and

DiCaprio try to

keep their cool

in a changing

world. Inset:

Robbie as

Sharon Tate.

‘If you

think you

know what

awful

things are

going to

happen,

SONY PICTURES(2) guess again’