7 Years Later, Quentin Tarantino's 161-Minute Thriller Classic Still Beats Any Movie He Ever Made

Published Oct 8, 2026, 5:35 PM EDT

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Carolyn Jenkins is a voracious consumer of film and television. She graduated from Long Island University with an MFA in Screenwriting and Producing where she learned the art of character, plot, and structure. The best teacher is absorbing media and she spends her time reading about different worlds from teen angst to the universe of Stephen King.

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Anticipation has surrounded Quentin Tarantino’s famed 10th film, but perhaps it hasn’t been made yet because viewers have already seen the director’s magnum opus. Tarantino has always maintained that he would only make 10 movies in his career, even though the ninth is one of the best stories put on screen. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood united the last true movie stars of the business, Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, to great effect in the 2019 thriller. True to its name, the narrative is a fairy tale set in the heart of Los Angeles during the golden era of the ‘60s.

DiCaprio plays washed-up actor Rick Dalton, out to revitalize his career after Sharon Tate (Margo Robbie) and Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha) move next door. Those well-versed in the pop culture of the time know that this is not a story that has a happy ending. Tarantino took the tragic Tate murder and instead of grounding the movie in violence and horror, made something shining and bright out of it. Inglourious Basterds was once considered the filmmaker’s ultimate revisionist masterpiece, but then came Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ Is the Perfect Retelling of an American Tragedy

When Quentin Tarantino announced that he would be making a movie about the Charles Manson murders, the entire world held its breath. This was a delicate subject that took away one of the shining stars of the era. Sharon Tate was pregnant with her husband, Roman Polanski, during the harrowing crime perpetrated by the cult of Manson. There were so many ways that telling this story could have gone wrong, but instead, Tarantino delivered a genuinely touching love letter to what could have been.

The director has always been influenced by cinema from the 60s, and now he could show exactly where this love came from. In one of the most perfect movies of the past 30 years, Rick Dalton and his former stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), traverse the world of 1960s Hollywood. As Rick moves up in the world, he tries to take Cliff with him, who shows just how capable he is as a stuntman. At the same time, Sharon Tate has just finished her part in The Wrecking Crew and is about to welcome a child into the world.

The thriller uses dramatic irony effectively as Cliff runs into the Manson cult at Spahn Ranch, where he used to film Westerns. He rightly identifies the inhabitants of the place as suspicious and gets out as fast as possible. This sets up the perfect third act where Rick Dalton’s existence saves Sharon Tate from her heartbreaking fate in real life.

Tarantino does the admirable thing by not glamorizing the Manson cult. He barely shows them until it is absolutely necessary and then only demonstrates how satisfying it is to kill them off. Cliff becomes a hero made for his own movie when he comes face to face with the murderers who in real life were responsible for Tate’s death. In this telling, Cliff intercedes and fends them off, saving Sharon and the rest of her house guests.

The ending of the 2019 masterpiece, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is the happy resolution that the actor deserved, also implying that Rick would eventually find his place among the stars. The movie is a culmination of Tarantino’s talents, distilled into a 161-minute epic that shows that there is still some good in the world.