Here’s my finished visit to the new Beverly Theater. El coyote Restaurant and Casa Vega. I shot this when I went down to buy a T-shirt. LOL. It fit in with the character I’m working up.
It's a nice tribute to Tate, and having her be on the lobby cards and on the theater screen is an even nicer and real touch.
Maybe it wasn't Margo you didn't like but maybe the character? I was surprised at how teenage-ish she was.
I really liked this movie a lot, but one thing I did not like is the depiction of Bruce Lee. Sadly, Tarantino's characterization of Lee appears to be based in part on a misreading/misunderstanding of a passage in a book by Linda Lee. In his own defense, Tarantino has claimed that Linda Lee reported in her book that Lee said that he could beat up Muhammad Ali. In reality, Lee's book simply quoted a TV critic: “Even the most scathing critics admitted that Bruce’s gungfu was sensational. One critic wrote: ‘Those who watched him would bet on Lee to render Cassius Clay senseless if they were put in a room and told that anything goes.” And reportedly, when John Saxon asked Lee if he could beat Ali, Lee replied: "Look at my hand. That’s a little Chinese hand. He’d kill me.’”
Sorry boys I had to edit out a slightly racist joke which I didn’t intend. And put in another one which I did intend. LOL.
FWIW, Judge Roy Bean is a fantastic movie. Somewhat fairy tale like, and the soundtrack by Maurice Jarre is great.
Time for some serious trainspotting: Am I the only one who made the Pacino/"14 Fists of McCluskey" connection? As in, Captain McCluskey?
Margot Robbie was perfectly lovely as Tate. She did exactly what QT asked of her. She exuded an enthusiasm for life... and an innocence... that, as the clock ticked later and later toward midnight on that fateful night, made me cringe at what my eyes might see happen. Her surprise that the moviegoers in the theater enjoyed what she was doing on the screen humanized her. Made her a real person and not just a movie star.
After I posted this, I realized that Quentin may have quoted the Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean score for more than the fact that it is a beautiful piece of music that fits emotionally. In the opening of Judge Roy Bean, one screen before the movie proper opens says “Maybe this isn’t the way it was .....it’s the way it should have been.”
Me? Robbie as Tate was probably handled by QT as best he could; if he went for someone who was supposed to look exactly like Tate, it would have meant that it was all about her looks. Instead, QT tries to show off the spirit of Tate on her off-days. Does he succeed? I don't know enough about Tate's offscreen behavior or her 'a day in the life' life to say, but from the newsreels I've seen, there is a unique innate sultry sweetness to Tate that I don't believe could be captured, and QT probably wasn't even trying to nail that particular quality. The idea of Tate's general spirit is presented, but she gets a treatment that is on par with the fictional characters, the semi-fictional, and the real characters - treated like everyone else, really, which is fine and which I don't think detracts from the film at all. It works well enough. And Robbie's involvement likely has helped the production and the marquee aspect. She can legitimately sit beside Leo and Pitt and hold her own.
I thought we were just supposed to fall in love with her, and dread the doom we knew was closing in on her and the other folks in the house. Which is what happened in my case. I know how great an actress Margot Robbie is, so I was capable of appreciating that she was portraying someone far less worldly and mature than herself, and she did that without making Sharon Tate seem silly or inconsequential.
No you're not. It was Sergeant McCluskey's fist that connected with Michael Corleone's (Al Pacino) chin in "The Godfather."
I thought the point was that, in the land of make believe, and in the face of one of the goriest and most infamous crime/murder scenes in memory, it is still possible to have that Hollywood ending. The whole film is an excuse to show that - heroes and villains, buddies and beauties. Tate deserved a better fate, and the Mansonites deserved to die the horrible deaths - even at the hands of a tripping stuntman and a dazed and confused actor. And the movie shows the craft and the behind the scenes antics of everyone involved in getting the show put on (the extended version is supposed to practically show a whole TV show - Lancer - within the movie). The fact that it happened (purportedly) 50 years ago, is another reason. In another ten years, the memory of this time period will be fading over the hill into a faulty memory zone and not-so-recent history. This is the film that Tarantino had wanted to make for the longest time (I'm guessing), plot or no plot - a forget-me-not homage to L.A. and its alter ego, Hollywood. Is the story real? Is it a real character? Did it really happen that way? Did he really do all his own stunts? Was it in the script? What is real and what is not. That is always the question.
The scene with Bruce Lee was just pure fantasy comedy, and I took it like that. In a film like this it can be a little ridiculous to get hung up on accuracy IMO
Tarantino's most mature work since JB, Brad & Leo were fantastic....Overlong, indulgent yes but loved the setting & characters so much that the 3 hours flew by. The whole Tate affair was moving & surprisingly tastefully done. Getting a few sniffy reviews in UK from Mark Kermode.
I feel like, if you're going to portray a real person on film in a manner that's unflattering, it's incumbent upon you to make sure it's at least historically accurate. Aside from (obviously) the killers, Tarantino seems to have taken pains to make sure every real person in the film was portrayed in a respectful manner... except for Lee. We've talked about how nice it was that he reached out to Debra Tate and made sure she was okay with the film, and it's kind of a shame he didn't extend the same courtesy to Shannon Lee, who is on record as being upset about what he did. It doesn't ruin my overall enjoyment of the film (and in the grand scheme of things it's a minor detail), but it is one thing I don't like about this movie. Hey, if we really want to pick nits, it's also pretty unlikely Lee would have referred to Ali as "Cassius Clay" in 1966 0r 67. That was a couple of years after he'd changed his name, and by that point only people who deliberately wanted to disrespect him called him Clay.
I was just curious whether it was Robbie's performance or the way the part was written that you feel is lacking.
I'll take this up. Here's a video of an interview Sharon did in 1966 (sorry about the German subtitles). How closely did Margot Robbie get the general demeanor? Perhaps before considering that, is it even fair to say she should have been trying to do so? For myself when I see that interview I think she comes across as a rather serious but nice person who has a way of speaking that is sort of hard to pin down. Someone who does acting might be able to say how difficult it would be to imitate that. Another thing which again is not clear how significant it should be is, putting aside the hair and their overall height, I personally don't think Margot Robbie looks much like the real Sharon Tate. At least for now I am sort of agnostic on the importance question, leaning to less important. But at the same time if one takes up the challenge of playing the role of an iconic figure, it's not an entirely unfair issue, either, to see how close one gets in doing so.
I tend to agree with you but you have to admit the scene with Lee and Cliff was great. It wouldn’t be able to happen without Lee’s hubris and, by all accounts, he was a pretty arrogant individual. Tarantino is taking a fictional character (Cliff) and pairing him with one of the noted bad asses of the time. It’s a fun scene. It probably wasn’t what Lee would have said, but I feel like he might of had the spirit of Lee pretty right on.
Margot Robbie had to play a beautiful, sweet young woman right at the beginning of her career. We didn't have a chance to discover who she would ultimately be.
