[Spoilers for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood will be found below.]
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is worth seeing twice. Not only because it’s good (although it is very good), but also because it plays very differently once you know the ending. In Quentin Tarantino’s alternate timeline, Sharon Tate isn’t murdered by three members of the Manson Family in August 1969; instead, the trio, led by Tex Watson, are killed by Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt’s MVP of a dog, and Leonardo DiCaprio wielding a flamethrower. That’s not how it played out in real life (or maybe even in the reality of the movie), but of course QT wouldn’t do a straight reaction of the murders. He’s the guy who killed Hitler, after all.
In Inglourious Basterds — the best Tarantino movie (do not @ me, Jackie Brown) — the leader of the Nazi Party (played by Martin Wuttke) is killed by Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth) and Omar Ulmer (Omar Doom) in a theater. Why did Tarantino futz with history and decide that Hitler needed to die prior to 1945, among other historical inaccuracies, besides the obvious reason?
“It’s like 4 o’clock in the morning, I’m writing by myself. And then I finally decide, ‘Just kill him.’ So, I took a piece of paper and I wrote on it, ‘Just f*cking kill him.’ And I put it by my bedside table and went to bed,” the director said on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “And when I woke up the next morning, I figured I would look at the piece of paper and realize: Was it a good idea or a bad idea? After I had a night’s sleep, I read it and I go, it’s a GREAT idea.” It was a great idea, and so was not killing Sharon Tate. That, along with some clever easter eggs, is why Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is being compared to Inglourious Basterds.
https://twitter.com/elatticus/status/1154607616481513472
People were shocked a movie with a fairy tale title and a made up characters from the creator of inglorious bastards would have an ending like it did.
— Josh (@the_je85) July 29, 2019
It's not a surprise with how they are here: It's in the title "Once Upon a Time". The ending of Inglorious Basterds was about as fictional as this. The art of film doesn't have to abide by the historical accuracies of murderers. QT went by his own freedom as others do as well.
— Andrew Forbes (@andrew_forbes_) July 29, 2019
Bruh @QuenTarantino does it again with his ending of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood🤯🤯🤯 Think Inglorious Bastards type shit!! Go see it!
— Dylan Burba (@DylanKeith24) July 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/muto1333/status/1155061040352116736
https://twitter.com/samiisquared/status/1154770459155677184
Attention to detail was amazing. The ‘Inglorious Basterds’ type ending left me speechless.
— Monte Hayes (@hayes_monte) July 29, 2019
If you enjoyed the ending of Inglorious Bastards than you’ll love the ending of this movie 🤯
— Safety Keg (@KyleMcC93725008) July 26, 2019
Was there this much controversy surrounding the ending of INGLORIOUS BASTERDS when it came out or is this outrage over the ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD finale just a Twitter thing?
— 🅿️atrick (@PatAttack15) July 27, 2019
https://twitter.com/fairyknjm/status/1154968378731376640
The people who were mad at the ending of Ingloriois Bastards are going to be just as angry about this one.
— Keith Dakin (@keithlivesinCT) July 28, 2019
Who should or shouldn’t Tarantino kill next? Please discuss.
