Why is ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ Quentin Tarantino’s favourite film?
As one of Hollywood’s most celebrated directors, Quentin Tarantino is no stranger to praise. After making his directorial debut at the Sundance Film Festival with his critically-lauded 1992 feature Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino went on to win the coveted Palme D’Or Award for his 1994 film Pulp Fiction at the Cannes film Festival. It was later nominated for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the 1995 Oscars.
Since then, Quentin Tarantino has gone from strength to strength, releasing some of the most-talked-about films of the last two decades, including Kill Bill Vol.1, Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained and, more recently, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. His films have been the subject of rave-reviews, critical essays and PhD theses. Practically everyone has a favourite Tarantino film, including, as it turns out, Tarantino himself.
During an appearance on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show, the director was asked to name the best film he’s ever made. “For years people used to ask me stuff like that,” he began. “And I would say something like, ‘Oh, they’re all my children.’ These days Tarantino isn’t so egalitarian. “I really do think Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is my best movie,” he told Stern, putting the subject to bed at long last.
Released in 2019, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood follows previously successful TV Western actor Rick Dalton, who is now struggling to navigate a changing Hollywood. That plot detail alone suggests why Tarantino feels such an affinity for the feature. The director recently opened up about feeling disillusioned with modern Hollywood, echoing the sentiments of fellow director Martin Scorsese, who has previously lashed out at Marvel superhero movies. “I do feel that ’80s cinema is, along with the ’50s, the worst era in Hollywood history,” Tarantino said on his Video Archives podcast. “Matched only by now, matched only by the current era!”
While many will be surprised to hear that Tarantino prefers Once Upon A Time In Hollywood over the likes of Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, the preference makes a lot of sense. As the supposed penultimate film of the director’s career, the feature is packed with classic Tarantino characters, many of whom are macho, witty men with distinctly oddball energy. It’s as though the director has reflected on everything he’s learned throughout his career and used those lessons to make the most daring and well-executed film he could muster.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that Tarantino is a lifelong film fanatic, a cinema buff whose encyclopedic knowledge of motion pictures and cinematic movements has always been at the forefront of his movies. Once Upon A Time in Hollywood is no different. Intimately bound to the most infamous Hollywood murder of all time – that of Roman Polanski’s wife Sharon Tate – Tarantino’s latest picture is a love letter to Hollywood in all its turbulent glory. The only difference is that this time, the Hollywood Tarantino is paying tribute to is the one he helped create. Throughout Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, there are numerous references to films like Inglorious Basterds and The Hateful Eight, allowing the director to interrogate his own legacy with impish delight. No wonder he’s a fan.
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