It's More of a Memory Piece Than Historical Fact
Though Baby Boomers may remember 1969 as the high point of hippie counter culture due to events like the Woodstock Music Festival, the Manson Murders brought the era of "free love" to an abrupt and sobering end. As the movie unfolds, Tarantino's fictional characters, Dalton and Booth, interact with the real-life players through a series of seemingly mundane encounters. Booth's girlfriend introduces him to cult leader Charles Manson, and Dalton has a home in Benedict Canyon next door to Sharon Tate's 10050 Cielo Drive. Another historically accurate location in the film is Spahn's Ranch, a popular location for filming Westerns and the eventual home for Charles Manson and his followers.
The first half of the film, however, focuses on the career of Rick Dalton, a declining star best known for his TV Western "Bounty Law." But through a combination of ego, alcohol, and idiotic decisions, Dalton torpedoes his chance to embrace movie stardom and finds himself clinging to the friendship of his long-time stunt double, Vietnam War veteran Cliff Booth. The salacious Hollywood backdrop only adds more drama to a story that's essentially about two men facing a universal dilemma — what happens when you discover you're getting old and working in an industry that doesn't need or want you? Or worse, what happens when the industry you love morphs into something you no longer recognise?
And it's thanks to this unholy juxtaposition of Hollywood's glam and Manson's Helter Skelter that the film receives an R-rating and boasts a lengthy running time of 159 minutes — an ambitious gamble for a $90 million dollar film that doesn't contain superheroes or gun-toting assassins.