Hello, cinema fanatics! Welcome to the tenth episode of The Fansplainers – our spoiler-enriched film cast where we minutely examine and fiercely discuss current films.
This week we tackle Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
David and Ian had very different takes on the film, but we won’t spoil it here, we’ll let them fansplain it for you.
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A great film needs a great podcast like The Fansplainers to discuss the cinema of Tarantino, I’m so happy you guys took this one on. I saw this opening weekend with my wife who thought it went a little long but we both enjoyed it knowing full well what we were getting into. I’m sure I could have listened for another hour as you guys picked this bone apart since Tarantino gives us much to discuss. His films send me down a rabbit hole every time, looking up snippets and stories they’re based on.
I thought I’d cover off on this for Ian, who is a huge Spider-Man fan… In the film, the director of the TV series “Lancer” (that Dalton was acting in) was Sam Wanamaker. The actor who portrayed Wanamaker is Nicholas Hammond, who was Spider-Man on TV back in the 70’s! Timothy Olyphant was portraying James Stacy, who was Lancer from 1968-1970.
I also wanted to mention the music and how Tarantino marries it to the film so wonderfully. I really enjoy Ennio Morricone scores, so it’s great that Tarantino uses his work so extensively throughout his films. In Once Upon a Time… though, it reminded me of the way the music was handled in films like “American Graffiti” where it moves from diegetic to non-diegetic, including all the radio ads and DJ bumpers from one source. It’s masterful how much Tarantino uses music as a storyteller in his work.
I didn’t recognize Nicholas Hammond, thanks for the tip on that. He was also one of the kids in The Sound of Music.