Most Rewatchable Scene
Rick's trailer meltdown; Cliff on the roof and the Bruce Lee flashback
In the discussion (21)
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:44Read transcript
- Pacino at Muso and Franks telling Rick his career is basically over is offered first; Pacino is called a sequel to his Heat performance.
- Marvin's night of brandy and watching movies alone is described as a host's idea of heaven.
- Pacino's character is said to be based on Dino De Laurentis, who brought actors like Bert Reynolds to Italy; his pitch speech is called pure Tarantino, like Tarantino's Top Gun speech in Sleep With Me.
- Rick crying in the parking lot after the meeting ("It's official, old buddy") is a favorite; with Cliff driving and Mrs. Robinson on the radio it sets up the whole crisis within five minutes.
- Cliff's return to his trailer at the Van Nuys drive-in with his dog, TV Guide and dog food is praised as a scene that should not work but does on Pitt's charisma, including him talking back to the TV.
- Asked whether he would be okay with that dog on a plane, the answer is no. — Bill Simmons
- The Bruce Lee scene: Cliff climbs onto the roof, takes his shirt off to fix the antenna, drawing a reaction in the theater, and flashes back to the fight.
- The fight is read as an exaggerated false memory: the onlookers vanish from the frame, so Cliff is an unreliable narrator, and the outrage over disrespect to Bruce Lee misses that point.
- Showing Bruce Lee as overconfident is not considered an insult, since that confidence was part of his greatness.
- Sharon watching herself in a movie theater, after picking up a hitchhiker, is a favorite; every driving scene is rewatchable, one of two favorite driving-around movies.
- Using the real Sharon Tate on screen is praised; the idea is said to come from Tarantino's own experience at a theater after True Romance.
- Margot Robbie is called phenomenal here, more than in Bombshell; in a Golden Globes speech Tarantino is quoted as saying she brought the most goodness to any of his movies, a pure essence in an indecent body of work.
- A skipped scene: Rick floating in his pool running lines from a tape recorder while making whiskey sours.
- Cliff picking up the hitchhiker is an amazing five minutes, with a Neil Diamond song; the soundtrack may be Tarantino's best.
- Rick's trailer freakout after blowing his lines is said to be going to win the category, and is described as improvised from DiCaprio's idea.
- Cliff's visit to Spahn Ranch is meant to evoke Texas Chainsaw Massacre, with the dogs playing the role of the Apocalypse Now helicopters; it loses some effect on rewatch.
- Lena Dunham's casting among the Manson family is distracting, and the stunt casting throws the viewer off.
- In the finale Cliff, high on an acid-laced cigarette, does all the work but Rick gets the credit, just like a movie.
- Rick's scenes with the child actor Trudi and the Rolling Stones "Out of Time" sequence with the lights coming on are added.
- One pick is Leo blowing his lines and freaking out in his trailer, including the Oliphon "line!" sequence.
- Another pick is Cliff on the roof and the Bruce Lee scene, the one most looked forward to on a third rewatch.