Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Broke Two Tarantino Movie Traditions

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood has everything you would expect from a Quentin Tarantino movie – but it also broke two traditions. Four years after his last film, The Hateful Eight, Tarantino returned with a new movie titled Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which took the example of Inglourious Basterds and told an alternate version of history, now set in 1960s Hollywood.

The film follows Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his best friend and stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), who have worked together for years and are now struggling to remain active and relevant in the final years of Hollywood’s golden age. Their stories are intertwined with that of Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), and featured other figures from the decade, such as Bruce Lee (Mike Moh) and Charles Manson (Damon Herriman). Of course, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood had Tarantino’s trademark type of violence, editing style, and more, but it also left behind a couple of traditions.

All Tarantino movies have certain elements in common, which are part of his style as writer and director, but Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is missing two – one is a specific style of shot, and the other is all about one of Tarantino’s frequent collaborators.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Is Missing a Trunk Shot

One of the most famous shots in Reservoir Dogs is the “trunk shot”, which is basically a shot from the trunk of a car, and in this one you can see the characters of Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), and Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi). That shot was the first of many, and became a “tradition” in Tarantino’s movies. Since then, every movie directed by him has included a “trunk shot” or a variation of it – Inglourious Basterds, for example, has one when Aldo Raine and Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz (and, at the end of the movie, Aldo and Utivich) are marking a Nazi. The point of the “trunk show” is for the audience to see the characters from the point of view of an object or person being stared at by them, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood doesn’t have one, nor a variation of it (it has a similar angle, but not with the same purpose).

Another “tradition” broken by Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is all about Michael Madsen. A frequent collaborator of Tarantino, Madsen has appeared in the movies Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill: Volume 1, Kill Bill: Volume 2, and The Hateful Eight, and his characters have died in every single movie (both Kill Bill movies are counted as one). Madsen had a cameo role in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood as Sheriff Hackett in Bounty Law, and it’s the first time his character in a Tarantino movie doesn’t die. A lot of things happen in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, so it’s easy to miss details like these, and whether they were intentionally broken or not is something only Tarantino knows.

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Adrienne Tyler
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Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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