MovieChat Forums > Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood (2019) Discussion > Dusk Into Dark: The Neon Signs Turn On ...

Dusk Into Dark: The Neon Signs Turn On (and the Cinerama Dome)

posted 10 months ago by roger1 (3692)
6 replies | jump to latest

Dusk into Dark: The Neon Signs Turn On (and the Cinerama Dome)

One of the best short sequences in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood(“OATIH”) comes near the end, when the movie reaches the final and most dramatic of the three 1969 days it covers: August 9, 1969.

This was the day that Sharon Tate died, along with several houseguests, horribly at the knives(and guns) of the Manson Family, and when OATIH reaches this dramatic day(if we haven’t seen OAITH yet)…our stomachs clench a bit and sadness overtakes us.

The sequence begins with a shot of a jumbo jet coming down on the landing strip at LAX. It’s a flight from Italy and on board are newly minted spaghetti Western star Rick Dalton(Leo DiCaprio), his new Italian actress bridge Francesca, and (back in coach) , Dalton's long time ex-stunt man gofer and best pal, Cliff Booth(Brad Pitt.)

As the plane lands at LAX, the Rolling Stones tune "(Baby You're) Out of Time" comes on , and indeed EVERYBODY here is out of time.

In the fictional story, bet pals Rick and Cliff are out of time because Rick also pays Cliff a stipend as a gofer, and he can't anymore. Marriage and a reduced career are cutting off the income. So Rick and Cliff go out for one last drunk as friends.

In the real life story(if you are old enough to know it or if you studied it young) Sharon Tate is out of time too. She and her three companions: ex (and maybe future) boyfriend Jay Sebring and Polanski's friends Voytek Frykowski and his girlfriend Abigail Folger(heir to the Folger's coffee fortune) will all die later that night.

So then Tarantino gives us a sequence to "set the emotional stage" for the fateful night.

Dusk turns into dark. The night is coming. (One is reminded of the old thriller classic "Wait Until Dark" and the lesser known movie with the great title "The Town That Dreaded Sundown." Not to mention he play and movie “Night Must Fall.”)

And neon lights at various establishments come on, all over Los Angeles and Hollywood.

They are glimpsed but briefly and QT makes sure we hear the loud and jagged SOUND of the neon snapping on and buzzing, and electricity flowing through the tubes.

CONT

[–] roger1 (3692) 10 months ago

These are the signs:

“Theater Parking”: Looks to be the parking lot for Grauman’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard – or the Egyptian across the street.

“Taco Bell” -- Taco Bell came into existence in 1962 and was a Los Angeles regional concern for many years before going national in the 70’s. This particular franchise building (circa 1969 in the movie) looks to me like a 1966 version. These original buildings were shaped to look like “Mexican Adobe Houses” – I don’t know if that got politically incorrect, but Taco Bells don’t look like this any more so the 1969 ambiance is strong.

CONT

[–] roger1 (3692) 10 months ago

“The Cinerama Dome.” The Cinerama Dome was built in the early 60s and opened in 1963 with the premiere of “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World,” which was among a number of movies that weren’t REALLY in Cinerama but rather “Superpanavision.” Bonafide Cinerama movies like How the West Was Won and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm had opened in 1962 and played on Holywood Boulevard (the Warner or the Pantages< as I recall) but with the Cinerama Dome, wide screen roadshows had a home.

Cinerama movies like Battle of the Bulge(1965) and Khartoum (1966) played the Dome, and per QT, evidently “Krakatoa, East of Java” played there in 1969. Krakatoa, East of Java (which is actually WEST of Jave, noted critics of the time) was one of the “end of the line” movies for Cinerama as a process. It wasn’t very major and it wasn’t very big an event, but QT captured it by having the theater “re-dressed to its original state.” It had been renamed The Arclight under new management for many years. Now I think the Arclight is closed.

Note: in the 70’s, the Cinerama Dome was used by Universal Pictures to showcase many of their movies. I saw Hitchcock’s Frenzy(1972) there, and The Sting(1973) there, and “The Great Waldo Pepper”(1975) theater. Walter Matthau in “Charley Varrick” preceded The Sting there.

CONT

[–] roger1 (3692) 10 months ago

The Vine Theater. A movie theater on Hollywood Boulevard. Its playing Romeo and Juliet(1968) in this movie. The Vine and the Vogue theaters were a little “downscale” from the bigger theaters on Hollywood Boulevard like Grauman’s Chinese, the Egyptian, the Warner and the Pantages(where Rick Dalton wrecks his car outside the Frolic Room – which was also featured in LA Confidentail.)

Musso and Franks: The quintessential Old Hollywood restaurant and lounge. Its where Brad and Leo meet Big Al Pacino early in this movie, and its where Ed Wood(Johnny Depp) met Orson Welles(Vincent D’Onofrio) in that movie. It was also featured in “Swingers” about young new actors in Hollywood (and young stars DID come out of that movie, led by Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau.)

The Supply Sergeant – what with the army guy right on the neon – I don’t know WHAT this is/was.

CONT

[–] roger1 (3692) 10 months ago

Chili Johns – I don’t know from this one, either. Chasen’s was famous for upscale chili – Alfred Hitchcock used to eat there once a week. And Barney’s Beanery sure served chili. I guess Chili Johns was different.

Der Wienerschnitzel. When the Der Wienerschnitzel neon turns on in OATIH – it looks pretty much like at least one Der Wienerschnitzel that still exists today (2024) in my neighborhood. But maybe this franchise isn’t well known today?

El Coyote – the “upscale” Mexican restaurant – at least compared to the one where Rick and Cliff go to eat their final meal as employer/employee – where this sequence ends before Rick and Cliff go to start off the glorious last 30 minutes of this movie./

CONT

[–] roger1 (3692) 10 months ago

The “neon lights” scene is a great scene that creates a great, late-breaking mood in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. There is always something emotional about the end of the day as the light fades out. In this movie, QT had already played that card to show the end of the day on February 9, 1969 – months previous to August – as the three main characters ended their day – Cliff escaping Spahnn Ranch(without knowing he has escaped); Sharon Tate leaving the Bruin theater in Westwood(near UCLA, home of the Bruins), and Rick waiting to picked up at an almost dead TV studio. With Jose Feliciano’s slow and sad an soulful version of “California Dreaming” on the soundtrack, we are being given a “preview” -- in February -- of the final August night.

CONT

[–] roger1 (3692) 10 months ago

Sidebar: another famous director of another time – Alfred Hitchcock – knew of the emotional, moody impact of scenes set as dusk turns to dark. In North by Northwest, enemy spies kidnap Cary Grant and take him to a Glen Cove, New York mansion for questioning. As the men talk, the sun goes down and the room gets darker and when night falls, Grant is forcibly intoxicated and carried out to a car for a planned “drunk drive crash.”

A year later in Hitchcock’s Psycho(1960), private detective Arbogast(Martin Balsam ) arrives at the Bates Motel to question motelkeeper Norman Bates(Anthony Perkins) about a missing woman(Janet Leigh, dead from a shower stabbing.) As dusk turns to dark, darkness gathers in the motel office and the detective looks menacing in the dark, his face harshly illuminated by a side lamp. But as menacing as he looks, the detective is also MENACED in the darkness -- if the murderous Mrs. Bates thinks about entering..

So from Hitchocck to Tarantino, dusk into dark shots carry a lot of emotional power. Especially when you add nostalgic neon signs coming on to the mix.