Once Upon a Time in Hollywood opened in theaters in summer 2019. The traditional debate about how serious to take violence in Quentin Tarantino movies erupted for the ninth time. Tarantino's late 1960s Hollywood look ends in a orgy full of violence and gore, with Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprios ripping three Manson family members to shreds and setting the shreds ablaze. This is the norm for Tarantino, director of Inglourious Basterds, and Django Unchained. But this time, the death that generated the most discussion and debate wasn't onscreen.AdvertisementBrad Pitt's backstory, as war-hero-turned stunt-man Cliff Booth (reported by Tarantino), includes a rumor about Booth murdering his wife. Tarantino does not answer the question whether the rumor is true. Tarantino shows Booth getting ready to dive while his wife Billie, played by Rebecca Gayheart, berates him. The film then shows Booth walking right up to the barrel of a Harpoon Gun Booth is holding. But Tarantino cuts away before anything happens. This ambiguity attracted a lot of attention as Hollywood critics, fans and half the Hollywood public debated whether Pitts cool stuntman was also an aspiring murderer. Tarantino and cast members claimed they knew more about the film than they were telling. However, no one who had not worked on it knew for certain. Tarantino published Tuesday's novelization of his film, in which Cliff Booth clearly murders his wife.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTarantino dedicates a whole chapter to Billies' death (Chapter Ten, Misadventure), but only the first sentence will settle the debate. Cliffs shot his wife with the shark shot. The remorseful killer holds her together for seven hours, keeping them alive until help arrives. Booth talks to his wife to distract her from the injury and they eventually reconcile. Cliffs later realizes that the stuntman convinced himself that his wife's death was an accident. This is because of the following:AdvertisementIt was a hair trigger. It was instinctual, not a decision. Was it a pull or a twitch? It wasn't like Billie Booth was going to be missed. She was a fucking cunt. Was she worthy to be ripped in half? Perhaps not. It would be an understatement to say that Billie Booth is gone, but the sweet life continues unabated. Only her sister Natalie was really upset and was even more fucking cunt then Billie. She was only upset for a short time. Cliff carried the guilt and Cliff the regret, and Cliff promised to do better. What more can society ask for? He saved countless American soldiers by killing Japs, and it was definitely worth one Billie Booth.AdvertisementAdvertisementThis is it. Cliff Booth, the author of Once Upon a Time In Hollywood, is clearly a murderer and a misogynist. He is actually a murderer four times: In the novels Cliff Booth also shoots two mob-henchmen at a Cleveland pizzeria when they ask him not to take their boss' mistress. Cliff murders his wife, vowing to make a better life, then stuffs his friend's body in his Impala and leaves the car in Compton. Cliff is not a good man, at least according to the book.Tarantino does not address Cliff Booth's situation explicitly. He treats the film's other controversial act, the bloodbath at the end of the movie, completely differently. From the moment Rick Daltons door is opened by the Manson family to the moment the police arrive, the movie has almost six-and-a half minutes of very violent screen time. The novelization jumps more in time than the movie. Cliff and Ricks encounter with Manson families is only mentioned in a flash-forward in chapter 7. This scene occurs after the killings in which Paul Wendkos offers Dalton the lead role in Hell Boats. Tarantino's decision to make Cliff Booth the novelization's serial killer feels more like he is trying to troll people such as Andy Samberg who said, "I wanted [Billies] death to be an accident so I could enjoy the rest the movie so that I can enjoy the rest of it so that I can enjoy the rest of the movie so that I can enjoy the rest of the movie so that I can accept the fact that one of its characters are extremely bad news."AdvertisementAdvertisementThe question of Cliff Booth in the novelization telling us about Cliff Booth in movie is a bit more complex. Because before you decide if Once Upon a Time in Hollywoods novelization was canonical, it is necessary to accept that a feature film with no underlying source material or extended cinematic universe could be considered a canon. Although it is absurd to use novelizations to explain the plot points or provide details for multi-film sagas in detail, the idea of applying this model to a single movie is a terrible one. Tarantino's novelization is a good example of this. The cover and the back ads for novelizations in Olivers Story and Serpico suggest that it was written to fit into an older tradition. These pulps were often written from screenplay drafts during production, which meant that they could differ significantly from the final movie. Quentin Tarantino did the screenplay, and also wrote the novel. The universes don't connect to reality any more than they connect to the real world. Sharon Tate was saved by Cliff Booth's wife. Maybe you shouldn't marry Cliff Booth if you meet him in the movie or the novel version. There are rumors.
