In cinemas this week: Tarantino stars ignite dark past in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

A quarter of a century after Pulp Fiction, some reckon Quentin Tarantino has just made a movie to rival it.

The 1994 flick was, for many Tarantino fans, his best work, although several others run it close.

After an astonishing launch in the USA, where it raked in far more in first-weekend takings than any other Tarantino movie, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood just may be the best and biggest yet.

Tarantino can be one of those film-makers you either love or hate, but nobody can dispute that he has brought a lot to the world of cinema, and he’s never scared to address big issues and controversial subjects.

This one sees him place two of the biggest acting superstars we’ve ever seen, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, together to tackle the Tinseltown of 50 years ago.

At least, the way Tarantino likes to fantasise about it.

Tarantino could just as easily have focused on that other major USA event of 1969, the Apollo 11 moon landing, but being Quentin Tarantino he has headed straight for the Manson Murders.

It’s thought that Tom Cruise was also up for the role given to Pitt, and it’s a fact that DiCaprio took a very large pay cut to be involved.

There is also a lengthy list of stars who appear, some fleetingly, others in a major way, although sadly one superstar didn’t make it.

Burt Reynolds had agreed to appear, but he died before his parts could be shot, and Bruce Dern has proved a very good replacement, even if the Burt magic would have been fascinating.

Despite all that, it’s the duo at the top of the bill who make it another Tarantino cracker.

DiCaprio is in sensational form as Rick Dalton, an alcoholic star of TV Westerns who is having problems adjusting to film work. At one point, he has a breakdown and wonders if he can go out and do his job well, and then produces a fantastic scene.

A great actor brilliantly portraying a struggling actor, and DiCaprio really shows why he is so highly regarded.

His sidekick Pitt plays Cliff Booth, his long-time best pal and stunt double. An eccentric man who lives in a trailer with his pit bull, he may have killed his wife and got away with it, though this isn’t made clear.

What is clear is that Dalton’s next-door neighbours are Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski, and the appearances of Charles Manson and some of his hippie followers is done so well that you really do feel the bad vibes, even if you didn’t know what was about to happen in real life.

Tarantino also appears as a director, doing a cigarette commercial rather than a movie. Al Pacino pops up too, and the film portrays the Los Angeles of 1969 that was as glamorous as it was terrifying and weird.

Tarantino himself happily admits he’s like a sponge, taking in tricks from every movie he sees.

“People ask if I went to film school, but I tell them no, I went to films,” he says.

Tarantino won’t be too fussed about the amazing box office success upon its initial US release.

“Movies are not about the weekend that they’re released,” he points out. “In the grand scheme of things, that’s probably the most unimportant time of a film’s life.”

Only you can decide if it’s even better than Pulp Fiction.

Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is in cinemas from Wednesday August 14.