The time went by breezily enough on this film, but afterwards Sarah and I were trying to decipher ways to trim the length. It felt like the peak of the film dramatically for us was during Pitt's ranch scene, as the film draws out that tension and keeps building it out. And while the catharsis during the final 20 minutes or so are nice, nothing really captures the ranch scene. And because the whole film is anchored to the Tate murders, I kept wondering what happens if you remove Robbie's Tate from the film after the first drive-up-the-driveway scene. While Robbie is solid here, her character doesn't really get that much to do and I don't know what we really learn about her beyond thinking that she was an up-and-coming actor.

I do wish the film had, paradoxically, spent just a little more time developing out any other hippy character (even the hippy girl that rides with Tate) so that it doesn't read so simplistically: hippy = Manson follower. Have to think on it more, but I would put this definitely ahead of Hateful Eight and Django Unchained. Not sure it'd go any higher presently.