Once Upon a Time in Deadwood 2019

In February 1969, a fading Hollywood icon faces the twilight of his television career. Rick Dalton spends most of his days chasing a spark of relevance, his latest gigs mostly consisting of guest appearances as TV villains. His agent, Marvin Schwarz, nudges him toward spaghetti Westerns in Italy, a path Dalton initially dismisses as a step down. Yet the veteran star clings to a stubborn hope: perhaps a renewed connection with the right project could reignite his star power and, more importantly, his sense of purpose.

Beside Dalton, his longtime ally is Cliff Booth, a loyal stunt double, personal assistant, and driver who lives in a modest trailer with his loyal pit bull, Brandy. Booth is a WWII veteran who has fought hard to stay employed in the dangerous world of stunt work, but whispers about his past—an infamous altercation with a martial arts legend and rumors of uxoricide—have begun to shadow him, making it harder to land gigs. He doesn’t carry these rumors as facts in his own mind, yet the weight of them colors how people treat him and how he sees his own future.

Dalton and Booth share a deep, almost brotherly bond. Dalton longs not just for steady work, but for a chance to befriend the famous neighbors who have become a symbol of a new California—Sharon Tate and her husband, director Roman Polanski, who live nearby. He believes connecting with them might open doors to a brighter acting life, a testament to how much he still wants to be seen.

Meanwhile, Booth keeps a watchful eye on the world around the Spahn Ranch, a derelict western film set turned commune, where hippies led by Tex and others have moved in. As Booth tends to the well‑being of the ranch’s owner, the nearly blind George Spahn, he faces the uncomfortable justice of making sure the younger residents aren’t exploiting a vulnerable ally. A tense moment unfolds when Booth confronts a wayward hippie, Clem, after his car tire is punctured, signaling how fragile the line between old-Hollywood’s codes and the countercultural era has become.

Dalton’s acting gifts reveal themselves in a moment of crisis on the set of a Lancer episode. He collapses under the pressure, only to rebound with a powerful, authentic performance that wins over director Sam Wanamaker and his co-star Trudi. The breakthrough moment proves he still has real talent to offer, if the right role comes along.

Schwarz then books Dalton in a Sergio Corbucci spaghetti Western, a move that takes Dalton abroad for a six‑month shoot in Italy. Booth accompanies him, sharing the journey as both a professional and a friend. The Italian sojourn brings new experiences, three more films, and a surprising personal update when Dalton marries the Italian starlet Francesca Capucci. Before Dalton returns to the United States, he tells Booth that he can no longer rely on his salary, and Booth accepts this with a quiet, gracious understanding.

Back in Los Angeles on August 8, 1969, the two men share a night of celebration, toasting the time they spent together. The mood shifts as Dalton returns home to a quiet evening—Booth smokes an acid‑laced cigarette, and Brandy is walked through the night as Dalton whips up margaritas.

But the city’s tension erupts as Manson’s followers—Tex, Sadie, Katie, and Flowerchild—arrive with deadly intent at Tate’s home. The group is drawn to the victim’s door by the life that Dalton represents on screen, but their plan soon targets him and those he cares about. Dalton, startled by a car’s muffler and overwhelmed by the disruption, orders the trespassers off the private street. Yet the misreading of the situation leads the intruders to target Dalton’s home rather than him—and their violence takes a brutal turn.

The confrontation inside the house becomes a brutal struggle. Booth recognizes some of the intruders from his time at Spahn Ranch and commands Brandy to retaliate. Brandy fights ferociously, mauling Tex and then biting off his genitals before Booth finishes him with a stomp. Katie stabs Booth, but he overpowers her with whatever tools are at hand. Brandy’s assault devastates Sadie, who crashes into the backyard, shocking Dalton as he sits, headphones on, lost in his own world of music.

In a final, incendiary act of defense and consequence, Dalton retrieves a working stunt flamethrower from a shed and uses it to incinerate Sadie, a moment that marks the brutal turning point of the night and its ambiguous moral line.

As the police collect statements and an ambulance carries Booth away to the hospital, Sebring and Tate welcome Dalton into their home to share a drink and the sense that the night’s chaos might give birth to a different future for him. The film lingers on this fragile, uncertain hope—the possibility that a man whose career has drifted could still find a new spark, even amid the shadows of a neighborhood that embodies a changing era.

“the Devil and here to do the Devil’s business”