Here Tarantino does both, allowing himself to simultaneously honor and reinvent his own work. Let’s take a look at all the differences, as well as some fun Easter eggs along the way.
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Obviously, major spoilers ahead!
1.Bounty Law is referenced but never “shown.”
2.Rick and Marvin Schwarz don’t meet at Musso & Frank’s.
3.Cliff Booth is a major cinephile.
4.And we learn a lot more about Cliff's time in WWII.
5.It's revealed that Cliff has TWO Medals of Valor.
6.And we also learn that Cliff did in fact kill his wife.
7.Brandy the dog gets an elaborate backstory.
8.Cliff actually got away with murder TWICE.
9.Charlie Manson inspires Pussycat to go on something he called a "kreepy krawl."
10.There's a whole chapter about Sharon Tate hitchhiking to Hollywood.
11.The Playboy Mansion party is omitted.
12.The flamethrower finale makes a surprisingly early appearance.
Rick’s mood swings in the film — including the infamous self-deprecating tantrum in his trailer — can be downright hilarious. But in the context of the book, they tend to feel a little more sad since Rick is in the grips of alcoholism and depression. He sees his drinking as a weakness but he continues to use it as self-medication, not realizing he has a condition. The depression leads to more drinking, which leads to him feeling weak and depressed again; a vicious cycle.
14.Squeaky and George Spahn have a real relationship.
15.We learn more about Charles Manson's real-life wannabe rock star phase.
Even before “the Bruce Lee Incident,” Cliff was never impressed by the martial arts legend, comparing his fighting style to the dancing of Russ Tamblyn in West Side Story. He thought Lee was a blowhard who would never be able to survive hand-to-hand combat, especially with a war vet like Booth. So when Lee suggested they have a friendly contest of “two out of three falls,” Cliff was all but happy to knock him on his ass. But the more the competition escalated, Bruce could see he was in real trouble. “He could see Cliff wasn’t fighting Bruce Lee. Cliff was fighting his instinct to kill Bruce Lee.” If the fight had not been broken up, who knows what would have happened to Kato.
17.Cliff pays a visit to Tarantino’s real-life theater.
18.Rick and Cliff’s FBI screening party is omitted.
Arguably one of the funniest moments in the film is when Rick and Cliff sit down to watch Dalton’s guest spot as a killer on ABC’s show The FBI. The friends crack a beer and comment on the behind-the-scenes details of the episode as only Hollywood veterans could. Shit-talking the co-stars, marveling at the action, and laughing at the melodrama. Sad that this was omitted but I guess a scene like this just doesn’t translate well to the page without the subtle asides by DiCaprio and Pitt. Just think. If this scene were to have been omitted from the film too, the world would not have the infamous “Pointing Rick Dalton" meme...and we all know how much better that has made the internet.
19.Rick’s Great Escape story is greatly inflated.
20.There's a serious Lancer deep dive.
21.Cliff considered being a pimp.
22.Cliff got away with murder…for a THIRD time.
23.Pussycat gets even more ~friendly~ with Cliff.
24.The Manson Family Spahn Ranch confrontation is omitted.
25.The George Spahn Scene is told from Squeaky’s POV.
26.We learn how Pussycat met Charlie.
27.Cliff inadvertently gets real-life actor Aldo Ray in trouble.
28.Little Trudi Fraser gets more time to shine.
29.Quentin Tarantino references a fictionalized version of himself.
When Trudi Fraser suggests that she will win an Oscar later in her career, Tarantino takes this moment to educate the reader on her fictional future. He tells how Trudy Fraser would go on to be nominated for such films as Robert Redford’s Ordinary People, Norman Jewison’s Agnes of God, as well as the fictional remake of the gangster film Lady in Red directed by none other than Quentin Tarantino himself in 1999. But he goes on to say that, unfortunately, Trudy lost out to Hilary Swank for her work in Boys Don’t Cry.
30.Rick and Cliff enter “the Drinker’s Hall Of Fame.”
Curt the pianist explains that his son is a big fan of Dalton’s role in The Fourteen Fists of McCluskey. Rick is more than obliged to sign a cocktail napkin to Curt’s son, addressing the signature to “Private Quentin.”
33.Marvin Schwarz has another pivotal scene.
34.The finale of the book is very different.
35.Sharon Tate’s would-be murder is not mentioned.
36.Instead, Rick and Steve McQueen share a moment.
37.And finally, Quentin Tarantino’s favorite scene returns.
With the explosive flamethrower-meets-hippie ending omitted from the novel, this allowed Tarantino the opportunity to add in one of the movie's biggest deleted scenes: Rick and young Trudy running lines for the next day's Lancer shoot. In fact, this final scene between Rick and Trudy was so powerful during shooting that DiCaprio and Tarantino were both in tears while filming. According to the director, the scene just didn’t fit in correctly with the final edit of the film, but the scene works wonderfully in the book and allows this very character-driven novel to end with two great actors sharing a powerful moment.
Obviously, Tarantino made some major modifications to the story. How do you feel about the changes Tarantino made in the book? Tell us in the comments below.
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