Once Upon A Time In Hollywood: Ranking Every Major Performance

One of the smartest choices the film makes in its depiction of the Manson 'Family' is in how it completely and totally thumbs its nose at them in the final act. Similarly to how Tarantino very much attempted to deflate the legacy of Adolf Hitler in Inglorious Basterds, he shows the Manson 'Family' as unwitting and utterly incapable idiots and it is simultaneously hilarious and incredibly satisfying to watch.

But seeing as Charles Manson himself is all but absent from the film proper, the bulk of this parodying doesn't fall on him but rather on his 'children' who attempt to carry out the murders. Chief among them is Tex, as played by Austin Butler.

Tex is first introduced as a member of the 'family' during the Spahn Ranch sequence but he doesn't really get to shine until the final act, where he acts as the misbegotten leader of the group of would-be murderers. This sees him having to subsequently deliver all-timer lines such as "I'm as real as a doughnut, motherf*cker" with outraged conviction, and Butler plays this to *perfection*.

From his physicality to his comedic timing, Butler very nearly steals this climactic scene from a room quite literally packed-to-the-brim with scene-stealers.