Odds are we’ll never get to see a Quentin Tarantino superhero movie, but his latest film does pay homage to an iconic superhero property in a bunch of ways.
Just to be clear, this is not at all a spoiler for the plot of Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.
If you stay through the credits of Tarantino’s new film, you’ll hear a brief Los Angeles radio promotion from the late 1960s, when the film is set. The clip is even on the soundtrack. You can listen here:
Yes, that’s Adam West and Burt Ward from the “˜60s Batman series, doing a giveaway on a Los Angeles radio station.
Now, Tarantino probably put that in there just to give fans a fun little smile on the way out of the theatre. His movies are already full of pop culture references, and one would venture to guess that Tarantino, a long time Los Angeles resident who was probably five or six at the time, could have heard and or even participated in this radio giveaway. What better way to put a cherry on top of his complex love letter to the city than something like that?
Unfortunately, the film ends it there, never telling everyone what happens next. Thanks to YouTube though, you can hear even more of the clues and great West/Ward dialogue talking about the contest. Here it is.
I mean… that’s pretty cool, right?
And, it’s not even the only Batman connection to the film. Al Pacino’s character, movie producer Marvin Schwarzs, jokes with Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) about appearing on the hit superhero show, and the film’s production designer, Barbara Ling, worked on the Joel Schumacher Batman films from the “˜90s: .
Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, starring DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, is now in theatres.