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UPDATE (11/20/17): Charles Manson —housed at Corcoran State Prison since 1989— died last night at the age of 83, the California Department of Corrections said in a press release early Monday.
On Saturday, August 9, 1969, just after midnight, a group of armed intruders broke into a house located at 10050 Cielo Drive, a secluded mansion in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Benedict Canyon. By the time the acid-gobbling hippie intruders Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel left the home that night, they had murdered five people: Wojciech Frykowski (a writer), Patricia Folger (heir to the Folger’s coffee fortune), Jay Sebring (noted celebrity hairstylist and inspiration for the movie Shampoo), Sharon Tate (actress and wife of celebrated film director Roman Polanski), and Tate’s unborn child (she was 8 months pregnant on the night she died).
The very next night —August 10, 1969, exactly 47 years ago today— the aforementioned group of hippies were joined by their associates Leslie van Houten and Steve “Clem” Grogan, as well as their diminutive psychopathic “family” leader, Charles Manson, for another round of murder and mayhem. That night saw the brutal slayings of Leno and Rosemary Labianca in their Los Feliz home, concluding a weekend of terror that came to be known the world over as the infamous Manson Family murders.
It would take the Los Angeles police department nearly four months to tie Charles Manson and his “family” members to these shocking murders, a disturbing period of time that signified the end of the Sixties in both a literal and figurative sense. The combination of the severity of the crimes and the insane rationale that drove them —Manson had convinced his followers that The Beatles had been speaking to him directly (by way of their landmark White Album) about an impending race war between black and white people he referred to as “Helter Skelter”— gripped the American public like few other crimes had before or have since.
Last summer, the film critic turned podcast star Karina Longworth released a special 12-episode collection of her You Must Remember This podcast called “Charles Manson’s Hollywood,” a vital exploration of the ripple effect that Charles Manson had on the worlds of music, movies and television after arriving in Los Angeles in late 1967. (If you haven’t listened to it yet, by all means, do so now!)
What we present to you below is intended to be a streaming companion, of sorts, to Longworth’s essential podcast series. You needn’t listen to every episode of the podcast to enjoy what follows, but it certainly doesn’t hurt.
'The Fearless Vampire Killers' (1967)
The Polish film director Roman Polanski and the American actress Sharon Tate had met each other prior to working together on the 1967 horror/comedy The Fearless Vampire Killers, but it was during the filming of this movie that they fell for each other. After a successful run of European films, this was Polanski’s first experience working within the confines of the Hollywood studio system. Polanski famously clashed with the suits at MGM about the finished product, and Polanski all but disowned the version of the film that was released into American theaters. The version that’s available to stream these days is closer to Polanski’s original vision, and let’s just say that it serves it’s purpose as an interesting curio in the doomed story of the Polanski/Tate love affair.
'Zabriskie Point' (1970)
Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1970 film is one of the biggest financial bombs of its era, but the parallels between this exploration of the counterculture and what happened with the Manson family are undeniable (and explored at length in this truly wild blog post).
'Macbeth' (1971)
After the death of his wife and unborn child, Roman Polanski —who was in London filming a movie the night of the murders— fell into a serious (and completely understandable) creative funk. He abandoned The Day Of The Dolphin, and saw a few other projects fall through before finally filming his adaptation of the Shakespearian tragedy Macbeth. Partially financed by Playboy Magazine, Polanski’s MacBeth is a savagely bloody and sexually explicit interpretation of Shakespeare’s text. It’s also a masterpiece.
'Shampoo' (1975)
Jay Sebring was one of Hollywood’s very first celebrity hairstylists, and is widely credited for popularizing the entire concept of “blow drying” here in the United States. Sebring and Sharon Tate dated for quite some time before Tate began her relationship with Roman Polanski, and the two remained close even after their romance faded. Hal Ashby’s 1975 political satire Shampoo, which starred Warren Beatty, was reportedly used Sebring’s life and career as inspiration.
'Helter Skelter' (1976)
The 1976 television movie was based on the mega best-selling book of the same name, penned by Manson family prosecuting attorney Vincent Bugliosi. Starring Steve Railsbeck (The Stunt Man) as Charles Manson, the film generated a massive 36.5 share upon its premiere, making it the 16th highest rated TV movie of all-time.
'Charles Manson Interview with Tom Snyder' (1981)
Charles Manson was originally sentenced to death for his role in the Tate/Labianca murders, but California abolished capital punishment in 1972. Even though he was behind bars, this new lease on life gave time for Manson’s cult of personality to grow. Interest in Manson began waning after the publication of Helter Skelter in 1974, but interest in Manson once again surged during the Eighties. In 1981, television journalist Tom Snyder interviewed Manson, and America got its first real glimpse of how truly insane the cult leader was.
'Manson: Sane Or Psycho?' (1988)
Charlie Rose may have won an Emmy for his 1987 television interview with Charlie Manson, but it was Geraldo Rivera’s 1988 interview Manson: Sane or Psycho that caused a national stir. This primetime special once again reignited interest in the nearly 20-year-old (at this point) killings, and showcased Manson at, perhaps, his most terrifying. Or did it? This wild, gesticulating and rhyming version of Manson would later go on to be parodied in a series of recurring segments on The Ben Stiller Show in 1992, wherein Bob Odenkirk (aka Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul) played up Manson’s kooky factor for laughs.
'Charles Manson: The Man Who Killed the 60's' (1995)
This documentary was produced for (British?) television in 1995, and is less about the murders themselves than it is about the effect that the murders had on society at large. It features a few previously unseen interviews with Manson himself, as well as some recollections from Vincent Bugliosi.
[Watch Charles Manson: The Man Who Killed The 60’s on Amazon Prime]
'Dennis Wilson: The Real Beach Boy' (2010)
Wait, what does one of the Beach Boys have to do with Charles Manson? This incredible 2010 documentary, produced by Great Britain’s BBC 4, details how Dennis Wilson fell in with the Manson family. You see, Dennis and Charlie used to jam together —that’s right, Manson was a failed musician— and even lived in the same house for a stretch of time in 1968. Wilson and his fellow Beach Boys even went on to record one of Manson’s songs, “Cease to Exist,” which was eventually retitled “Never Learn Not To Love.” However, Wilson didn’t properly credit Manson as a co-writer, and cheated him out on the royalties he would have been due. This led to Manson threatening murder, and (perhaps) set him off on the path that would eventually lead to Cielo drive on that fateful August night a year and some change later.
'Manson Family Vacation' (2015)
This film stars Jay Duplass (Transparent) and Linas Phillips as estranged brothers who reunite and bond while taking a tour of all the real life locations where important Manson family events occurred. It’s a film about the Venn Diagram of when obsession meets depression, which makes it more than a little bit quirky, as you might expect. That said, it’s also pretty darn good. Don’t believe me? The film currently has a 100% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
