Premiered at the Venice Film Festival September 2,2018
a Mary Harron film
Blaine: 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Manson murders and there are two movies released in 2019 that represent or involve the Manson Family, “Charlie Says” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”.
Plot
A graduate student, Karlene Faith, is assigned to teach inmates Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan Denise Atkins, who were followers of notorious killer Charles Manson. The girls devoted themselves to Manson, and what they believe is nonsense. They killed innocent people under his orders. Karlene must make the girls realize that what they did was wrong, and those people died for no reason.
Blaine: People know who Charles Manson is, and how sick he was, but they don’t know that much about the Manson girls, and screenwriter Guinevere Turner felt their side of the story needed to be told. Guinevere Turner got to meet Karlene Faith, the woman who helped the Manson girls sane again. Karlene got a lot of attention after her book, “The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten” was published. Everyone would ask Karlene about the Manson girls, when really she was just trying to fulfill her goal, which was to help Leslie get parole, but that never happened. Guinevere was lucky enough to get close to Karlene because Guinevere felt trustworthy to Karlene. Guinevere would talk to Karlene on the phone, visit her at her house, and they both became friends. Guinevere wrote a first draft of “Charlie Says”, and asked Karlene to take a look at it, but Karlene decided to see the movie, and give her opinion on that instead. Karlene never got a chance to see “Charlie Says”. In 2017, Karlene died from aortic aneurysm, and “Charlie Says” hadn’t been made yet. Guinevere Turner used some material from Karlene Faith’s book, “The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten” for the “Charlie Says” script. She also used some material from Charles Manson’s book, “The Family”. Director Mary Harron was Guinevere’s collaborator on “American Psycho” and “The Notorious Bettie”, and Mary was curious to know how Charles Manson was able to brain wash these girls, who started off regular, and turn them into murders.
Guinevere Turner never met with Charles Manson, when he was still alive. She knew Manson would only say things that weren’t true. Everything he said never made sense. Manson was a man living in his own world. He was also a loser who got lucky by gathering people who would do his every command. He wanted to be a musician, but he wasn’t good enough, and that made him insane. Guinevere got her hands on some video interviews of Charles Manson, and she thought he was annoying just from watching those videos. Before the Manson murders, Charles Manson was already a criminal, and by the time he got out it was the Hippie days, and he wanted to take advantage of that. People were experimenting by doing drugs, getting high, and having sexual intercourse a lot. Charles Manson was able to find teenagers, a lot of them female, who were having rough lives.
They felt their parents didn’t love them. Charlie found them, and took them in. Manson never changed after being released from prison in ’67. The first person to join Manson’s cult was Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, and she helped Manson recruit other young girls. The Manson Family was known to be the first ever cult. Twenty five people were apart of Manson’s cult, and they stayed on an abandoned movie set outside of Los Angeles. It was called Spahn’s Movie Ranch. Everyone thought they were exploring something, and they were forgetting about their troubles. Next thing you know, Charles Manson was teaching them how to kill. Charles Manson was saying things that didn’t make sense, but they believed everything he was saying. Must have been from all the drugs they did. He even called himself Jesus Christ. Everyone was becoming Manson’s mind slave.
Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins and probably Squeaky, were more loyal to Manson than the rest. One of the men in the Manson family, Charles Tex Watson, taught the girls how to kill under Manson’s orders. Charles Manson acted kind to everyone in the beginning, but then he was becoming dangerous. On July of 1969, the Manson Family did their first murder, and the victim was musician Gary Hinman. Manson had his followers stab the guy to death. Charles Manson never killed anyone, he had his followers do all the work. The next target was actress Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant. Sharon Tate had some guests over and everything was peaceful until members of the Manson Family showed up. Sharon Tate begged for them to spare her life so she could raise her baby, but they showed no mercy.
The news was terrifying because people were stabbed to death, and there was no leads to who did this. However, the Manson Family got busted four months later after one member ratted them out because she knew what they were doing wasn’t right. It was a huge surprise to learn the murders were caused by teenagers. Charlie was arrested too. Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins made jackasses of themselves while they were in court. Charlie would tell them what to do before their trial, and they did it. They wanted to protect Charles Manson because his life meant more to them than their own. They thought Manson was saving the world, but that was all bullshit. The trial lasted a year, and in 1971, the girls were found guilty, and sentenced to death. They became the youngest women to sit on death row. The three of them, and Manson were sentenced to die in a gas chamber at San Quentin, but that all changed because the US Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty, and the Manson girls and Charlie were sentenced to life in prison. Sharon Tate’s mother, Doris, made sure that the Manson Family never got paroled, and never got released from prison.
“Charlie Says” focusses on the three Mansion girls’ point of view. Guinevere Turner did a lot of research to develop her screenplay. A lot of the stuff the Manson Family does in “Charlie Says” is as weird as you would see in any other cult. But it’s not all about the cult, it’s also about these three girls opening their eyes with the help of Karlene Faith. The actors that were hired were aware of what the Manson murders were, but they didn’t know all the details. Guinevere Turner’s script was like a history book.
Matt Smith (Doctor Who & The Crown) played the lead in a musical version of “American Psycho”, which was based on Mary Harran and Guinevere Turner’s film. Mary and Matt were both at the Primetime Emmy Awards, and Mary went up to Matt to introduce herself. One of the things Mary mentioned during her conversation with Matt Smith was the Mansion Family project she was developing with Guinevere Turner. A few weeks later, Mary heard from Matt Smith saying he was interested in auditioning for the part of Charles Manson. It was a challenge for Matt Smith to play someone he doesn’t fully understand because Manson never spoke normal. Matt thought Charles Manson was a really annoying guy after seeing some footage of him. Mary loved the idea of Matt Smith playing Charles Manson, and Matt blew her away when he auditioned for the part.
The performances in “Charlie Says” are so convincing. They make me believe they are these people. Like Matt Smith does an excellent Charles Manson. Acting all weird and talking like Charlie. And then you have all the actresses, Hannah Murray (Game of Thrones), Sosie Bacon, Mariannne Rendon, Merrit Wever, Grace Van Dien and Kayli Carter.
Hannah Murray wanted to be apart of “Charlie Says” because it was being made by women, and the story was a female driven film. Hannah also found it fascinating to learn things about the Manson girls she never knew. Hannah got to know Leslie van Houten by reading Karlene Faith’s book. Karlene knew Leslie very well. Hannah felt she knew who Leslie was while reading the book. Hannah’s parents were freaked out that she was auditioning for a movie about the Mansion Family. From the looks of it in “Charlie Says”, Leslie was confused. It’s like deep down she knew everything at the ranch, and Charles Manson was no good, but her conscience wasn’t speaking loud enough for her to hear. She couldn’t stand up for herself, or say what was on her mind. When you see the girls in the prison, Leslie is open minded to what Karlene has to say.
Whenever Charlie wasn’t around, Patricia Krenwinkel would be his messenger, to remind the others, like Leslie, what Charlie always says. Patricia acts like she is wise, but she doesn’t know everything she believes in, that Charlie told his followers, is false. Karlene would ask questions to the girls that would make them think. Karlene’s words really got to Patricia. Patricia was realizing Karlene is right about everything. Patricia didn’t want it to be true when the girls realized all the stuff they did was for nothing, but there was no escape from the truth. At the end of “Charlie Says” it shows Patricia looking at a picture of Charles Manson in her cell, and she feels like an idiot for listening to a lunatic.
Susan Atkins’s life was already rough before Charles Manson came into it. Susan’s mom died from cancer, and that was really hard on her. She also dropped out of high school, and became a stripper. There’s a scene where Charlie tackles Susan, and takes his anger out on her after this record producer turns down Charlie. Susan felt it was no problem the way Charlie treated her, but I don’t think it would be any different from the way things were before meeting Charlie. Both Leslie, and Patricia have regret in the end. Susan, she finds religion.
Sharon Tate is in a couple of scenes. Apparently Charles Manson wasn’t really after Sharon Tate, he was after the guy who owned the house before her. But when Charlie was told the guy moved away he settled for Sharon Tate instead. What an ass hole. The death scenes in “Charlie Says” are brutal and they are made to look that way because that’s how it was in real life. It doesn’t show Sharon Tate being stabbed to death, but it does show her begging for both her, and her unborn son’s life. Then her cheek gets slit, and then it cuts to something else.
Karlene Faith feels like an amazing person to me because she didn’t give up on these girls, and she was able to succeed in making them sane again. Although that didn’t help Leslie, Patricia and Susan get out of prison. Charles Manson filled the girls’ heads with nonsense, and Karlene had it sucked out. Everyone thought the Manson girls would remain insane forever, but Karlene proved them wrong, and she knew she could do it. But Karlene also realized that if she opens the girls’ eyes then they’ll realize they were fools to take orders from a maniac, and that they have ruined their own lives. Merritt Wever is a very skilled actress, and she put a lot into her performance as Karlene. The girls are upset with themselves for what they have done, but Karlene was there for them, and I think Karlene was an icon to the girls.
The ranch the Manson Family stayed at burnt down, so they couldn’t shoot “Charlie Says” there. They were going to shoot the film at a neighboring ranch until the owners found out Mary and her team were doing a project about Charles Manson. The owners threw Mary, and the crew off the property. So Mary had to find another location and it was perfect.
Making “Charlie Says” happened fast. The whole ensemble was cast from February to April of 2018. Then they shot the movie during the Summer. And then it was all done just in time for the 2018 Venice Film Festival. “Charlie Says” didn’t have a distributor at that time. After it’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival, IFC bought the rights and “Charlie Says” was released in select theaters on May of 2019. “Charlie Says” is about lunatics, but a lot was put into it. I would say it’s a good drama. It’s also interesting, and my rating on it is four and a half out of five stars.
