'Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood' Post-credits Scene Explained: How Leonardo DiCaprio's Rick Dalton Character is Connected to Previous Tarantino Movies

Released today Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood is Quentin Tarantino's ninth film. But what is the significance of that mid-credits scene with Leonardo DiCaprio?

If you have not seen the film yet, there are spoilers ahead.

The film is about a faded television actor and his stunt double striving to achieve fame and success in the industry during the final years of Hollywood's Golden Age in 1969, according to IMDB. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, and takes audiences to the late 60s in Los Angeles, where the duo are trying to make sense of what is happening around them.

According to The Wrap, the Tarantino film has a mid-credits scene featuring DiCaprio as lead character Rick Dalton, which plays as the credits are rolling. Unlike the teasers from films such as The Avengers, the scene isn't crucial to the plot.

The scene depicts Rick Dalton shot in black and white, filming a commercial for Red Apple Cigarettes, The Wrap writes. Proudly touting that these cigarettes come factory rolled and "have less burn on your throat than any other brand," Dalton then comments with a straight face, "Better drag, more flavor, less throat burn." DiCaprio then takes a puff and holds a smile for a moment, and then spits out the cigarette and throws down the package, saying that the cigarettes "taste like s**t."

Perhaps it does not seem significant, or that it adds any value to the plot, but according to The Wrap, Tarantino often likes to include Red Apple Cigarettes in his films. The Easter egg is "a fictional brand of cigarettes that can be seen smoked by Tim Roth's character in Pulp Fiction or as a billboard advert in Kill Bill," writes the film mag.

At the end of the credits, Tarantino brings more of the 60s to life. "He plays an audio clip of the 'Batphone Secret Number Contest,'" says The Wrap. "In it, you can hear Batman stars Adam West and Burt Ward introducing a contest on KHJ Boss Radio in which listeners had to decipher a series of clues that led to the number of the Batphone that's seen in the show." The article goes on to say that the listener with the first correct answer would get to visit the set, have lunch with West and Ward and win a 1966 color TV.

This contest aired in January 1966, and took place a couple of years before the film's timeline. You can listen to it here.

While the film has received some positive reviews, female journalists have taken his latest venture as a "love letter" to the olden days of the film industry. For the New York Post, Sara Stewart writes that while the director has cut ties with the shamed Harvey Weinstein following the start of the #MeToo movement, Tarantino has never "strayed far from his urge to exploit in his films." She talks about his "fetishizing the N-word and relishing the sadistic treatment of women: Look no further than Jennifer Jason Leigh's Daisy Domergue taking a truly stupendous number of punches in the face, and then much worse, over the three-hour span of The Hateful Eight," she says.

You can see Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood from today in cinemas nationwide.