Original subtitles

[indistinct radio chatter]

[distant sirens]

[gentle music]

- I'm nobody.

I'm a tramp, a bum, a hobo.

I'm a boxcar and a jug of wine.

[helicopter whirring]

You think that my mind is like your mind, but it isn't.

There's no need to feel guilty.

I haven't done anything I'm ashamed of.

Because we're outlaws.

[music intensifies]

Yeah, when you're in war, you're in war, mister.

Believe me, if I started murdering people,

there'd be none of you left.

♪

- Friday night in Los Angeles,

a movie actress and four of her friends were murdered.

The circumstances were lurid.

- In a scene described by one investigator

as reminiscent of a weird religious rite...

- This was at the home of movie director Roman Polanski.

It was his wife... - Eight months pregnant.

- ...who was one of the victims.

- Bodies were scattered inside,

on the lawn and the driveway.

- The others were a male hairdresser,

the heiress to a coffee fortune, a writer,

and a boy just out of high school.

- A scene more tragic than any horror movie.

- Stunned the city and shocked the world.

- In all my years I have never seen anything

like this before.

- You all know it? - No.

- At 8:30 this morning, Winifred Chapman,

an employee, came to work at 10050 Cielo

and found several bodies in the house,

and immediately the police were notified.

The tentative identification of the persons are as follows.

Sharon Polanski,

Jay Sebring,

Wojciech Frykowski,

Abigail Folger,

and another man who is unknown.

- Where were the bodies found? All in one room?

- No, two of the bodies were found inside the house,

one in a vehicle, and two on the front lawn.

- We understand she was pregnant, is that correct?

- Yes, she is pregnant, but I'm not going to discuss how...

- Were any of the bodies badly mutilated?

- This I'd rather not discuss.

- Was there anything scrawled

on the front door of that house in blood?

- I can't answer that question.

♪

- Do you have any kind of an idea

of who might have done it?

Do you have any kind of APBs out, any suspects at all?

- No, the only person we have at this time is Mr. Garretson,

whom we are questioning, because he was on the premises

this morning when the maid arrived.

- Why is this case more complicated than other cases

that you can't comment?

What's the difference in this case?

- Well, how many cases and how many times do you have

five persons that are found murdered at the same time?

- ♪ Around, around

- Living is what scares me.

Dying is easy.

- And a short time later, not far away,

a middle-aged couple was found murdered

in similar circumstances.

- The latest murders were discovered during the night.

The bodies of a man and his wife found in their home.

Leno LaBianca, a supermarket owner,

and his wife had both been stabbed to death,

repeated stab wounds.

On his body, the word "war" had been carved in the chest.

Then, with blood, the killer had scrawled the words

"death to pigs."

♪

- Oh my God, it's happened again.

- The slaughter of innocent people.

- That set off a panic state in Los Angeles.

- People locked their doors at night.

People started arming themselves.

[police sirens]

[tense music]

[gentle music]

♪

- We thought she was a British star.

Come to find out, she's an American all the time.

A beautiful young lady you're gonna be hearing a lot from.

She's in London filming "The Vampire Killers,"

a new film by director Roman Polanski.

Sharon Tate is the young lady's name.

- I was born in Dallas, Texas.

- And lived all of your life in America?

- Not really, I lived in Italy for four years.

- Why was that? - My dad's in the Army.

- An Army brat made good, huh?

- Yeah, I try. - Oh, that's great.

And now you have a monster movie.

- And now... not really. - What's it called?

- It's called "The Vampire Killers," Roman Polanski.

- Sharon?

Sharon?

Looking at him, not at me, okay?

- Looking at the husband? - Yeah.

- You know, uh... - Yeah.

- Quiet in the back. - Turnover.

- During that period when I was in London,

I remember an instant when I was thinking,

"I'm happy now and I don't want anything else."

- London: two top film folk got spliced,

and the present public turned out in force.

He is Polish-born director Roman Polanski.

She's American actress Sharon Tate.

And the huge public interest their wedding created

shows that the magic of motion pictures

is as strong today as ever.

After the ceremony at Chelsea Registry Office,

the mini-gowned bride and the mod-geared mate

made for the Playboy Club and a star-studded reception.

Bunnies lavished champagne

on some of the top names in show business.

Michael Caine keeping company

with very dishy Candice Bergen.

The bride will keep working.

Hubby says he wants a hippie, not a housewife.

That was the only serious note of the day.

Tony Newley got the star set really shaking.

[upbeat music]

- California. Mean temperature 73 degrees.

The sun that never quits.

It acts on the unburned hydrocarbons

and oxides of nitrogen from auto exhaust.

Los Angeles County, with four million cars

and the odd bike suffers most because it's in a basin.

The breezes are balmy.

There's nothing to stir up that brown cloud

that can make your eyes tear.

85% of it attributed to cars.

The more general effect, our whole climate is warming up

because there's so much carbon dioxide in the air.

It's so heavy that it prevents the radiation of heat

from the Earth's surface.

[inhales deeply]

Ahh, breathe in, city folk.

[Charles Manson's "Don't Do Anything Illegal"]

♪

- ♪ Don't do anything illegal ♪

♪ Beware of the eagle

♪ That's right in the middle of your back ♪

♪ Don't be illegal ♪

♪ They got

♪ You in a sack

♪ They got you in a sack ♪

♪ And they keep you looking back ♪

♪

♪ Don't do anything illegal

♪ Beware of the eagle that's got you by the neck ♪

♪

- This is where they lived, among the stables, barns,

and phony buildings of an old,

run-down movie location 20 miles from Los Angeles.

They called themselves "The Family."

- ♪ I gotta see your ID my friend ♪

♪ I gotta see where you begin ♪

♪ I gotta see your ID my friend ♪

- Back and forth, lugging their sleeping bags.

They just lived anywhere they felt like it.

With they're family.

- They were constantly taking dope,

and they just sit around all day

and sleep and got loaded.

- Police said they were a pseudo-religious cult.

The family's leader, Charles Manson...

- He's a good person. A very good person.

He's got a lot of peace.

- He was introduced to us as their idol and leader,

and he was always interested in music.

And everywhere he went, some of the girls kinda followed him

and laughed and talk and sang.

- Well, when I first met him, the man talked to me,

and he says, "Why don't you come up?"

"and the rules are that, you know, there is no rules."

"You just look at it, and just be beautiful with it,

and it's just beautiful to you."

- Yeah. - You know, and I love him.

- His so-called power, which is-it only lies in his happiness.

That's what attracts people is he's completely happy.

- And warm. - Gentle.

He dances, he sings, he looks beautiful,

he looks happy, and this draws a lot of people,

just like people are drawn to little babies.

- That's all there is, that's all there is,

is brothers and sisters,

and Charles Manson is your brother.

- Morning. - Why?

- Sun's shining this morning. - It is.

- Yeah. - Well, what are your plans?

- I have none.

Going to the desert.

- Desert? - Yeah.

- So you were 14, 15, 16 during that time?

- I met him when I was 14.

He was kind of impish and playful, you know?

He could be funny.

[gentle music]

♪

He was in the circle playing music,

and he got up and offered me his root beer,

and gave me a big hug,

and "Come, join us in the circle."

We, you know, "We've been waiting for you."

It just all ended up seeming,

you know, like providence or something.

♪

Spahn Ranch had been a movie set for lots of westerns.

And when we first saw it, that's what it was.

It was kind of a run-down movie set.

The corral was way to the left and there was a big barn.

There was the jail and there was a big saloon.

But there were rooms behind them.

And then there was the kitchen.

There was a band of, like, we called them outlaw shacks.

And then all the way to the right was George's house.

He was blind, and it definitely showed.

You know, the house was in as bad disrepair as,

you know, the facade.

It needed paint, inside and out.

And we cleaned.

You know, there was always tons of sweeping to do.

We mucked out the stalls.

And we helped out in the corral.

We helped rent the horses.

There were trails all over for riding horses into the hills

where all the fabulous rocks are.

We got high.

Obviously, we got high.

You know, I could just remember dancing together

and just, you know, maybe cooking.

Helms Bakery would come by

and give us their day-old stuff at the ranch.

And Charlie introduced us to dumpster diving

behind the grocery stores.

We had our favorite ones,

because they had better food that they threw out.

You know, in the beginning, it was different.

I mean, there was just like six of us girls.

Mary was pretty reserved, actually.

You know, she was very quiet.

Mary really was like the matriarch of the Family.

I think Mary probably a little bit resented,

you know, like all of us did, sharing Charlie.

Patty Krenwinkel was just like Mother Earth,

I mean, she was just one of the sweetest, humblest,

most nurturing girls in the Family.

Leslie, she was just like a giggly high schooler.

I viewed her as a little hottie,

and I hadn't been to high school.

She'd been like a homecoming queen,

and she really came off like that.

Sandy was very smart, but she was very needy.

You got that sense that she was entitled.

She has remained one of Charlie's

most ardent followers.

Susan Atkins was definitely more worldly.

She'd been a stripper, maybe she'd even been a sex worker.

You know, she'd been around the block.

Gypsy came to the Family at Spahn Ranch.

Gypsy liked that lifestyle.

She was playful. She played the violin.

She was definitely a true hippie.

I was closest to, really, Lynette.

Lynette was kind of looking out after George.

Lynette was really the closest confidante to Charlie.

He confided more in her than anybody.

And I think that Charlie played a different role

for each one of us.

I was falling under Charlie's spell.

- We were in a group marriage with all the lines blurred.

We were brothers, sisters,

mothers, fathers, lovers, everything to each other.

One of the reasons we were pulled to Charlie

was because he was a musician.

All of us wanted to be musicians,

and that's what we did every single night is play music.

[upbeat guitar music]

- ♪ Walking all alone not going anywhere ♪

♪ Walking all alone and nobody seemed to care ♪

♪ Restless as the wind, this town is killing me ♪

♪ Got to put an end to this restless misery ♪

- Usually we'd get in the circle,

and Charlie would administer the acid,

like a sacrament, almost.

Taking LSD, you can see the trees growing.

I mean, you just really feel like at one

with the Earth and the universe.

I mean, you just kind of like,

everything starts making more sense.

And then at some point,

he would orchestrate a love-in,

you know, an orgy, for lack of a better word.

I mean, we didn't think of it as an orgy,

but that's really what it was.

[gentle music]

We were dependent upon each other.

He didn't want us to think about our families.

Forget your parents.

You know, get rid of your inhibitions.

You know, what the outside society says is wrong.

You know, we're going in the right direction.

♪

[The Litter's "Action Woman"]

♪

- ♪ Hey Miss High and Mighty

♪ I've had all I can take

♪ Walking right on by me

♪ That's your last mistake ♪

♪ I've got to find myself some action ♪

♪ Before I lose my mind

- This is Hollywood, the most famous,

the most glamorous place in the world.

It's a place of dreams, hopes, and riches.

Let's go Hollywood backstage and see this unique

and fascinating place called Hollywood.

♪

- The Hollywood scene was quite a vibrant scene.

It was a period when the Beach Boys were very big,

Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds.

They were all coming up fast. They were all big.

The scene in the nightclubs

was a crazy mélange of characters

from the rock and roll world

and characters from the underworld.

You could see the celebrities hanging out

at Jack Hanson's Daisy Club in Beverly Hills.

Jack Hanson and his wife, Sally, designed Jack Slacks.

- Hollywood is the place

where women started wearing pants,

led by Marlene Dietrich in the '30s.

Slacks are now an accepted item of feminine apparel.

But at Jack's of Beverly Hills,

they achieve a new, impressive status.

- He could make women, particularly actresses,

look sleek and sexy.

Jack made a lot of money from it,

and he opened his own club.

You didn't apply for membership to Jack's.

You were invited to join.

Steve McQueen, Roman Polanski there with Sharon Tate.

Then of course, there was Jay Sebring,

who earned huge amounts of money

for giving a movie star a haircut.

And they could go wild,

and they could know that no paparazzi

would take their picture.

Drugs were being used.

If you saw it, you didn't talk about it.

Many stars were probably looking

for a little bit of an extra kick,

so anybody with kind of a rough reputation

might have been adopted into the scene.

- They're doing this movie in Topanga Canyon,

just a stupid nudie cutie,

and they want a bunch of girls that can look like Indians.

I read for them, and they said,

"We'd like to offer you one of the main roles."

So that was "Ramrodder."

I show up, and just a little ways off

I see this stunningly handsome young man.

And he came over, and he got really, really close,

and he said, "I'm your love interest."

And he said, "Do you mind if I get a preview?"

He lifted my top and goes,

"Perfect, just like I thought."

Turned around and said, "I'll see you later."

And that's how I met Bobby.

♪

- Topanga was laid back compared to Los Angeles.

You had the feeling that you were out in the country,

even though it was fairly close to civilization.

The first time I met Charlie was down in the Topanga Canyon

where it meets the highway.

I heard music coming from this old wooden house.

I went up the spiral staircase.

There was a guy in a plaid shirt singing, playing guitar.

I started playing this little instrument

I found on the table,

and just did the best I could to fit in

with the man who was singing,

who I was later introduced to as Charlie.

After I moved into Topanga,

I wanted to try to get some jobs playing guitar.

One day I did get a call from the bass player

in a band called The Milky Way.

The band was built around the songs that Charlie was doing.

We played at the Topanga Corral I think two nights

or three nights before we were fired.

I wasn't gonna join his commune.

I had no interest in that,

but he is a person, as a musician,

I did have an interest in.

I thought he was worth investing

a little of myself in.

It was enough of an interest to me that I kept coming back.

♪ ♪

[mellow guitar music]

- ♪ Pretty girl

- A couple of girls met Dennis Wilson.

He picked 'em up hitchhiking,

and they introduced him to Charlie.

- ♪ Cease to exist

♪ Just come and say you love me ♪

- I think the two must have hit it off.

Suddenly we were, like, living there.

- Give up your world ♪

♪ Never learn not to love you ♪

- When we first drove into Dennis Wilson's estate,

there was peacocks roaming around

and big eucalyptus trees,

and just a rambling log home with a lot of glass.

It was really beautiful.

There was a guest house.

Big swimming pool.

Just a beautiful place, the inside, huge fireplace.

Fireplace that you could walk into.

Charlie was teaching Dennis how to play the guitar,

and Dennis welcomed Charlie and us girls into his home,

and we would take his Rolls Royce and go dumpster diving.

We made food, and he was impressed.

I remember making the strawberry cake, you know?

And he was like, "Wow, this came out of a..."

You know, "This came out of a dumpster?"

He would introduce Charlie

to his other musician friends with pride.

- [Charlie] Common people, man, so...

- Both Terry Melcher and Gregg Jakobson came

and listened to Charlie play the guitar and sing.

- Dennis called me up and was very excited,

and said, "Come on, you've got to meet this guy

and these girls," and he went on and on.

And sure enough, it was quite an interesting scene.

Everybody was having a good time,

drinking beer, smoking a joint.

Girls were in the swimming pool.

Charlie was inside, and he was very demanding.

He did garner your attention.

He was a fascinating character.

He was really interesting.

- If you had a camera, I could dance.

- Dennis used to call Charlie "the Wizard."

He really thought that Charlie was magical.

In the beginning, he was really enamored by him.

- I wrote about a couple hundred songs, you know?

- Dennis had an affinity for finding the waifs

and people that seemed to be misfits.

They would all seem to find him.

That's where Charlie Manson came into the scene.

He was one of Dennis's projects.

- [chuckles] Huh? Yeah, well, I mean, you know...

- He wasn't a friend of mine, but I knew him.

And he would find the places that we were,

and he would just be there.

I just thought he was a seedy little character,

and I just, you know, and he also didn't bathe.

And none of those people did.

And so you knew he was there a block away,

just, you know, 'cause that's who he was.

- The smartest people in the world

are really the most cut off.

- And he would make you listen to this guy,

and people were doing it to humor Dennis,

or because of who he was,

people were giving him the respect.

- Take all the words away

and don't think in right and wrong.

Just think in truth and all the answers are there.

The weirdest thing was

first the parties were in the guest house,

and this Manson and his crew would be there.

And then it kind of flipped itself,

and Dennis moved those people into his house,

and he stayed in the guest house on his own property.

So, for some reason, Charlie was able to manipulate him.

- Oh, yeah, this'll make you some money.

This is a money song, yeah.

- Charles had convinced him that the music

that he was playing was good,

and that he was gonna be a superstar,

and so I guess Dennis went along with it,

I guess, and tried introducing him to people,

and to try to get him a record deal and all of that.

- You do whatever you feel, man.

- Yeah, well, then I won't... I won't do...

- You know, whatever comes in your mind.

- Yeah, all right. - I'm just sitting here,

gonna groove with you for the next hour and a half,

or hour and 45...

- We went to Brian Wilson's

to a session that they were gonna record maybe a demo.

- Let's see, hmm-hm.

[gentle guitar music]

♪ There's a time for living

♪ The time keeps on flying ♪

♪ Think you're loving baby ♪

♪ And all you're doing is crying ♪

♪ Can you feel are those feelings real ♪

♪ Look at your game, girl

♪ Look at your game, girl

♪ What a sad, sad game

♪ Mad game

♪ Sad game

- Summer was coming to an end.

At some point, Dennis would have to leave.

The Beach Boys were gonna go on the road.

And that's when things would start to fall apart.

I remember at one point Dennis is gone,

One of the accountants for Dennis says,

"You have a $1,200 Alta Dena Dairy bill."

They were charging everything.

They would... The Alta Dena Dairy man would, like,

be unloading his truck there at the place.

So that started to play on Dennis.

He didn't want people to take advantage of him,

nobody does, and that became more and more apparent

that that's what was going on.

That was, maybe more than anything else,

the formal beginning of the split,

of going their separate ways.

He was gonna go away for two weeks, on the road,

and he said, "Gregg, can you get me out of here?

Can you find a house for me?"

So, literally, I hired a moving company

to take Dennis's personal stuff out of there.

And the whole idea was to not let

the girls and Charlie know.

He was really trying to divorce himself from that.

He was really done with it.

All: We want the Beach Boys!

We want the Beach Boys! We want the Beach Boys!

[dramatic music]

♪

- In 1967, '68 and '69,

we had bigotry, racial prejudice.

[all chanting]

And there were race riots in every major American city.

- The simple fact is this.

We are in the worst crisis we have known since the Civil War.

And time is running short

to try to find some answers to it.

[all singing]

This was the image of the negro revolution

only a few years ago.

Negro and white, side by side.

Patient negroes.

The violence we saw was quite.

We saw negroes hosed and beaten,

harassed with dogs.

Then, abruptly, shatteringly, the images were different.

"Burn, baby, burn" drowned out "We shall overcome."

♪

- America is shocked and saddened

by the brutal slaying tonight of Dr. Martin Luther King.

I ask every citizen to reject the blind violence

that has struck Dr. King.

- When the racists shot Martin Luther King,

the bullet that killed him killed non-violence.

- During rebellions, brother, you got to stop looting

and start shooting.

Black power, brothers.

- Black power!

- Charlie Manson thought black people were inferior,

but he also feared them.

He began by being afraid of the black Muslims in prison.

[all chanting]

So what Charlie talks about is a race war's coming.

- The call was for violence, and it filled the air,

it seemed, everywhere.

I saw myself reflected

in the wildness of their hopes and stares.

- We have been too non-violent! Too non-violent!

- You are either for it or you are against it.

- There is no such thing as a non-violent revolution!

- He was convincing them,

they were either gonna be murdered by the blacks,

or the blacks would make them slaves.

♪

The problem for a guru is if you promise

that some great thing is gonna happen

and it doesn't, you've let down your followers.

You don't have the magic after all.

So you've got to do the sleight of hand.

He's playing them the Beatles' "White Album" over and over,

and "Hear the messages the Beatles are sending us."

"Blackbird" works in very well,

"Piggies" works in very well.

Then there's the song, "Helter Skelter,"

coming down fast.

One of Charlie's basic creeds is that there is no crime,

there is no sin, that it's all just a game,

and that God's getting ready

to pull down the curtain on this game

and start it over again with his chosen people.

And that when Helter Skelter comes down,

that the cities are gonna be mass hysteria,

and that the beast will fall,

and the black man will take over.

♪

- So what do you want to do? You want to die,

or do you want to come with me and rule the world?

[all chanting]

♪

- These communes undergo a metamorphosis

as this kind of culture is established.

I think it's rather benign, but as it continues on,

I think the degree of criminality increases

until the whole spectrum of criminal activity

is ultimately a result.

[indistinct chatter]

- We'd been at Dennis's house.

That had all, you know, ended.

Dennis had moved out, and then we moved back to Spahn Ranch.

And that's when things

started going a little, little crazier.

The recording thing had... Didn't go well with Dennis.

And then they were still kind of dangling a carrot,

you know, to make a record, and then that didn't happen.

And after that,

then all the energy was about getting money.

We got introduced to the desert.

Race war, the Helter Skelter was gonna take place,

and that this was gonna be a hiding place.

[uneasy music]

Most of the people on the Earth would be gone,

and so he wanted beautiful people

to help repopulate and rule.

[coyotes howling]

And that's when I realized everything had changed.

♪

The Straight Satans, the motorcycle gang was involved,

and there were knives, and there were guns.

They were like a protection,

and a provider of weapons.

Danny DeCarlo was probably like the leader,

or the most vocal and the most friendly with Charlie.

- When did Charlie start to change.

Initially he didn't like the guns.

- A couple months,

because at first he wasn't into it, you know?

When I first went to the ranch, I brought everything.

I brought my whole arsenal up.

You know, I had three rifles, I had a couple of handguns,

I brought a machine gun out there.

He got that machine gun like John Wayne,

spray that thing all over the place,

and bullets went everywhere.

It made him feel good.

We had fun.

We had fun shooting guns.

Forgot about that. I did.

- Who was the best shot?

- Sadie. I'd say Sadie was.

You know, firing the machine gun.

- Did she get off on that?

- Oh, everybody did. I did too, watching them.

[chuckles]

♪

- Back at Spahn Ranch, now they're really building up

this kind of army, you know, really,

and trying to get money to fund guns and gas,

and the different vehicles.

♪

[horse neighs]

- Charlie sent word to Bobby, who was living in Hollywood,

with his then-girlfriend Kitty Lutesinger,

to come help us get protected.

So Bobby came on the ranch,

and he hung out with the bikers,

and he got enthralled with them.

He thought, you know, iron horses, freedom,

so he wanted to be a prospect.

- I really wanted to be a part of it, you know?

I was a wannabe and I wanted to be accepted.

I was building a bike, I liked the lifestyle.

The whole motorcycle culture,

the biker culture represented a kind of freedom

that I longed for.

I wanted to ingratiate myself with the club.

And when I heard that they were looking

to get some sort of party drug,

I offered to, you know, score for them.

The only guy I knew who might have anything

that would have been of interest to them was Gary.

After I left San Francisco and went to L.A.,

I met Gary Hinman, who was a friend of a friend.

He let me rent for a very low rental fee

the basement of his little house.

He had a baby grand piano in the living room,

which was also his bedroom and also his library.

He did teach piano out at UCLA,

played piano for a dance troupe.

- Gary loved music. He loved books.

He went on to pursue a master's program.

His mother was very proud of his musical ability.

He became involved with Buddhism,

and he and his parents

were going to go to Japan on a pilgrimage.

His parents were paying for the trip.

He did not have the money to do that.

Gary was a gentle human being.

- Gary wasn't like a real dealer by any means.

He was just a guy who sometimes

helped to make ends meet

by selling a little bit of pot to his friends.

Yeah, I did know that Gary had some mescaline

and Straight Satans gave me some money

to go score from Gary,

and I went and got mescaline for them.

It was a really stupid idea on my part

that mescaline would be a good thing

to give to some bikers for a party.

They came back to me and confronted me,

saying that they thought it was bunk.

Some of the guys had gotten sick on it.

If guys are drinking beer and popping red devils,

they take mescaline on top of that,

yeah, they're gonna get sick.

They wanted to get their money back.

[tense music]

♪

I thought I could just explain what the problem was,

and he would give me the money back.

Bruce and Danny drove me over, and Mary Brunner and Sadie

asked me if they could come along,

because they were friends of Gary's.

Honestly, I didn't think it was gonna be a big deal.

I had the gun because Bruce had given it to me.

I guess Danny recommended that I take the gun,

and that it'd be, you know, this sort of confrontation.

I didn't see it that way,

because I didn't see Gary that way.

We talked about it, and I told him what had happened,

and he says, "Well, Bobby, I don't have the money."

He showed me his wallet and his checkbook.

He had $57 in his checking account

and a few bucks in his wallet.

And then I was starting to get frantic.

And so I did hit him with the gun a couple of times.

I didn't hit him very hard. I'm just not that kind of guy.

And that is exactly what Gary said to me.

He says, "Bobby, this isn't you."

You know, and I apologized.

I said, "I just... I need to get something, Gary."

I need to take something back to these guys."

I needed to be able to look around the house

for something that might be worth some money.

I gave the gun to Sadie, told her, you know,

like I'd seen done in cowboy movies as a kid,

"If he moves, shoot him."

Sadie had begun yelling that Gary had got the gun.

I just immediately ran into the kitchen

and saw Gary trying to turn the gun on me,

and I just dove at him.

I got my hands on the gun.

As we were struggling, then the gun went off.

♪

In that instant,

with both of us looking into each other's eyes,

and I could see the same thing in his eyes,

that were... that I was feeling,

which was, "I wonder if I've been shot."

I was able to take the gun from him.

We both calmed down. I put the gun away.

And Gary and I sat down at the table again.

We came to the solution that he would sign over

the pink slips to his VW bus and that little jalopy.

The two of them probably weren't worth

what I was in debt to the bikers over.

What I didn't know at the time

was that one of the women had called the ranch.

[phone rings]

- The phone rang.

There wasn't anybody else around, so I answered it.

And it was Mary Brunner, and she said, "Get Charlie."

- After Gary had given me the title to the two little cars,

we were on cordial terms again.

Call it water under the bridge and leave it behind.

We became aware that someone was coming to the front door,

and Gary went to answer it.

And he opened the door, and said, "Hi, Charlie."

And Charlie stepped into the front door

and just slashed him across the face,

not a word, without warning.

I said, "Charlie, why did you do that?"

And he said, exact words, "Showing you how to be a man."

♪

And then Bruce turned to Gary and says, "Where's the gun?"

And I said, "I've got it."

Bruce took the gun, as quick as they came, they left,

and Charlie said, "Tell them to clean this mess up."

Gary was bleeding.

He was holding his hand up to his cheek,

and maybe I was just horrified and Gary was horrified.

I spent the next day with Gary.

And I didn't know what the fuck to do at that point.

I was getting increasingly desperate over the situation.

So I called the ranch.

[phone rings]

And got Charlie on the phone and I said,

"Man, you know, you created this problem,

"and I need you to take it back,

because I don't know what to do."

And he said something to the effect,

"You know what to do as well as I do," and hung up on me.

And maybe a half hour later, I stabbed Gary to death.

- He was found in the living room directly up here,

and he was lying on his back with multiple stab wounds.

He had been dead approximately one week

at the time that he was found.

After we entered the home, we saw signs of a struggle,

and it appeared as though there had been a

some degree of violence.

I would never have killed a man had Charlie

not come into Gary's home, slashed his face,

and then left me there with that responsibility.

I don't remember writing in blood on the wall.

I don't know that I did that.

I had always assumed it was me.

- I had seen Bobby and Mary and Susan Atkins

kind of huddled and whispering.

The twinkle in his eye was gone.

He looked scared and didn't look like Bobby.

So I asked him, "What's wrong?"

And he said, "Nothing."

So, I said, "Okay." And I just kept on walking.

[coyote howling]

[uneasy music]

♪

- Bobby Beausoleil, in his stupidity,

gets into the car of the murder victim, Gary Hinman,

and he drives 120 miles to San Luis Obispo.

- And drove off in Gary's car with the murder weapon.

- It was very early in the morning.

The car broke down.

The engine was still smoking

when the Highway Patrol car passed by.

So I jumped into the back seat

and pretended to be asleep.

I didn't know what I thought that would do to help.

- The highway patrolman discovered,

it is the car of the murder victim, Gary Hinman.

Mr. Beausoleil was arrested,

accused of first-degree murder.

[camera shutters clicking]

- After the murder, Charlie leaves town.

Things were getting too crazy in L.A.

[gentle music]

♪

- When I met Charlie, I was 17 on a road trip.

And we were on our way home, it was probably about,

I don't know, 3:00 in the morning or something.

We stopped for gas.

I went to go to the bathroom.

There was Charlie,

and a couple of fellows, I think,

that were just hitchhiking were with him as well.

He said some things, like, "Well, what's a beautiful girl

like you out here so late at night?"

And in just a short period of time,

he was able to tell me

everything I ever wanted to hear.

"I bet your dad doesn't really love you.

I bet nobody really takes you seriously."

And I was like, wow, you know?

And I saw there was guitars in his van,

and I thought, "This is neat."

We were near Big Sur,

and I had always wanted to see Big Sur.

So I don't know what happened.

I told the fellow that I was with,

I said, "I'm gonna go with these guys."

The attraction was just immediate.

Yeah.

♪

We pulled up to the Esalen Institute.

He took his guitar and he told me,

"Stay in the van while I go in there

and I'll be back in a little bit."

So, okay, so I just waited.

I think that he was thinking that they were gonna be

really blown away by his talent,

and, you know, his music abilities,

and, you know, ask him to come back and possibly pay him.

But, uh, they didn't.

He was pretty upset when he came back.

The fact that these people were not impressed

with his talent made him angry.

Put his guitar in the van,

and hardly said, you know, two words, and off we went.

When we met at the gas station, I said,

"If I go to Big Sur with you,

will you take me to San Diego to get my things?"

And he promised me that he would.

And he did.

We spent a couple of hours with my sister

and Charlie, and my sister's boyfriend,

and I don't think they were happy.

You know, they were on the outside looking in,

and I don't think they were real glad

that I was going with him, but nevertheless, I was, so.

Basically, I didn't take much.

A few clothes, my dog, and my guitar.

When we pulled up to the ranch,

everything was turned over.

Any clothes that I brought went into a communal pile.

My driver's license, any money I had,

which was probably very, very little.

Everything that we had went into,

like a communal pot,

and everybody just used whatever.

Kind of gave up your identity, you know?

♪

[indistinct singing]

♪

- I asked Charlie, "Hey, do you know what's up with Bobby?"

He said, "Yeah, he got busted in a dead man's car,

and now he's in for murder."

And I said, "Bobby?"

And he kind of said it with disdain.

And I said, "Well, what jail is he in?

I'll go see him."

And he said, "I've got this covered.

You stay out of it."

♪

[uneasy music]

♪

- In my world, there is no wrong.

You think that my mind is like your mind, but it isn't.

This confusion belongs to you. It's your confusion.

Living is what scares me. Dying is easy.

- But there is something else here.

We have known what Manson did without understanding why.

- Charlie played a different role for each one of us.

- We were everything to each other.

- This wasn't what I signed up for.

- These were America's children.

- It was the '60s. It was a perfect storm.

- People have been brainwashed to believe

the real reason behind these murders

was to start a race war.

He said, "Will you die for me?"

- Helter Skelter simply means confusion.

♪

- Greg, move your head.

[lion roars]

Subtitles Diego Moraes(oakislandtk) www.opensubtitles.org