Manson remains America’s most popular—no other word for it—murderer, even though by all accounts he never killed anybody and wasn’t present when anybody was killed. Hollywood speed dealer Tex Watson might seem more like the leading man—he was there both nights, did the actual killings etc. But Bugliosi made the decision to give Watson’s friend and accomplice Charlie the auteur credit—again, no other word. Tex was all wrong for the part. He had short hair and boy-next-door looks—a high school football hero, for crissakes. Manson was a longhair, wild-eyed cartoon villain who belonged in a cage.
