Once Upon a Time in America: Extended Director's [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Ok, when reviewing an auteur like Sergio Leone, you can only compare his films with other movies he has made, and not with other films of the era. Sergio Leone has to be my favorite director, with Jean Pierre Melville second, and both men were Americaphiles, but Melville's films never left France while Leone rewrote the American Western.I first saw this movie in 1984 in New York, where I saw the American edit, which shows the story in chronological order, ie: the gang's childhood first, and then as adult criminals. I was also living in the Lower East Side, where a lot of the story is set. There was still enough of the old neighbour left at that time and a fading Jewish community to compare the movie with the real locations, and this film captures life in a Jewish Shtetl (ghetto), as if it were yesterday. The sets and locations are amazing, and most of this could not be filmed today, even with the best CGI. But is this a good film?Before this, Sergio Leone had made five westerns, all of which are masterpieces. This movie was the last of his Once upon a time trilogy, the first, Once Upon A time in the West, and then A Fist full of Dynomite, a rather bad title for a film that should have been called, Once Upon a Time in a Revolution. This Once Upon a Time, is based on a book called The Hoods by Harry Grey, a fictionalised version of real people and real events in the Prohibition era. It is more or less the story of Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel and other Jewish mobsters of the time. Leone spent years trying to develop this book into a film, and the screenplay has six writers! And this is of this film's problems, there is too much story here.Although we need to know the rise and fall of a criminal gang, there is way too much time spent on their childhood, however there isn't too many films that spends as much time as this on a childhood life in a ghetto, only City of God comes close, so just for that, it is a true original. This really is a film of two parts, childhood and adulthood.The adulthood part of this movie is pretty much a rise and fall story, with a "who done it?" plot, and that is how the movie starts, or at least, this edit starts. On first seeing, the first 30 mins is a mystery. The whys? and whats? of the plot very slowly unfold, until we are get to the childhood part, and only then does the story start. The story covers a lot real events in New York crime history, but with a lot of changes to names and times to protect the guilty, as the original book was published in 1952 when many of these people were still alive, and like the Godfather, the guilty know who they are, so I look at this movie as a piece of ficalinsed American criminal history.This film doesn't also look beautiful, it sounds beautiful too. I have seen Ennio Morricone in concert 3 times, and the music from this film has to be his most popular, and to hear it live is something I can't explain, but only to say, it is an amazing experience. The music was composed 8 years before production, and the actors would hear the music while on set, and I believed this helps the acting a lot, as acting is all about rhythm. Robert De Niro is at his method acting best here, as well as all the rest of the actors, many of whom turn up again in other gangster classics.Sadly, this movie was a financial flop. Although critics liked it, it didn't make any money and was Sergio Leone last film as he died 5 years later in 1989. He was planning on making a film about the siege of Leningrad that had a budget of 100 million dollars, but had no script! You can see how much he loved this movie, and it is a masterpiece, but it does have its flaws.Before directing this movie, Sergio Leone hadn't really directed a film since 1971. He did produce a few films in this time, but he had made so much money with his Dollars films, which in today's money made billions, he never had to make another film again in his life, and here is the problem. By the time of this release, cinema audiences had changed,and since Star Wars, demanded quicker stories and plots, also, there is a rape scene in it that doesn't need to be there. It is uncomfortable viewing, and doesn't drive the plot or story, but still it is great film, and you can only judge it for the times it was set in.I love all of Sergio Leone's films, and this movie is as good as his others, although my favorite is Once Upon a Time in the West, I can watch all again and again, and still find something new in them. This movie is a lesson in excellence, and should be viewed as such.

My oh my.There is a distinct polarisation of opinion of this film on the Amazon website.As you can see from the five stars i believe this is a truly great film, a classic ,a masterpiece.Yes it,s long, yes it,s slow, yes the lead characters are amoral thugs but none of this matters.This labyrinthine tale of Jewish gangsters subsides to an emotional core that is sombre and elgaic and ultimately moving.Those who don,t get it....well i suggest they consult a doctor because they may well have a lump of sandblasted tar instead of a heart.Sergio Leone,s interpretation of Harry Grey,s "The Hoods" takes an average pulp thriller and transforms it into a complex epic that slips easily between three time periods and gradually reveals a monumental betrayal.The genesis and evolution of the characters story is beleivable and though the fact that the screenplay was produced by Italians means the dialouge is occasionally clunky it,s never unrealistic or unintentionally humourous.Robert De Niro plays the adult "David "Noodles" Aaronson" who in one of the films lighter scenes(played by the child actors who potray the characters in their younger years , obviously) meets Max played by James Woods who quickly becomes fellow leader of the gang Noodles ran.Noodles has the hots for the daughter of the local bar owner, Deborah played by Jennifer Connelly, and it,s the dichotomy between Noodles deep friendship with Max and his love for Deborah that provide much of the films narrative momentum.The gang gradually progress to become criminals of some repute,most of which occurs while Noodles is in prison for kniving a rival gang leader, but they are still employed by a mob boss played by Joe Pesci to intervene in industrial disputes or murder fellow mobsters.Max has a fixation with robbing the federal reserve which Noodles knows is a scuicide mission,so in order to save his friend he turns them in to the police but the arrest goes horribly wrong and they all perish.Noodles is now alone and pursued by henchman of a vengeful mob boss. Wisely he decides to escape taking all the gangs ill gotten gains only to discover it,s all gone.He has no alternative but to leave town on the first bus out which goes to some back of beyond town where he spends the next thirty years.....until a letter arrives offering him money for one last job.Knowing they,ve found him he returns only to discover things are not what they seem.This is a sumptuous film,beautifully shot which looks great on DVD compared to my old grainy video copy.Leone,s trademark technique of lingering on characters faces is used extensively but all the actors are superb and carry it off easily,particually De Niro playing the old stooped Noodles.Some of the scenes as he visits old haunts and comes across old acquaintances are astonishingly poignant.Ennio Morricone,s extraordinary evocative score plays a major part in this.Apparantly it was played on set to help the actors find the right mood.It worked beautifully.Noodles is not a particually sympathetis character but his violent past clearly haunts him.His betrayal, his rape of Deborah when he realises she intends to leave him behind in her life,the men he killed all weigh heavily on his mind and its testimony to Leone that he manages to make the audience care about these misanthropic people.The complaints about the point at which the film cuts to the scond disc are fully justified.Whoever made this crass decision should be ashamed.The commentary by film critic Richard Shickel is a tad dull and at times a bit patronising but theres a doccumentary to add a bit more depth.But i buy DVD,s for the film and they don,t come better than "Once Upon a Time in America".Ignore the grumpys, this a terrific film and anyone who complains because the ending is ambiguous should really stick to Michael Bay movies."Once Upon a Time in America " is magnificent cinema.Peerless.