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Once Upon a Time in America [DVD] [1984] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] starring: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, Burt Young

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Rating: - Once Upon a Time in America

This is a great film for a rainy afternoon or a winters night in front of the fire. Yes the characters are flawed but then again this just adds to the realism, some folk aren't happy unless the good guy is wearing white and riding a white stallion... this isn't Lord of the Rings. De Niros' character is hard to love as are all the 'hoods' in the film...However, lets not beat around the bush, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A NICE HOOD...buy this DVD and judge for yourself... a great film with a great musical score...and try to resist viewing over two nights, it's best enjoyed in a single viewing...

Rating: - Four hours will never be better spent.

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.

Rating: - Stylish, interesting but seriously flawed.

Originally released in 1984 in a much-shortened 139 minutes in length, Sergio Leone’s gangster epic about friendship and betrayal is now available in its intended 220-minute format.

Repackaged with the description ‘10 years in planning, A great director’s final statement in a medium he adored’ fills you with confidence, as if the film has been loving written and eventually carved immaculately out of wood, but opinions, of course, can be deceiving. It is in truth, this is a would-be classic, a film with such ambition and beauty, but unfortunately with so many narrative and ambiguity problems that eventually destroy the foundations and momentum of the film.

An undoubtedly first class cast helps grab the audience attention, Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern and with cameo roles from Joe Pesci and a young Jennifer Connelly. The film starts by flashing several cut-up important scenes, before finding a somewhat stoned De Niro (Noodles) lying in a Chinese opium den, being plagued with the most irritating and overstated ringing phone in cinema history.

The film then jumbles itself up some more, and now we see Noodles' - presumably - girlfriend being question on Noodle’s whereabouts whilst being slapped about and then killed by three rather nasty men. We then skip to the same three men beating on an eminently blood soaked fat man, asking the same questions. It is far too early on in the film to care too much about the characters in question, and by the time you learn more about them - in some cases over three hours later - you forget what eventually happens to them. Therein lies the fundamental flaw with this film, its dramatically jumbled narrative - set over three generations - and its vastly over-long scenes slow the film down when it should be sped up, and asks more questions where there should be answers.

There are some character flaws also; we are told that Max (James Woods) father was committed to an insane asylum when he was a child, leaving him with a real issue about being called ‘crazy’. This should be established when we first meet Max, not over three hours into the film, as it is important in understanding the picture. Also what has been notoriously commented about this film is that its main protagonist (De Niro) is a complete bastard. He has practically no rejuvenating qualities, besides his ‘love’ for the young Jennifer Connelly and her older self, - which is never fully established – and his friendship with Max, - which he never really commits to -. With in total six screenwriters, you think someone would have picked up on it.

There are also some rather worrying undertones to the film. The vulgarity of the friend’s sexual compulsion - calmly parading their genitalia for other women to guess who raped them - and generally abusing women both verbally and physically at every opportunity. This possibly is testament to how the group of friends grew up with little or nothing in the way of a family, and therefore unable to treat people, mostly women, with humility. Even if this is the case, it is not brought to the audience’s attention with any clarity.

There is one particular scene where Noodles returns from some unmentioned place, in an attempt to woo his childhood wet dream into being his girlfriend. His technique is admittedly pretty smooth, hire out an entire hotel dining room, and then ask the lady to pick out any table to dine from. But his technique falters considerably when he decides to rape her on the way home, it would almost be funny, if it wasn’t for the brutality of the scenes execution.

The film ends with more ambiguous twists and turns, always raising more questions then the plot will bother to answer. It’s bitterly disappointing, as anyone who bothers to sit through four hours of a movie deserves some kind of pay-off, but it never comes. Instead, we leave the film with Robert De Niro high on opium grinning at the screen for no foreseeable reason. The desire to punch one cinema’s finest ever actors square in the mush had never been so potent.

The special features included with the film are also disappointing, with only a theatrical trailer, a stills gallery and a documentary. In review, a interesting and undeniably stylish gangster film, but with flaws that leave the viewer with a confusing bad taste in their mouths.

Rating: - Once Upon a Time in America

Once Upon a Time in America embedded itself into my deepest thoughts and feelings when I was just a child and I took the opportunity to watch it everytime the full version appeared on TV thereafter. So you can imagine my joy when I discovered it was to be released on DVD - and I did not hesitate to order it.

Again, the power of the movie was still there - and to me - much better than the Godfather as it is far more thought provoking and leaves a lot for us to think about. However, while enjoying the movie 'again' I was a little annoyed that the first disc ended in the middle of an important scene. Then to make matters worse, an intermission was thrown in just over 30 minutes into the second disc. Why????

However, put this aside, I am now delighted to own my all time favourite film on DVD.

Rating: - Leone's vision is impressive.. but..

The first time I saw Once Upon a Time in America was way back...years ago..on TV. Sadly, it was the notorious trimmed version and the film just didn't make much sense.

So I was kind of glad that they had decided to release Leone's much talked about epic in its full length for the first time on DVD. First of all, I wouldn't rank this film beside the Godfather. Leone's epic had strong images, terrific music by Ennio Morricone, a strong cast...but it's one weak point was the screenplay which I felt could have been improved. In fact, I felt the final quarter of the film slowed down rather unneccesaily which had a rather irritating effect on me... particularly the scene where (old)Noodles (De Niro) meets his long lost love (now an old woman) in a backstage room and has a somewhat long predictable dialouge with her. Was Leone exercising too much self indulgence there?

On a personal note, the main characters themselves are not pitiful as they all have committed some pretty horrendous crimes such as rape, murder, robberies...How is it that reviewers say the film is 'touching'? Noodles and co. stand to gain no sympathy from the audience....just curiousity, shock and a wee bit of warmth. At the end of the day, I think Leone's wants us to ponder about the fates of those characters, in particular Noodles, rather than sympathise over them. (Thus, the final scene is exemplary of that).

Apart from those flaws...The film still manages to captivate with its strong images that are aided by the splendid cinematography. Some of my favourite shots are De Niro smoking the opium pipe ...that ballet sequence by the young Jennifer Connelly...Of course Ennio Morricone's score is a gem...no doubt about that. Those who love his work should get your hands on this DVD too.

DVD wise...pic quality is good (of course , you can't expect a Lord of the Rings' quality here) but with a few specks and dirt still evident in certain shots.

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