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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: - Worst gangster Film you will ever see-- garanteed.

Before i get a slashing for my review, i would just like to say i love most films especially gangster ones!

This movie is possibily the WORST gangster film ever made, and in my view also the worst movie ever made. A lot of effort was put into it and a lot of amazing cast for what? -- a painfully bad film .

I seen the good reviews it got from the masses and thought id give it a 2nd try so i watched it again-- horrible waste of time. I thought maybe i didnt have taste -- now i have realised that all of you cheer leaders that have given it 5 stars have none-- or maybe you dont understand what a good film is?

This is not a masterpiece, this is not a classic , classics are films like the godfather or scarface or goodfellas -- This film is a pile of nonsense -- period. Im not going to go into details because there are just too many flaws -- what was the director thinking? -- even a 5 year old kid with no cinema experience could of made a better film with the resources sergio had.


It really annoyed me a lot because i love de niro and James woods

Rating: - Overrated

'Once Upon A Time In America' is hailed by many as a masterpiece. The 'Godfather I and II' are hailed by many as classics. The latter lives up to its claim, whereas the former falls way short. And here's why:

Both the Godfather/s and 'Once Upon A Time In America' display impressive cinematography, but that is where the similarities end. The narrative in 'Once Upon A Time In America' is fragmented and ultimately ambiguous. The protagonists, despite reasonable performances from Robert De Niro and James Woods, evoke little concern as to what will become of them. They are hollow and heartless criminals devoid of any redeeming feature which may have endeared them to the audience in some small way. This is a very important point, especially since I found myself genuinely sympathising at times with Michael and Vito Corleone in the Godfather I and II, and Daniel Plainview in the recent film 'There Will Be Blood', all of whom are sinister megalomaniacs. Noodles (De Niro) and Max (Woods) on the other hand failed completely to stir any such feelings within me. The more of the film I saw, the less I cared about the characters.

Furthermore, I have some gripes with the soundtrack. The music in itself isn't bad, but it is poorly executed and incongruous with the mood of some scenes. Alas, the quintessential film making depicted in Leone's spaghetti westerns are not apparent in this film.

Rating: - The best film of all time

THIS IS THE GREATEST FILM EVER MADE!!! BOLD STATEMENT I KNOW, BUT IT REALLY IS !!! MY FAVOURITE DIRECTORS ARE: STANLEY KUBRICK, INGMAR BERGMAN, SERGIO LEONE, QUENTIN TARANTINO, ROMAN POLANSKI, STEVEN SPEILBERG (ONLY "SCHINDLERS LIST", "JAWS" AND "SAVING PRIVATE RYAN" AND THE BRILLIANT DAVID LYNCH. IF YOU LIKE THESE DIRECTORS FILMS, YOU WOULD BE AN IDIOT NOT TO WATCH AND LOVE THIS. THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD THROUGH CINEMA DIRECTED IN THE CLEVEREST WAY, AND A SOUNDTRACK TO MATCH.

Rating: - Leone's final epic

OUATIA is an epic film in every sense. It follows the life of 'Noodles' (Robert De Niro) from early adolesense to adult and then as an older man discovering the truth about his past that he thought was dead and buried.

The cast are superb with DeNiro and James Woods as Max (at his most charismatic) playing the two leading roles roles. In the fact if anything the sections with the younger actors playing the adolesent Noodles and Max were probably even better.

Leone's view of the American gangster era is a little more poetic than say Goodfellas and The Godfather. The pace of this film is more measured. Its beautifully shot and a wonderful looking film. When the violence happens though, it is as viseral as anything you will find in those other two great gangster films. In particular there are two rape scenes, which whilst not that explicit tell you a lot about 'Noodles' attitude to women.

One of the characters in the film is called James Conway O'Donnell (as displayed in the cast list), but he is referred to as Jimmy Conway in the film. Interestingly Jimmy Conway was DeNiro's character in Goodfellas.

For me its just short of 5 stars. The reason is the length. At three hours and 40 minutes its just too long. I felt that it could have been trimmed a little (say 20 mins) and the film would have a little sharper. But this is a very minor critcism of what is otherwise a superb film.

Rating: - what a directionless piece of crap

This film starts strong but quickly loses its way, especially in the last hour. The plot completely unravels, the annoying music track repeats constantly, and much of the acting is weak. Don't waste more than three hours of you life on this, it is one of the worst films I have seen in a long time. Don't be fooled by the cast!

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