Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Director:

Sergio Leone

Writers:

Harry Grey (novel)
Leonardo Benvenuti (writer) ...

Release Date:

1 June 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Crime, passion and lust for power - Sergio Leone's explosive saga of gangland America. [Australia Theatrical]

Plot:

A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to Brooklyn over 30 years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

Plot Keywords:

New York | Gangster | Jewish | Prohibition | 1960s

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 11 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Robert De Niro	...	David 'Noodles' Aaronson
James Woods	...	Maximilian 'Max' Bercovicz
Elizabeth McGovern	...	Deborah Gelly
Joe Pesci	...	Frankie Manoldi
Burt Young	...	Joe
Tuesday Weld	...	Carol
Treat Williams	...	James Conway O'Donnell
Danny Aiello	...	Police Chief Vincent Aiello
Richard Bright	...	Chicken Joe
James Hayden	...	Patrick 'Patsy' Goldberg
William Forsythe	...	Philip 'Cockeye' Stein
Darlanne Fluegel	...	Eve (as Darlanne Fleugel)
Larry Rapp	...	'Fat' Moe Gelly
Richard Foronjy	...	Officer 'Fartface' Whitey (as Richard Foronji)
Robert Harper	...	Sharkey

Also Known As:

C'era una volta in America (Italy)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, sexual content, language and some drug use. (edited version)

Runtime:

229 min | USA:139 min (re-cut)

Country:

Italy | USA

Language:

English | Italian | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (1990) | Finland:K-18 (1984) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | Iceland:16 | UK:18 (cut) | Brazil:14 | Germany:16 (f) (re-rating) (2003) | West Germany:18 (f) (original rating) (1984-2003) | Portugal:M/16 | Australia:R | France:U (Original rating) | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:12 (original rating) | Netherlands:16 (re-rating) | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Embassy International Pictures

Trivia:

In October 1975, Sergio Leone declared that the cast would feature Gérard Depardieu as Noodles and Richard Dreyfuss as Max, with James Cagney playing the old Noodles and Jean Gabin playing the old Max. However, while Cagney and Dreyfuss were flattered by the proposition Cagney had trembling hands and Dreyfuss did not feel it was the right moment for him to take on the part of Max.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Noodle stabs Bugsy they are on the left side of the Manhattan bridge. But when the police are coming, the whole scene is moved to the right side of the bridge.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[In 1933, two goons rudely question a young woman]
Beefy: Where is he? Where's he hiding?
Eve: I don't know... I've been looking for him since yesterday.
[second goon slaps her harshly; she falls onto the bed]
Beefy: I'm gonna ask you for the last time: Where is he?
Eve: I don't know... What are you gonna do to him?
[Two shots are head]
Beefy: [to his partner] Stay here in case that rat shows up...

Movie Connections:

Featured in De Niro: A Self Portrait (2007) (TV)

Soundtrack:

LA GAZZA LADRA (from LP 894 103 ROSSINI OVERTURE)

Leone's ultimate film

Sergio Leone's films are all love letters to America, the American dreams of an Italian who grew up at the movies, who apprenticed with Wyler, and Aldrich, signed himself Bob Robertson, and gave us Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Charles Bronson as we know them. Sadly, America didn't always repay the compliment. Leone's were "spaghetti westerns", money makers to be sure, but deemed disrespectful of the great tradition of Ford, Walsh and Hathaway. Many critics and Holllywood insiders called his earlier Eastwood films cynical and violent bottom-line commercial exploitation. By the time that they caught on to Leone's genuine popular appeal, the director had already moved on. And, his Once Upon a Time in the West was damned as pretentious, bloated, self-indulgent: an art film disguised as a Western, the Heaven's Gate of its day. That film's canny blend of pop appeal and pure cinematic genius gradually dawned on the powers that be (or were), and helped give rise to the renaissance of American filmmaking in the early seventies. It is worth noting that The Godfather could have been made by Leone, had he chosen. Leone had been pitching a gangster film that would encompass generations, for a generation or two, himself. Rather than do the Puzo version finally thrown back at him, he waited an eternity, and finally realized this, his last finished project. That ellipse of a decade or so between conception and completed movie is paralleled in the film, itself, by Robert De Niro's ("Noodles'") opium dream of the American twentieth century, its promises, and betrayals. Naturally, Leone was betrayed, once again, himself, by America, and this truly amazing film, with its densely multi-layered, overlapping flashback structure was butchered upon its release, becoming a linear-plotted sub-Godfather knockoff in the process. Luckily, the critics had grown up enough in the meantime to finally get a glimmering of what Leone was up to, and demand restitution. Very few saw it properly in theaters, but the video version respects the director's intentions, more or less. Ironically, Leone had foreseen television screen aspect ratios as determining home viewing of the future, and abbreviated his usual wide screen format for this movie, so this most troubled last project was the first released on video to most properly resemble the true cinematic experience. For diehard fans of the Eastwood westerns impatient with this at first, watch those movies till you want and need more. This will eventually get to you. For art film fanatics who don't get the earlier Leones, travel in the reverse direction, and you will be pleasantly surprised. This is the movie that Leone spent a decade conceiving. It will deliver for decades of viewing to come.