Alternate versions

For its U.S. theatrical release the film was cut by 90 minutes from 3 hours and 49 minutes to 2 hours and 19 minutes despite the original cut gaining rave reviews at the film's premiere at Cannes. Many film critics gave two separate reviews for the film. While the complete European version was highly praised, the heavily edited US theatrical release was critically butchered.

UK cinema and video versions were cut by 10 secs by the BBFC to remove shots of a gun being pressed against a woman's breasts and to briefly shorten the rape scene in the car. The 2002 DVD is fully uncut.

When the 'complete' film was released on laser disc in America, it still had to be trimmed slightly from 229 minutes to 227 minutes, to secure an 'R' rating. Cuts were made to the two rape scenes, and some of the violence at the beginning. The final flashback montage of Max and Noodles as children was also eliminated from their final scene.

A network television version of three hours (without commercials) was briefly available in the early-to-mid-1990s, which retained the film's non-chronological order but still left out several key scenes. This version has recently turned up in viewings of the film for the AMC TV channel.

SPOILER: The infamous 139 minute cut was the version widely distributed for film's North American theatrical exhibition. Against the director's wishes, the film was drastically recut by the Ladd Company's in-house editor Zach Staenberg, at the direction of producer Arnon Milchan. The film's non-linear storyline was rearranged in chronological order, which had the effect of making it even more difficult to follow. Of the three principle timelines, 1923, 1933, and 1968, the childhood sequences (or pre-1933) were targeted most for trimming and extraction, making the 1933 storyline the most prominent of the film. Elizabeth McGovern doesn't appear at all in the latter chronology - completely missing throughout the 1968 scenes. The finale wraps up with "Secretary Bailey" never leaving his mansion, presumably shooting himself (albeit off-screen). Other narrative deviations includes young Noodles stabbing Bugsy to death, but Noodles is detained without ever assaulting the police officer (first on the scene). Noodles doesn't call Max "crazy;" Or the catalyst that would remove Noodles completely from catastrophic robbery, resulting in the gang's demise - In the theatrical cut, towards the end-of-Prohibition party, in 1933, Noodles tips off the police (with a phone call). Shortly after, Max, who has followed him to the office, attacks Noodles for no reason, knocking him unconscious; Also, Max hits Noodles from behind only once (instead of the multiple blows dealt in the director's cut). The shortened version, while briefly on VHS in the 1980s, is no longer in circulation and near-impossible to acquire (physical copy).

The Brazilian DVD (Warner) is heavily censored by blurring and re-framing in the scene a woman pretends to be dead in the back of a hearse by blurring and re-framing. These cuts were originally made in the Korean release. The first Brazilian release by Flashstar is uncut.

For the DVD release in Germany, the film was completely redubbed. The reason for this is unknown since the VHS releases contained the original dub and were distributed by the same company as the DVD, Warner Home Video.

In 2012, The Film Foundation together with the Leone estate exhibited the 250-minute version of the film at Cannes. However, due to a settlement over copyright issues for international releases, the new version could only be shown in Italy first before it was finally released internationally in October 2014. The restored version adds the following six additional scenes:

• Before the opening credits are displayed, additional disclaimers about the restoration are introduced, including that the film was restored and color corrected in 4K. The restoration adds more yellow to the film's visual look. However, the new scenes are based on the work print, which does not have the same color quality as the original prints could not be found, hence the semi-monochromatic look.
• After Noodles looks upon his name on the memorial stone, he meets the cemetery director (an appearance by Louise Fletcher) and gets more information about the memorial. He sees a car nearby, realizing he's being watched. He's able to write down the license plate number.
• A flashback where after the car falls into the water, the boys fooled around longer. But they were scared of Noodles as the freighter's shovel keeps aiming at the water. Back to 1968, Noodles eventually traces the car's license plate to Senator Bailey's address. The car that tailed him earlier in the cemetery emerges out of the compound and explodes shortly after.
• After Noodles comes out of the door, the chauffeur criticizes his lifestyle (explains why he interferes during the rape). Noodles counters him with the financial benefits.
• Eve's actual introduction: Noodles is left alone in the street after the rape. He visits a prostitute bar and had sex with Eve, the call girl whom was allowed to be called Deborah. The real Deborah walks out of the restaurant in disappointment.
• Deborah performs the final scene of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra before Noodles goes to visit her backstage.
• There's a pivotal scene of Max / Senator Bailey with Jimmy. Jimmy and his other associates want him dead because of his many mistakes but there still remains some final organization details to be sorted out. Finally, Jimmy suggests that he commit suicide with the line "I'd be very happy for you tonight, if during all the noise of the party I'd hear a shot." This scene explains things like: why the car bomb went off during the second additional scene; dramatizes Max's motivation with Noodles in the next scene; completing the character arc of Jimmy from an idealistic union boss to a full-fledgling hoodlum; creates more uncertainty of what happened at the end with the garbage truck.

The extremely hard to find, heavily edited original US theatrical release which runs at 139 minutes is (as of 2024) available on the Internet Archive website (albeit in its prerecorded NTSC US video copy).