Once Upon a Time in America Reviews

I have seen many movies, good and bad. One thing for certain, Once Upon a Time in America is more than good. It is amazing, a true milestone in the crime drama genre. The cinematography, images, scenery and locations are all superb and quite sweeping, while Ennio Morricone's score ranks up there with his very best. While the film clocks in at nearly four hours long, it never feels boring to me while the pace is quite elegiac everything else just compels you. I will admit, this is another film you need to see more than once to understand/appreciate it.

Sergio Leone's direction is also superb, the story is always compelling and rich and the dialogue is very thought-provoking. The characters are wonderful if different. Unlike The Godfather(not a bad thing by the way), Once Upon a Time in America doesn't make you feel sympathy for its characters, these characters are actually quite nasty people but the way they are written and acted makes them compelling too. The two rape scenes are very shocking and perhaps brutal, but again that's no flaw in any way, because this slant on crime and the like is quite realistic if you put it in perspective.

The acting is another strong asset. Robert DeNiro and James Woods, both are great actors, and both give brilliant performances. So overall, extraordinary, not only of its genre but of film full-stop. 10/10 Bethany Cox

You know, sometimes, before watching a classic, you build up some huge expectations but when you finally watch the damned thing, especially after waiting for so many years, the end-result can let you down a little bit. Well, it didn't happen with this movie, that's for sure. Indeed, I kept hearing about it for many years and, finally, I got my hands on it and I was mesmerized from the beginning until the end. Basically, I think it is one of the best gangster movies ever made, no more, no less. Seriously, it's a shame that Leone couldn't make anymore movies after this one but, on the other hand, I'd rather have a director like him who made a handful of amazing features than someone like Woody Allen who has basically become a factory making one disappointing flick after another every single year. So, indeed, the directing was just awesome and back then, Robert de Niro was at the top of his game and gave one of his best performances. Not only Leone didn't make another movie afterwards but the story behind the making of this masterpiece was just heartbreaking. Indeed, the poor fellow spent more than a decade working on this and when it was released, it was butchered by the studio, destroyed by the critics and a huge flop at the box-office. Eventually, Sergio Leone would die 5 years later and I'm not sure if he was still alive when the whole thing was restored to its original format. Anyway, it is a great picture, a timeless classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

So far, I think this has been the longest film I've seen in my life, I had no idea that this movie had 4 versions and just saw the original version of 322 minutes. You do not know when it would end after two hours, I did not got bored seeing as it was in GoodFellas, is significantly better than De Niro's character in this one and the story best fits my personal tastes.

The picture of the early years is amazing and the roles of the children beat the star players.

This is an epic, episodic tale of the lives of a small group of New York City Jewish gangsters spanning over 40 years. The movie centers on David 'Noodles' Aaronson (Robert De Niro) and his lifelong partners in crime, Max (James Woods), Cockeye (William Forsythe) and Patsy (James Hayden) and their friends, who all grew up in New York's Lower East Side in the 1920s-1930s. In the late 1960s, an elderly Noodles returns to New York after many years in hiding to look into the past.

Told mostly in flashbacks and flash-forwards, this film is a classic that has us discover great actors, including Jennifer Connelly and Brian Bloom. It features a great cast, like Danny Aiello and Joe Pesci.

One of the masterpieces in film history worth watching.
If you have 4 hours to spare, take your time to watch it. It’s worth it – at least once in your lifetime – for the cinematography, the acting, the music, and the directing.