Once Upon a Time in America

THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE 2014 BLU-RAY/DVD COLLECTOR'S EDITION

(I'm going to try and keep this brief, but it's almost impossible when talking about this film.)
In 1984 Sergio Leone, master of the long-form story of American anti-heroes (and mostly through cowboys and gunslingers) set his sights high when adapting the 1952 gangster book "The Hoods" by Harry Grey for the screen. The result is long, drawn-out, meditative and grim, a delirious event onscreen which will either dazzle you or bore you if you don't have the patience to wade through it.

A brief history:
In 1984, after carefully crafting the film together as he saw it, it was ready to be screened (culled from the ten hours of the actual story on film). Originally envisioned as two three-hour films, he showed a 269-minute cut (with intermission) at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, which garnered over 15 minutes of a standing ovation.

However, Warner Bros. (and their distributors The Ladd Company, who had mangled 'Blade Runner" only two years earlier) convinced him to squash all six hours down into a single 229-minute film. After carefully editing it down as best as he could, the distributors - WITHOUT LEONE'S INVOLVEMENT AND CONSENT - reshuffled and rearranged most of the scenes into an almost chronological order, which was not how the story in the book is told, and it now clocked in at a sterile 139 minutes! The film itself suffers for it immensely, with now missing scenes and plot points that would have made this much easier to understand simply if it was left alone.

The result was a critical and commercial flop worldwide, although a few critics liked it. Both Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel were the one of the few lone champions of it, brutalizing the distributors for their chop job, having seen the 229 minute version at Cannes themselves, and Siskel put it on his Top Ten films of 1984.

The fallout? Having been disillusioned and distraught by Hollywood, America in general, and it's decline in substance over style, it became the last film Leone ever directed.

(In 2012 Martin Scorsese re-introduced Leone's 229 minute version to Cannes, and interest for this forgotten film was reignited. To this day he and Leone's children are still trying to gain back the rights to over 29 missing minutes of the film to show his almost complete 269 minute 1984 Cannes version.)

The plot:
So what is it about? It's all a delirious dream and memories (or maybe it isn't), but is filled with some of the best performances onscreen by Robert De Niro, Elizabeth McGovern, James Woods, Treat Williams, James Hayden, William Forsythe, Darlanne Fluegel and a cast of dozens, all trying to tell you, the viewer, a story lasting almost 50 years. I think that's all I can say because the plot is simple, but the story envelops you!

You have to watch it for yourself, as it rivals "The Godfather" as one of the best gangster films ever made... that you've never seen, even in it's chopped up form.

If you've ever seen the previously released 139 minute "theatrical version" on DVD, it can be confusing without mulitple viewings (like I have done over the years). Entire subplots are ripped out, and all we have left are some great bang-bangs and some sexy moments, but the subtlety of the story itself is pretty much 75% gone.

When it was finally released in 2002/3 a a "Special Edition" and as a "Director's Cut," restoring it to Leone's 229 minute post-Cannes cut, it was revelatory, and those of us who truly valued this film (such as myself) were finally able to see Leone's version as he wanted to show it in theaters, complete with an intermission - try that nowadays!

Now here it is, almost a decade after the 2002/3 release, and we have been given the best possible version to what Leone wanted to show, as much more scenes (but not even close to all) have been reintroduced and reshaped using his original notes. It comes in at a staggering 251 minute version (just a little over 4 hours), with the intermision.

Now for the physical details:
This version, that I bought here on Amazon, is the collectible Blu-Ray/DVD version, with both the 229 minute cut and the 251 minute cut available on 1 Blu-Ray disc and two DVDs (the former "Collector's Edition" from 2002/3). There's an amazing amount of new information included here, a 32-page color hardcover book with photos and production info not found almost anywhere else, but some of the same commentaries, documentaries and trailers found on the Collector's Edition, which is fine.

As to the technical end:
The Blu-Ray looks great onscreen, the colors are even, and even though the Italian restoring companies did a great job, it's obvious to see the lost or new scenes when it comes on - they look a little washed out, but it's to be expected considering it was from throwaway negatives, and not the original film elements.

Despite that, the film's story, as envisioned by one of the great directors in our lifetime of all things Americana, is a major step forward to being complete and worth the 4 hour watch. I give it, and the restoration, and the package overall, a mighty 5 stars.

Warner Home Video, who didn't help much to rescue it back when it was first released by the Ladd Company (the resulting flop almost bankrupted Ladd, just as they were recovering two years earlier when they took "Blade Runner" and screwed that all up too), has finally delivered a package worth holding on to!

You'll enjoy it, if you love the gangsters, the drama, and the story, told by one of the masters, and this should most definitely be in your collection!

(Thanks for reading, please leave a thanks if you liked it, and then check out my other so-so reviews of other items for sale here on Amazon.)

Sergio Leone is most notably recognized for being the father of the Spaghetti Western genre. With his kinetic directorial style, it's easy to understand why The Man with No Name trilogy was such a success. Shouldered by a wonderfully subtle performance by Clint Eastwood, The Man With no Name gave Sergio Leone international clout.

Once upon a Time in America is the the Italian maestros last film (as well as being his only American production), and it turned out to be the grand send-off that Leone so rightly deserved. While the American theatrical version was a horrible movie by most accounts due to over-editing and pandering by studio executives, the director's cut (running a cool 4 hours) is an epic in every sense of the word.

Leone weaves a complicated and engrossing tale about a group of young jewish kids who grow up to be gangsters. This threadbare synopsis does the film no justice. If you consider yourself to be a movie buff, carve out 4 hours out of your day to enjoy this unique and captivating piece of cinema. It's worth all your time.

I really bought this movie because I love Robert De Niro in a gangster role. We have all seen him in the gangster role. The Godfather II, GoodFella's and even a depiction of him as Al Capone in The Untouchables. I was curious about Once Upon A Time In America because it seems lesser known probably because of bigger named producers that produced the more mainstream gangster movies. Once Upon A Time In America starts out with Robert De Niro starring as David 'Noodles' Aaronson, an old time gangster who returns to New York after 35 years in response to a mysterious invitation. He has spent half his life away, having fled the city in fear for his life after betraying his friends to the authorities. He did it with the best of intentions, in order to save the life of his friend Max Bercovicz (James Woods), but the tip-off becomes a disaster and results in the death of Max and two others. While trying to figure out who has invited him back to the New York, Noodles indulges in opium-tinged dreams of his life before he left. When he was a boy, Noodles (Robert De Niro's character as a boy), played by (Scott Tiler) and his friends would beat up drunks and make trouble in their Jewish immigrant neighborhood. But his life was changed, however, when he met Max (Rusty Jacobs). Together the two of them and their gang began planning more complex jobs and successfully making money. As they grow up learning about crime together, they also learn about life and love. Their friendship is interrupted when Noodles is sent to jail as an adolescent, but although he is a young man when he is freed, Max is there to pick him up. He finds out that his partners have been busy while he was away, taking advantage of the money to be made illegally during prohibition, and for some time he joins in with their business. But prohibition isn't going to last forever, and when it ends Noodles is concerned that Max's next job is a step too far. I really enjoyed this movie, for the struggles and the interaction between the characters. Although at about 4 hours long, I would say to throw it in on a raining day and let it take you back in time.