Editorial Review:

Product Description:
No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 16-DEC-2003
Media Type: DVD

Amazon.com essential video:
This movie has a checkered history, having been chopped from its original 227-minute director's cut to 139 minutes for its U.S. release. This longer edition benefits from having the complete story (the short version has huge gaps) about turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrants in America finding their way into lives of crime, as told in flashback by an aging Jewish gangster named Noodles (Robert De Niro). On the other hand, it's almost four hours long, and this sometimes-indulgent Sergio Leone film is no Godfather. Still, it is notable for the contrast between Leone's elegiac take on the gangster film and his occasional explosive action, as well as for the mix of the stoic, inexpressive De Niro and the hyperactive James Woods as his lifelong friend and rival. --Marshall Fine

This flick may be the reason Leone stopped making them. Its framework is apparently a bad trip from smoking opium. Flashbacks and flashforwards make it hard to follow the antihero. The main characters suffer from low self-esteem or worse, especially the women who are submissive to rough sex and other abuse and like it (?) Never thought that female nudity would put me off, but here it's merely gross and rape scenes do not add to any appeal. Treachery and violence and odd cinematography abound for the artsy crowd. The whole mess could be just a series of bad dreams for all the sense many make; protagonists often have no motive and act contrary to their own best interests, selfish though they are depicted.

Average Rating:

Rating: - Opium Nightmare?
This flick may be the reason Leone stopped making them. Its framework is apparently a bad trip from smoking opium. Flashbacks and flashforwards make it hard to follow the antihero. The main characters suffer from low self-esteem or worse, especially the women who are submissive to rough sex and other abuse and like it (?) Never thought that female nudity would put me off, but here it's merely gross and rape scenes do not add to any appeal. Treachery and violence and odd cinematography abound for the artsy crowd. The whole mess could be just a series of bad dreams for all the sense many make; protagonists often have no motive and act contrary to their own best interests, selfish though they are depicted.

Rating: - My all time favorite movie!
Maybe it is a personal thing (or maybe not, lots of praise for that movie among Amazon's reviewers), but no movie has ever absorbed me more utterly than Once Upon a Time in America. This movie has been the most extraordinary cinematographic story and storytelling I have ever experienced. For those who may be reluctant to see this movie because of its length (it is indeed almost 4 hours long), I just want to mention that the first time I ever saw this movie I could not believe it was already over when the end credits started rolling in. Each time I watch it again I have the same withdrawal feeling stemming from the fact that my emotions, mental processes and feelings are abruptly handed back to me after the movie has ended.

Flawless direction, script, acting, staging, magnificent soundtrack...

If your life gives you the freedom to dedicate 3 hours and 50 minutes of undivided attention to a movie, I believe this movie to be an unparalleled experience.

Just make sure to get this version and not the butchered, chronologically "corrected" cut that the vandals at the Ladd company had unleashed on American and Russian audiences in 1984.

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Rating: - for many years I have watched this film and still
it is simply brilliant...

In a class that includes few other films, Once Upon A Time in America travels the viewer through time and plants them firmly in an era that is brought to life with a sense of realism that is unsurpassable. It is a film that despite its length can keep you seated and transfixed. It is a film about gangsters. It is a film about NYC's lower east side. It is a violent film about booze smuggling. It is a film with 100 sub-plots that time-shift to and fro to keep you paying attention. But in the end, it is a love story that starts at the films beginning and ends at the film's end.

I am a fan of epic and dramatic films. Once Upon A Time in America is among the top 3 films in my personal collection. It is, as I stated, simply brilliant, and it has provided me with countless hours of enjoyment and escape. If Amazon permitted it, I would give it ten stars! In fact...* * * * * * * * * *

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Rating: - Leone's "Godfather" Version, And About As Good
This Godfather-type film was done by Sergio Leone, of spaghetti-western fame, so you know you will see and experience several of his trademarks. Namely: (1) a lot of facial closeups; (2) some slow-motion or slow-moving dramatic scenes; (3) good overall photography and (4) a unique soundtrack.

The period sets here are magnificent. You get a real feel of the time, whether it's 1910, 1933 or 1967. The colors are awash in blacks, browns and grays and the DVD brings all these out very well, especially considering the film is 25 years old. Now the next step is a Blu-Ray version.

This is a fascinating film to watch for the story, too. There are numerous memorable scenes, some of them involving some downright shocking violence, even for today's movies. However, the amount of violence is less than what you often see today in crime films.

The movie also sports an interesting twist near the end involving the two major characters, played by Robert De Niro and James Woods. The story is not always clear, either, so be prepared to be possibly confused about a few things....at least on the first viewing. Intense actors such as the two men just mentioned, along with Elizabeth McGovern, Tuesday Weld, Joe Pecsi, Burt Young, Treat Williams and more, just add to the five-star rating of this movie.

The child actors in here take up almost half the movie and are excellent. What an injustice they don't receive any publicity for their acting, especially the kids who played De Niro and Woods as youngsters. One of the girls has become a famous adult actress: Jennifer Connelly. She was 12 years old in this film and was already alluring.

This is Godfather-type crime movie that ranks right up there with that famous film, not taking a back seat to it at all.

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Rating: - Once Upon a Time in an Editing Room...
This movie is almost 5 hours long. For most movies, a running time half of that is pushing it. I fell asleep at some point in the film. At which point? I have no idea, because the movie flip-flops all over the place. For example, after having watched the movie I had no idea that Noodles' girl in Florida poolside is the same one murdered in the first scene...until I read some Amazon reviews here. It's hard to follow.

But...there are a lot of great scenes. My friends and I were screaming at that stupid kid for eating that cake for example. That's great stuff. A lot of great violent scenes (the opener for starters...even now in 2009 it was shocking to me, and I've seen everything!). The 2nd rape scene has really stuck with me. Powerful stuff. And lots of others too.

It's packed with a lot of great stuff. But some of the scenes were unnecessarily slow. You'll be watching and DeNiro will be looking or walking around a room...quite slowly...all while this annoying, repetitive music plays (I have no idea why the score has been praised...it's among the most annoying scores I've heard, up there with Doctor Zhivago and Eyes Wide Shut).

It's a great big mess. But there's enough greatness in this big mess for me to recommend it to anyone not too scared off by the prospect of a 5 hour gangster epic.

I'd definitely see it again. So three stars it is.

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