Once Upon A Time In America Reviews

The best film of all time?

This film is a masterpiece. The first time I saw it at nearly four hours long I rewound it and watched it all over again. There aren't many long films (even good ones) that make you want to do that. A back to back sitting of Schindler's List anyone? The soundtrack is monumental, the plot is epic and the acting incredible and I defy any red blooded male not to fall in love with Elizabeth McGovern as much as Noodles (Robert de Niro). Watch it, then watch it again then buy it!

Perfection

Such a superb film. Covers the whole range of human emotion while remaining beautifully paced and shot. The unusual editing combined with stand out performances all round ensures that it never seems as long as its huge running time. Truly one of the greatest films ever committed to celluloid.

Extraordinary crime drama

Sergio Leon’s final film is an extraordinary crime drama running for nearly four hours in it’s full length version and chronicles the lives of two New York gangsters played by Robert De Niro and James Woods. The plotting is often arbitrary but unlike the godfather Leon and his fine actors never try to win our sympathy: These are nasty people and there are two rape scenes involving Tuesday Weld and Elizabeth McGovern, that may be the most shocking ever filmed.

But just gasp at the scale, at the immaculate period reconstructing and at the incredible opening with it’s endlessly ringing phone. A resounding flop on its U.S release, it was heavily cut by its panicky distributors. It fared better in Europe, where it was hailed as a masterpiece.

Heavy Symbolism or The Godfather with Jews?

Apparently, many have seen this film and pondered on its meaning. Is everything that happens just an opium-fuelled dream, an elegiac lament for a misspent life, or a strand of complex time-shifts supposed to portray the unreliability of memory?

Personally, I had no idea about all the psychoanalysis that had gone before when I sat down to watch it. So to me it played like The Godfather, except that all the major characters are Jewish Americans rather than Italian Americans.

It is slow, long and languid, just like Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Westerns (is this a Falafel Western?), but it somehow manages to keep you enthralled with its mix of character & story development, beautiful cinematography & excellent set design, and its bursts of post-watershed violence. But beware - there is a particularly nasty rape scene that is rendered all the more unpleasant by complete silence on the soundtrack that somehow manages to make it too real and all the more unpleasant.

Self-indulgent rubbish

Those who dare utter the name of this film in the same breath as 'The Godfather' deserve to be shot. This is one of those films that takes itself far too seriously. Overlong, self-indulgent, hundreds of moody/contemplative stares, a film that is trying to be a 'classic' but fails miserably. Even brings down De Niro's performance, which was not the best. A major dissappointment.

once upon some time in America

Another early 1900 mob movie in america. One automatically expects the usual violent portrail, of a day , week or month, in the life of an American-Italian gangster. With little story, and more of how the family code works. This film however was quite different. More of a story of kids who were not born into the family, wrather who forged their own family with the friends they had, and were just as close. There is more story told here over a much longer time frame, stretching from childhood to mature adult. The film is therefore longer than ussual, and apears to moves a bit slower at times. This is no bad thing though, as the relationships between the characters develope, the motives of all of them become more believable. The scenary is very accurate for the time the story takes place, and the music throughout is beautifull.

The acting is first rate, and the film in general, is envolving and highly enjoyable. This is a must see.

A monumental classic

You'd think a film lasting upwards of 4 hours would have you fidgeting in your seat. Not a bit of it.

Sergio Leone's classic tale of crime, corruption and power has you mesmerised from the start, with stunning visuals (the period reconstruction and the colour balance for difference periods are two noteworthy points), a wonderful music score and great acting.

The cut version (with a linear timeline) put out after the first release must have destroyed it; the full version here is simply magnificent. If the ending is baffling or a let down, as other reviewers have remarked, well - life is like that, and the film poses questions about corruption and power that are left unanswered.

Too long

This movie tries too hard. The Godfather, to which it is often compared is far more watchable. The rape scenes are far too gratuitous and unecessary. It seems to me that the producer just likes to portray the sexual exploitation of women. Not recommended to anyone who wants to go to bed happy!

[Highly rated reviewer]

how long to go?

This film has to be the most self-indulgent, poorly edited work I have ever seen. Preposterously long, with lingering shots that take an eternity, it just drags on and on and on. It could have been a very good 90 minute movie. Instead a good cast and a good story are wasted on a buttock numbing, bladder stretching, yawn inducing ego piece.

Epic and classic film-making.

Let me start by saying that the rape scene is prolonged and very disturbing - it is not very explicit, but effective in making it's point. In a way that sums up all my feelings about this great film. It holds no punches in telling it's story and uses cinema with all its great and unique advantages to the max. The adultness of the movie is well-known, but what stands out is the epic storytelling that is undertaken. The soundtrack deserves special mention. It is as though the film was built by giants and finished by jewellers. The overall efect is that the movie stays with you long long after the credits have rolled.