Sergio Leone's most ambitious film took decades for the "Fistful of Dollars" director to make, and he endured many struggles, not the least of which was the terrible re-editing of the film for American audiences. Leone's director's cut with flashbacks galore, told with a kind of surrealism that may be difficult for audiences to watch, develops the action. For example, the opening section of the film shows our hero hiding out in a Chinese opium den while a mysterious telephone rings for what seems forever before it is answered. The initial American cut took the film's complex narrative and reorganized events so that the story unfolded in chronological order. This flawed version ran 139 minutes and lacks the epic quality of the European cut. Whereas Leone's much longer version--clocking in at 229 minutes--jumped around and exhibited little fidelity to chronological order. Basically, the film charts the rise and fall of a quartet of Jewish gangsters who grew up in New York City and got involved in the liquor trade during Prohibition. These kids developed a way to salvage barrels of booze that had to be dumped into the East River when the law descended upon the bootleggers. David "Noodles" Aaronson (Robert De Niro), Max Bercovicz (James Woods), Philip "Cockeye" Stein (William Forsythe) and Patrick "Patsy" Goldberg (James Hayden) rise to become major players in Prohibition. Sergio Leone wasn't interesting in simply making an urban version of "Once Upon a Time In the West." Indeed, he wanted to follow these characters across decades into the 1960s. Naturally, the film is beautiful, and the action adheres to the tropes of crime chronicles. Interestingly enough, the European cut opens with three gunmen--like those in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"--searching for Noodles because they have a contract on him. Essentially, the film defies synopsis, but it is a work of art to watch, despite lots of nudity. Hardcore Leone fans will feast on this sprawling yarn with its elegantly orchestrated gunfights.

Perfect and suitable title. superb movie. I rare watch hollywood movies. but when i saw this movie i like this.

Sergio Leone's "Dollars" trilogies are possibly the greatest "westerns" ever made (his lyrical "Once Upon a Time in the West" has great stuff but doesn't quite match the earlier versions because of the clichés). And Ennio Morricone's music for all four movies were instant classics.Leone's movie raised a question: after "The Godfather" (I & II) what more needed to be said? Well, being Italian, Leone found a source to use Jewish gangsters. That's a switch.His powerhouse case included James Woods, Robert DeNiro, Elizabeth McGovern and . . . oh, way down on the list, a very pretty young Jennifer Connelly. I saw the shortened version of this flick long before she was a major star. She looks great.Major spoiler ahead.And that's the problem. In one scene she moons the camera (it's probably a body double, but may inspire perverts everywhere); in another scene, when a man changes the diapers for his son, he finds out his "son" was switched for a daughter. The camera sees everything. It's disgusting, showing naked babies.Lest you think my objects to "Once Upon a Time in America" are merely prurient, I also found the longer version of the movie dull, despite its resorting to violence.Though I'm a voracious reader, I usually eschew biographies as they deal so much up front with the subjects' childhood. "So?" you might say. But the first third (it feels like a century) of "Once Upon a Time in America" is taken up with the story of Woods, DeNiro and the other little creeps as children, and it seems to go on forever! Leone is a good enough director to give us lots of visual tricks that keep us mostly happy, but I found the entire section with children dull and think it might have been integrated even better.Leone deals with "heroes" only in the technical sense. The "heroic" antics of Eastwood and Bronson in his earlier movies do not necessarily make them the good guys, despite the ironic title "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" (one of the best titles ever, btw). The leads in "Once Upon a Time in America" are even more flawed, being rapists as well as robbers and murderers.In fact, given the prevalence of prostitution, rape, child exploitation and the rest, sex as a normal and loving act never seems to enter anyone's heads. Perhaps Leone and his writing team don't want his depraved thugs to have any positive characteristics at all.Jennifer Connelly as the little girl who tries to put the kid playing the younger DeNiro comes off best, as well as the almost clownish version of the 1920 song "Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy)" that may be slightly anachronistic by a few years in its first context, but which brings a smile every time it's played.

This movie is huge. I've seen the massive 229 min cut. And surprisingly it did not feel that boring! The pace was slow but for this story it was absolutely necessary. Otherwise the story wouldn't fell the way it felt. I was tired but also satisfied when this ended.The acting was fitting. The child actors did an amazing job. In some cases I think even better than their adult counterparts.One might get confused at the way this movie is shown. The constant switching between present time and the past might seem weird but its a massive buildup for the last segment. Once a person sees it all, he/she would understand why it was shown that way and would for sure appreciate the making.The long shots and the enthralling musical score that shows and makes sure channels all the emotions into the viewers was expected from Sergio Leone. I always enjoyed his work and this didn't underperformed at all. It's sad that this was his last movie.This was an epic tale and one of the best crime dramas I've seen so far. Too bad that it was a commercial mess due to a trimmed version being released in theater. I would recommend the whole 229 min version to anyone anytime.