Once Upon a Time in America (1984)'s comments - page 3

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Siskoid

An approach that prioritizes visual storytelling rather than dialog, stylish direction and cinematography, an Ennio Morricone score, harsh violence... Once Upon a Time in America is a Sergio Leone spectacular all right, and it's one of the great ones though it has a couple of irredeemable flaws, in my opinion. Moving back and forth over three time periods - with wonderful transitions, I should add - the film tracks the rise of a criminal gang from kids trying to make a buck on the streets at the turn of the 20th Century through the Prohibition era and to "respectable" white collar crime. It's the story of crime in America, as told through a cinematic, i.e. glamorous filter, which is how most gangster epics go, really. The rise, the opulence, the inevitable fall, we've seen it many times, and it's up to each of these films to have memorable scenes and characters to define them. In this case, the shared focus on the gang as kids is its main draw, with an interesting but dangerous friendship at the center of it (between, as the adult versions, Robert DeNiro and James Woods), and I quite like that final scene between them. Also props to whoever cast baby Jennifer Connelly as Elizabeth McGovern's younger self - they could be mother and daughter. HOWEVER. Once our lead becomes a rapist, it pulls you out of the film. Leone may or may not be pushing the glamor with the cinematography and music as a contrast, which is to say KNOWING it is ironic, but it feels like the movie excuses the behavior. My other problem with the film is that the climax really tips into melodrama with its last-minute revelations (and at the same time, the gist of it is kind of predictable). Though the final sequence walks us back from it, I'd rather not have had to BE walked back from the twist. That backdrop with the bridge tho!

4 years 3 months ago

moviefan28

Great movie Leone is a master

9 years 11 months ago

sureup

It's good but I feel a lot of the acting was sub par and some editing seemed rushed and weird. Should've maybe made a trilogy out of this ala the godfather movies. But still it's a different kind of movie and pretty good but doesn't reach up to any of the classics in the genres it attempts to drop in.

12 years 5 months ago

grit

Yeah. According to wikipedia:

quote:
The film premiered out of competition at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival[1] in its original running time of 229 minutes (3 hours 49 minutes) and also received critical acclaim. However, Once Upon a Time in America was heavily edited against the director's wishes for its June 1, 1984, release. The short version changed the flashback narrative by moving the scenes in chronological order. Leone was reportedly heartbroken by the American cut, and never made another film before his death in 1989, making this his final film.

13 years 3 months ago

boomdiddly

Watching this movie was like spending an entire day at a stranger's family reunion. The nostalgia is everywhere, but there's no reason to care about anyone.
I think this film succeeds in its cinematography but lacks a good script (and plot). I understand why people love it, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

9 years 7 months ago

FoiNaCruz

Good God, did they hire Polanski as a ghost writer??

12 years 4 months ago

disimon

This is one of those movies that you can't help but feel dazed as the closing credits roll by. It's more then just an experience or a story being told: it's a dream within a dream. Leone had a gift, that maybe no one will ever come close to possess again.

11 years 9 months ago

vishnu

I will never forget this. Especially the soundtrack.

11 years ago

badblokebob

It's so long I didn't think I'd be able to watch it all in one sitting, but I did -- and I didn't think it felt anything like as long as it is. Don't really see how anyone can label it as boring, uninteresting, or lacking structure (indeed, it's quite precisely, albeit unusually, structured).

11 years ago

frankqb

It is impressive just how unlikeable every character in this movie is. It is painful to watch such inhuman humans, and that may be its most important quality.

10 years 3 months ago

Omgitsadie

Great film in many ways, but extremely misogynistic! It's disgusting how women are treated/portrayed in this movie. There may be many reasons behind this, but I found scenes with women in very hard to watch. It seems to be a pattern with Sergio Leone movies. However, it still remains a masterpiece. Robert De Niro is fabulous, of course.

9 years 2 months ago