Once Upon A Time In America
Directed by Sergio Leone
Screenplay by Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi, Enrico Medioli, Franco Arcalli, Franco Ferrini, Sergio Leone
Based on The Hoods, by Harry Grey
Starring Robert DeNiro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern, Joe Pesci, Burt Young, Tuesday Weld, and Treat Williams
Released in Cannes, with a runtime of 3:49, May 23, 1984; US release, with a runtime of 2:19, June 1, 1984. (Originally had 8-10 hours shot, cut that down to 6, then again. To 4:30, finally to the 3:49 runtime).
Budget: $30M ($94.2M in 2020)
Box Office: $5.3M ($16.6M)
Gross: Flop. But later won acclaim when the full version was released.
Ratings: IMDb 8.4/10 Rotten Tomates 87% Google Users 91%
Plot:
Intro: Opens on what is obviously gangsters looking for someone. They kill a woman and savagely beat a man. We then see Robert DeNero in an opium den. He’s obviously upset by something. He smokes and passes out, having a flashback of seeing people killed on the street and possibly him calling the cops. He comes to as the gangsters enter the theatre attached to the smoking den, he escapes to a jewish neighborhood. He kills the guy waiting on him, learns his gf/wife is dead, and goes to a train/bus station to retrieve an empty suitcase. As he’s preparing to leave, there’s a time jump. He’s much older, and appears to be returning from wherever he went.
-Just waiting the intro credits, I’m already wondering when it’ll be over.
-Overly dramatic death
-The phone ringing is EXCESSIVE. 24 times
-Boob alert
-Guys name is Noodles?! Hard gangster name…
-Prohibition was Jan 17, 1920 - Dec 5, 1933.
-This move is going to drag
We see the bloody dude from the beginning, still at the bar. Noodles calls him and he is surprised, to say the least. We find out the reason Noodles returned was a letter, and that the suitcase was supposed to have $1M inside. As he reacquaints himself with the bar, he finds his old peep hole that leads to a flash back of watching a girl dance ballet. And get naked. He chases her down and is told off. The boys then burn a newsstand for no reason. The kids also try to rob a drunk, but were thwarted. Finally, Noodles goes home to read in the bathroom, but is interrupted by a neighbor girl, who gives him an anatomy lesson, and apparently will turn tricks for food.
-Everything seems VERY slow and deliberate.
-Makes you wonder what else he peeped on… question answered.
-Do we have to watch the WHOLE dance routine?
-“Tush”?
-Very obvious voice over recording/syncing
-What the FUCK is up with the neighbor girl? That was… weird.
-Begins in 1933, 35 years later, takes place in 1968.
Noodles bumps into the guy that stopped them from robbing the drunk guy, to see he robbed him instead. After a police interaction, they seem to get along. Another boy is taking the apartment girl, Peggy, a treat, but ends up eating it. He then follows her and the boys catch the cop with Peggy and re-arrange the power dynamic. Noodles sees Deborah and follows her home, they share a kiss. Noodles and Max finally meet Bugsy, and get savagely beat up. Noodles and Max approach a bootlegger with an idea how to help them, using salt to weigh their booze cases in the water. When it’s proved it works, they officially start their “gang.” Bugsy quickly ends it when he kills the youngest member; then Noodles kills Bugsy, and ends up getting arrested.
-wow. The kid losing his virginity to the apartment hooker
-Jennifer Connelly is 14 when this movie was made. Used a body double.
-Terrible fight sound effects.
-He literally had blood on his hands… Cheesy. Got the text from Chris about it being art at this point.
We shift back to ‘present day’ and old Noodles is visiting his friends tombs, presumably for the first time since he fled. He finds a key to the locker, this time the suitcase has money in it. As he’s walking away, we flash back to Noodles getting out of prison and Max picking him up. With a surprise treat in the hearse. He re-meets all the guys again, and finds out they run a very successful speakeasy. He also sees Deborah again. The gang then meets Joe Pesci’s Frankie, asks them to rob a jeweler. During the robbery, Noodles rapes a woman. When they go to do the exchange, they double cross the buyers, and kill them all.
-The hooker in the hearse was…weird
-Peggy is still turning tricks…and DeNiro motorboats her. Wow.
-it seems things just happen to them, instead of being in control.
-Cock insurance… really?
-Shot in the eye, ouch
Flashing back to the ‘present,’ Noodles is watching a tv report about illegal use of workers union funds, when it shows the man in charge, Noodles recognizes him, and we flash back to the same guy being tied and doused with gas, about to be lit up, when Noodles and the boys save him. We then meet Chief Aiello, who has just had his first son, the gang switches babies to coerce the Chief to stop pressuring the unionizers. Back at the club, they recognize a visitor, the woman from the robbery, bring her in and let her choose between them. Noodles goes on a date with Deborah, he opens his heart to her, and she says she’s leaving for Hollywood the next day. In the car after, Noodles rapes Deborah. He goes to the train station and sees Deborah leaving, she draws the curtain. Intermission.
-The guys name is Chicken Joe… Bawk bawk playboy…
-The dicks out lineup… What the fuck.
-Way to rape the girl to get her.
-There’s a fucking intermission.
Apparently Noodles went on a bit of a bender, when he shows back up things are very tense. There’s bit of a blow up over Maxs new girl. When the union guy is shot, the gang retaliates, and draws the ire of Frankie. Prohibition is repealed and they have to reinvent themselves. Max proposes robbing the Federal Reserve bank, but his girlfriend is opposed, and asked Noodles to have them arrested instead, to give him a taste. A funeral is held for prohibition. We see the start of a phone call to the police, that Noodles may tip them off. Noodles and Max have a confrontation and we flash forward again to present. Noodles is talking to Maxs girlfriend and he finds Deborah, again.
-The flute music keeps reminding me of the Karate Kid
-How much time is left?
Noodles has a conversation with Deborah, he finds out that she has been Secretary Baileys’ lover on the west Coast until he came back east and got into politics. As he exits, he sees what is more than likely his son. MAX IS SHOWN TO BE ALIVE. They go back and forth, basically explaining the plot. Flashback montage. Max asks Noodles to kill him, as payback. He declines, said that his friend died years ago. As he leaves, a garbage truck starts, a person in a tux follows, it passes and we don’t see the person in a tux again. Then Noodles sees a small parade of partiers going the other way. We’re flashed back to Noodles entering the opium den, he hits the pipe and is finally happy.
-Noodles is gone for 35 years, Deb asks where he was, “I was out of town…”
-Max being alive is a good twist
-Why doesn’t he refer to him as Max?
-Did… did he jump in the garbage truck?