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I’d never seen this film in one go until now. I watched the extended cut (4 hours and 11 minutes), so it was nice to see the additional scenes that Leone had wanted in the film that were thought to be lost. One of which includes Louise Fetcher as a cemetery directress.
Where to start. The film has many flaws. The length isn’t one of them though, if that is a Director’s vision to have a story take 4 hours to tell, then that has to be respected. What I didn’t particularly like was the cartoonish style of some characters and dialogue. The chief of police was especially setup like this, and totally took me out of the films reality. This character was more in keeping with something more comic book style like Dick Tracy (1990). And did street kids without a penny to their name really wear bow ties and expensive suits? Maybe that’s a harsh criticism. There’s also a terrible cover of The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ which can’t be ignored – nice sentiment given the different timelines and the film is about regret / looking back, but just no.
Then you have de Niro’s character ‘Noodles’, that the film focuses on. He’s the lead, he’s what Leone wants us to analyse…..but I couldn’t work out if he is an anti-hero that we are supposed to sympathise with or root for. Are we really supposed to buy in to this character’s behaviour? A serial rapist? After the second rape I just wanted him to get shot in the face. Maybe that is the reaction that Leone wanted, but it seems strange that the rest of the film has Noodles on the more compassionate side of things when compared to the rest of the gang. He’s way more level headed than James Woods’ character. He’s less self destructive and at one stage even seems to want to go straight. And indeed he does disappear for a normal life for 30 years while Max is still a corrupt politician. I get that the younger Noodles is conditioned to experience violence as a norm. He is desensitized to it and this is his arc, because it’s the violent outbursts that lead to huge consequences in terms of losing the only person he loves. It just goes past the point of any sort of redeemable forgiveness after those acts are committed, and there is never any come-uppance, instead the heinous acts are actually used for comic effect at one point and almost romanticised.
That all said the rest of the film is just sumptuous. From the framing to the colours to Morricone’s score to the gradual construction of the Manhattan bridge. It’s an epic in the truest sense of the word with terrific casting and Leone’s great directing. I just went in with huge expectations and they weren’t quite met and it’s marked down because of y’know the rapey bits.
‘Once Upon a Time in America’ (1984)
Directed by Sergio Leone
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Directed by Sergio Leone
I’d never seen this film in one go until now. I watched the extended cut (4 hours and 11 minutes), so it was nice to see the additional scenes that Leone had wanted in the film that were thought to be lost. One of which includes Louise Fetcher as a cemetery directress.
Where to start. The film has many flaws. The length isn’t one of them though, if that is a Director’s vision to have a story take 4 hours to tell, then that has to be respected. What I didn’t particularly like was the cartoonish style of some characters and dialogue. The chief of police was especially setup like this, and totally took me out of the films reality. This character was more in keeping with something more comic book style like Dick Tracy (1990). And did street kids without a penny to their name really wear bow ties and expensive suits? Maybe that’s a harsh criticism. There’s also a terrible cover of The Beatles’ ‘Yesterday’ which can’t be ignored – nice sentiment given the different timelines and the film is about regret / looking back, but just no.
Then you have de Niro’s character ‘Noodles’, that the film focuses on. He’s the lead, he’s what Leone wants us to analyse…..but I couldn’t work out if he is an anti-hero that we are supposed to sympathise with or root for. Are we really supposed to buy in to this character’s behaviour? A serial rapist? After the second rape I just wanted him to get shot in the face. Maybe that is the reaction that Leone wanted, but it seems strange that the rest of the film has Noodles on the more compassionate side of things when compared to the rest of the gang. He’s way more level headed than James Woods’ character. He’s less self destructive and at one stage even seems to want to go straight. And indeed he does disappear for a normal life for 30 years while Max is still a corrupt politician. I get that the younger Noodles is conditioned to experience violence as a norm. He is desensitized to it and this is his arc, because it’s the violent outbursts that lead to huge consequences in terms of losing the only person he loves. It just goes past the point of any sort of redeemable forgiveness after those acts are committed, and there is never any come-uppance, instead the heinous acts are actually used for comic effect at one point and almost romanticised.
That all said the rest of the film is just sumptuous. From the framing to the colours to Morricone’s score to the gradual construction of the Manhattan bridge. It’s an epic in the truest sense of the word with terrific casting and Leone’s great directing. I just went in with huge expectations and they weren’t quite met and it’s marked down because of y’know the rapey bits.