This article contains Once Upon a Time in America spoilers.
The Godfather is a great movie, possibly the best ever made. Its sequel, The Godfather, Part II, often follows it in the pantheon of classic cinema, some critics even believe it is the better film. Robert Evans, head of production at Paramount in the early 1970s, wanted The Godfather to be directed by an Italian American. Francis Ford Coppola was very much a last resort. The studio’s first choice was Sergio Leone, but he was getting ready to make his own gangster epic, Once Upon a Time in America. Though less known, it is equally magnificent.
Robert De Niro, as David “Noodles” Aaronson, and James Woods, as Maximillian “Max” Bercovicz, make up a dream gangster film pairing in Once Upon a Time in America, on par with late 1930s audiences seeing Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney team for The Roaring Twenties...
The Godfather is a great movie, possibly the best ever made. Its sequel, The Godfather, Part II, often follows it in the pantheon of classic cinema, some critics even believe it is the better film. Robert Evans, head of production at Paramount in the early 1970s, wanted The Godfather to be directed by an Italian American. Francis Ford Coppola was very much a last resort. The studio’s first choice was Sergio Leone, but he was getting ready to make his own gangster epic, Once Upon a Time in America. Though less known, it is equally magnificent.
Robert De Niro, as David “Noodles” Aaronson, and James Woods, as Maximillian “Max” Bercovicz, make up a dream gangster film pairing in Once Upon a Time in America, on par with late 1930s audiences seeing Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney team for The Roaring Twenties...
- 9/7/2021
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Sergio Leone’s epic coming-of-age crime saga has been screaming out for a high definition transfer since the birth of blu-ray, not only for it’s stunning cinematography but because blu-ray is the only format that can contain Once Upon a Time in America’s epic three hour fifty minute running time!
Making a seamless transition from the western to the gangster genre, Sergio Leone undertook what is probably still the most thorough and thought-provoking depiction of prohibition era criminality ever exposed to celluloid. Documenting a fifty year journey for it’s central character ‘Noodles’ (Robert De Niro) – Once Upon a Time in America delves more darkly and deeply into the spiral-like path of becoming an underworld icon.
The film moves back and forth from Noodles’ childhood where he meets his life long friend and criminal partner Max (James Woods) to the height of power in prohibition era New York to his contemplative old age.
Making a seamless transition from the western to the gangster genre, Sergio Leone undertook what is probably still the most thorough and thought-provoking depiction of prohibition era criminality ever exposed to celluloid. Documenting a fifty year journey for it’s central character ‘Noodles’ (Robert De Niro) – Once Upon a Time in America delves more darkly and deeply into the spiral-like path of becoming an underworld icon.
The film moves back and forth from Noodles’ childhood where he meets his life long friend and criminal partner Max (James Woods) to the height of power in prohibition era New York to his contemplative old age.
- 2/24/2011
- by Paul Cook
- Obsessed with Film
Sergio Leone.s claim to fame may be his spaghetti westerns, but towards the end of his career he helmed this gangster masterwork. Sadly, it was butchered on its Us release and in recent years has been revealed to be the maestro.s final masterpiece. We follow a group of kids from a Jewish neighborhood (not exactly the stereotypical Italian gangsters), .Noodles. (Scott Tiler), Max (Rusty Jacobs), Patsy (Brian Bloom), .Cockeye. (Adrian Currie), and Dominic (Noah Mozelli), in the 1920s. Noodles loves Deborah (Jennifer Connelly, in her debut) from afar, but their ambitions and social standing make their romance improbable. The group begins to get more into crime and a rival gang leader causes the death of Dominic...
- 1/10/2011
- by Jeff Swindoll
- Monsters and Critics
Last Friday marked the arrival of Red Cliff (read our review here) the new war epic by Chinese action-meister John Woo. But this wasn’t the same version that graced Asian theaters prior to its international release: In its home country, Red Cliff was released as two films, the first in mid-2008; the second in early 2009.
Rather than unleash a nearly six-hour magnum opus on audiences worldwide, Woo pared both films down into a single two-and-a-half hour cut. In interviews, he said the deleted scenes mostly placed the film’s events in historical context, which might not have appealed to Westerners unfamiliar with Chinese history. Woo’s movie depicts the famous Battle of Red Cliffs, which was fought around early 200 A.D. between warlords from the northern and southern regions of China.
It’s too early to tell how successful Red Cliff will be with North American viewers (In mainland China,...
Rather than unleash a nearly six-hour magnum opus on audiences worldwide, Woo pared both films down into a single two-and-a-half hour cut. In interviews, he said the deleted scenes mostly placed the film’s events in historical context, which might not have appealed to Westerners unfamiliar with Chinese history. Woo’s movie depicts the famous Battle of Red Cliffs, which was fought around early 200 A.D. between warlords from the northern and southern regions of China.
It’s too early to tell how successful Red Cliff will be with North American viewers (In mainland China,...
- 11/27/2009
- CinemaSpy
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