Once Upon a Time: Sergio Leone (2001 Video) User Reviews

Short but moving tribute

[ts520 · 8/10 · 25 March 2006]

This documentary is a short but nonetheless poignant salutation to Segio Leone and his greatest work: Once Upon a time in America. It will contain little new information for those already familiar with the man and his work, but to those with little knowledge of him beside the watching of the film, it gives an interesting insight into both his creative genius and the butchering of his magnus opus by a "naieve" Hollywood.

Even for those already in the know it nonetheless contains a powerful and fascinating interview with James Woods who describes OAAT in America as the "Everest" of his achievements and how he regretted telling Leone this himself. Its ending, in juxtaposing the close of the OAAT with the end of the documentary also provided for me a moving and fitting tribute. Short yes, but ultimately still a telling tribute and interesting to those unfamiliar with the life of the great Sergio Leone

Not very insightful, although the James Woods interview is good

[MovieAddict2016 · 5/10 · 31 January 2006]

An excerpt of this documentary based on Sergio Leone's life is included on the two-disc "Once Upon a Time in America" Director's Cut DVD. Unfortunately it seems very amateur, the interviews are poorly edited, repetitive and contain little insight; and worst of all, the people interviewed themselves had little to do with the film's production.

Perhaps the most interesting story is the one which one of the film's co-writers tells about Leone's peculiar requests in regards to scriptwriting methods.

I also enjoyed the James Woods interview segment, in which he explains how a critic that called "America" the worst film of 1984 later saw the director's cut version and named it the best movie of the entire decade.

Overall, there are some good bits like these, but a lot of the documentary could have been cut down/edited and more interesting anecdotes and interviewees could have been selected.

Superficial, Lacking In Perspective, and Bad Pronunciations

[lchadbou-326-26592 · 5/10 · 1 February 2021]

This hour long cut and paste job on Leone is serviceable in terms of the background information it provides especially on his westerns and arguably his crowning achievement Once Upon a Time in America.But apart from the presence of Stuart Kaminsky who talks mostly about writing one script, there isn't enough critical presence (say someone like Adrian Martin who has written in depth about that gangster epic) to balance the embarrassing fan boy gushing, complete with flailing gesticulations, of fellow director Quentin Tarantino. The earlier part of Leone's career such as his underrated work in the peplum genre (a long established and typically Italian format which the commentary incorrectly attributes to Americans) is brushed over. And is Leone's stature, considering all the other truly great filmmakers Italy has bestowed on us, really as monumental as the program claims? Last,a pet peeve. Narrating the film himself, writer/director Howard Hill lives up to the stereotype of the arrogant British imperialist who couldn't care less about learning how to pronounce words and names from foreign countries. Would it have been too much to ask that he bothered to pronounce names like Mussolini, Cinecitta and Trastevere correctly?