Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Leone's final epic
OUATIA is an epic film in every sense. It follows the life of 'Noodles' (Robert De Niro) from early adolesense to adult and then as an older man discovering the truth about his past that he thought was dead and buried.

The cast are superb with DeNiro and James Woods as Max (at his most charismatic) playing the two leading roles roles. In the fact if anything the sections with the younger actors playing the adolesent Noodles and Max were probably even better.

Leone's view of the American gangster era is a little more poetic than say Goodfellas and The Godfather. The pace of this film is more measured. Its beautifully shot and a wonderful looking film. When the violence happens though, it is as viseral as anything you will find in those other two great gangster films. In particular there are two rape scenes, which whilst not that explicit tell you a lot about 'Noodles' attitude to women.

One of the characters in the film is called James Conway O'Donnell (as displayed in the cast list), but he is referred to as Jimmy Conway in the film. Interestingly Jimmy Conway was DeNiro's character in Goodfellas.

For me its just short of 5 stars. The reason is the length. At three hours and 40 minutes its just too long. I felt that it could have been trimmed a little (say 20 mins) and the film would have a little sharper. But this is a very minor critcism of what is otherwise a superb film.

OUATIA & The Hoods by Harold Grey
I didn't read all the reviews so I may be covering old ground. It was 1954, I was a precocious 12 year old in a Times Square book store when I picked up the book "The Hoods" by Harold Grey and it has remained a favorite throughout the years.

This book was the basis for Leone's movie and like all film makers he butchered [a cinematic technical term] the original story. Perhaps he could not deal with the book's complexities in a visual sense and for some dopey [another cinematic technical term] reason he had to tack on an ending that was totally superfluous to Mr. Grey's story.

So, if you didn't read the book, buy it now. It will make your experience of the story much, much richer.

I gave the movie 5 stars because as a stand-alone movie it is excellent - the performances were outstanding, the sets magnificent and the evocation of a time long gone priceless. The best part for me was seeing the story's beginning on the Lower Eastside prior to World War I. That part was relatively true to the book. It was very much the same as when I walked those [Jewish Ghetto] streets in the 1950's.

Lastly, although the novel chronicles the rise and fall of a group of Jewish mobsters - it also gives an insight to the history and birth of the crime syndicates that exist to this day.

classic as classics can be
One of the greatest movies ever made. There are scenes that aren't cut that you might not remember because of TV versions.