Once Upon a Time in America

Director: Sergio Leone Sergio Leone

Overview

For his first film in several years, director Sergio Leone conceived of a slow, elegiac study of gangster activity in New York. Set during three time periods--1923, 1933 and 1968--Once Upon a Time in America concentrates primarily upon Robert DeNiro and James Woods, childhood friends who become powerful Jewish crime bosses. The American distributors of Once Upon a Time in America ruthlessly hacked and rearranged the film into an incoherent 143 minutes. Leone's "director's cut," running 227 minutes, has been restored to videotape, though even this version is plagued by serious continuity gaps.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/11/2015
UPC:	0024543215745
Original Release:	1984
Rating:	R
Source:	New Regency
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	4:11:00
Sales rank:	3,167

Special Features

Closed Caption; Disc 1:; Extended director's cut - part one; Theatrical trailers; Excerpt from the documentary profile Once Upon A Time: Sergio Leone; ; Disc 2: ; Extended director's cut - part two

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert De Niro	David "Noodles" Aaronson
James Woods	Max
Elizabeth McGovern	Deborah
Treat Williams	Jimmy O'Donnell
Tuesday Weld	Carol
Burt Young	Joe
Joe Pesci	Frankie
Danny Aiello	Police Chief Aiello
William Forsythe	Cockeye
James Hayden	Patsy
Darlanne Fluegel	Eve
Larry Rapp	Fat Moe
Dutch Miller	Van Linden
Robert Harper	Sharkey
Richard Bright	Chicken Joe
Gerard Murphy	Crowning
Amy S. Ryder	Peggy,Peggy
Olga Karlatos	Woman in the Puppet Theater
Mario Brega	Mandy
Ray Dittrich	Trigger
Frank Gio	Beefy
Karen Shallo	Mrs. Aiello
Angelo Florio	Willie the Ape
Scott Tiler	Young Noodles
Rusty Jacobs	Young Max/David
Brian Bloom	Young Patsy
Adrian Curran	Young Cockeye
Mike Monezzi	Young Fat Moe
Jennifer Connelly	Young Deborah
Noah Moazezi	Dominic
James Russo	Bugsy
Frankie Caserta	Bugsy's Gang,Al Capuano
Joey Marzella	Bugsy's Gang
Frank Sisto	Fred Capuano
Jerry Strivelli	Johnny Capuano
Julie Cohen	Young Peggy
Marvin Scott	Interviewer
Mike Gendel	Irving Gold
Paul Herman	Monkey
Ann Neville	Girl in Coffin
Joey Faye	Adorable Old Man
Linda Ipanema	Nurse Thompson
Tandy Cronin	Reporter
Richard Zobel	Reporter
Baxter Harris	Reporter,Peggy's Mother
Arnon Milchan	Chauffeur
Bruno Iannone	Thug
Marty Licata	Cemetery Caretaker
Marcia Jean Kurtz	Max's Mother
Richard Foronjy	Whitey
Gerritt Debeer	Drunk
Sergio Leone	Ticket Agent
Alexander Godfrey	Newstand Man
Cliff Cudney	Mounted Policeman
Paul Farentino	2nd Mounted Policeman
Bruce Bahrenburg	Sgt. P. Halloran
Mort Freeman	Street Singer
Sandra Solberg	Friend of Young Deborah
Massimo Liti	Young Macrò
James P. Hayden	Patsy
Cis Corman	Actor
Scott Coffey	Actor
Ennio Morricone	Composer

Technical Credits

Sergio Leone

Piero De Bernardi

Enrico Medioli

Franco Arcalli

Franco Ferrini

Ernesto Gastaldi

Harry Grey

Stuart Kaminsky

Leo Benvenuti

Sergio Leone	Director,Screenwriter
Claudio Mancini	Executive Producer,Producer
Arnon Milchan	Producer
Piero De Bernardi	Screenwriter
Enrico Medioli	Screenwriter
Franco Arcalli	Screenwriter
Franco Ferrini	Screenwriter
Ernesto Gastaldi	Screenwriter
Harry Grey	Screenwriter
Stuart Kaminsky	Screenwriter
Bruno Charier	Sound Effects
Daniele Quadroli	Sound Effects
Robert Rietty	Sound Effects
Italo Cameracanna	Sound Effects
Leo Benvenuti	Screenwriter
Giovanni Corridori	Special Effects
Fred Caruso	Executive Producer
Cis Corman	Casting
Joy Todd	Casting
Benito Stefanelli	Stunts

Editorial Reviews

Once Upon a Time in America was initially released in the US as a 2 1/4-hour, brutally studio-edited version of Sergio Leone's 3 3/4-hour masterpiece. The attempt to organize Leone's epic chronologically was devastating, losing the functions of memory and history that were key to the original film's epic structure. The film ranges from nostalgic to tragic, with healthy amounts of comedy, drama, and romance. Spanning five decades in the lives of two men, played by Robert De Niro and James Woods, the sprawling story, which moves fluidly among 1922, 1933, and 1968 on New York City's gangster-ruled Lower East Side, is memorably conveyed through flashbacks, flash-forwards, dreams, and fantasies. Driven by themes of guilt, honor, betrayal, and redemption, Leone makes clever use of aural and visual cues to dissolve time frames. The determined and languid pace, the byzantine non-linear plot structure, the lack of a nerve-calming voice-over narration, and the decidedly anti-heroic qualities of the leads create a complex and ambiguous gangster story without a pat conclusion. The sooty cinematography matches the grimy nature of the people and places, while the soundtrack by Ennio Morricone is appropriately haunting. Both DeNiro and Woods are predictably watchable; Woods has the flashier role, but DeNiro's is more emotionally complex. This is Leone's gangster film to end all gangster films, a work of tremendous intellectual depth and emotional range.